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|  | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Broadway
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $3.96
as of 11/23/2009 12:12 CST details
You Save: $13.03 (77%)
New (48) Used (135) Collectible (6) from $3.96
Seller: lets-book
Rating:  711 reviews
Sales Rank: 607
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Pages: 560
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 076790818X
Dewey Decimal Number: 500
EAN: 9780767908184
ASIN: 076790818X
Publication Date: September 14, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: bent at corners, a few pages bent at corners some damage to the cover but integrity still intact, binding slightly damaged but integrity still intact. possible writing in margins, possible underlining and highlighting of text, no missing pages.(item has been beaten up a bit but it works. Items will be shipped out within 2 business days. Satisfaction guaranteed.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 711
 A Great Bed-Time Read November 6, 2009
Pokeanemone (Singapore)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Someone criticized this book for including too much factoids about the personal lives and squabbles between scientist, about the little idiosyncracies that many of the world's greatest scientist had.. but I personally found it very interesting and enlightening. How nice to know that these great scientist type figures are human too. And how much more interesting to read about who they were as real people with flaws and quirks and foibles, rather than just as great minds.
I felt that this book was a great companion for me in my many nights of insomnia... at 4am in the morning.. when i would normally have been scratching the walls with frustration from not being able to sleep, i found myself chuckling away at Brysons humorous and pithy insights. Reading this book has really increased my wonder for the universe and my understanding of how small we human beings really are in the scope of life itself! He makes excellent analogies that I will probably still remember even 30-40 years down the road.
Terrific! October 27, 2009
D. D. Burlin
This was a fantastic book. Mr. Bryson has an inquiring mind, and the ability to dig deep into scientific subject matters, yet make them accessible to a lay person. I'm really looking forward to buying the Really Short History to read to my kids. Fascinating stuff! More please!
 Not About Science, Rather About Personal Drama of Scientists October 24, 2009
Iaurlathron
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is not about science. It is about the personal baby mama drama of scientists. Few to no words are actually devoted to explaining discoveries, and when Bryson does talk about actual science he often gets it wrong or gives bad emphases. For every word on actual science he spends 10 words talking about feuds, marriages, business ventures, and basically on trying to be funny.
The book does not live up to its title or its jacket. This is a softball, lazy way to talk about the history of science that has already been done countless times before precisely because it is so easy to do. Most if not all of his material is derivative and can be found in other, better books that came before him.
Thoroughly disappointing, I won't be wasting my energy reading anything from Bill Bryson ever again.
Bottom line: This is not science, this is relationship drama.
A great book of knowledge October 24, 2009
Larry K. Milton
The forward of this book explains why it was written. At the same time it seems to explain a lot of what is wrong with our educational system. A must read for anyone who would like to increase their understanding of many simple but ignored facts. But, if you think ignorance is bliss, leave this one alone.
Makes Science Actually Fun -- and Funny October 20, 2009
Jaimal Yogis (San Francisco)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm still in the section where some very curious British men are developing the science of geology (it started as an elite good ol' boys club that developed into practically a cult). Who'd of thunk this would be a hilarious topic, but it is when Bryson is telling it. I can't say I understood the chapter on how early scientists came up with the exact weight of the earth, but I certainly laughed a lot at their quirky personalities, which to me is a lot more valuable than how to weigh a planet. I'm excited to read the rest of Bryson's work.
By Jaimal yogis, author of Saltwater Buddha
Showing reviews 6-10 of 711
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