A Short History of Nearly Everything: 2.0THE #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER, UPDATED FOR 2025 • A wonder-filled quest to understand everything that has happened in the history of the Earth, from the Big Bang theory to the rise of civilization and beyond—revised to reflect the last two decades of scientific advancement “Brims with strange and amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic of science writing.”—The New York Times How did we get from being nothing at all to where we are today? How did the age of the dinosaurs eventually give way to the age of the iPhone? In this completely revised update to the international phenomenon A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson returns to answer these questions and many more. Bryson brings a groundbreaking account of life itself to a new generation of readers, as he takes subjects often passed off as boring and incomprehensible and renders them accessible, fascinating, and outright amusing to anyone who’s ever wondered about the world around them. Introducing readers to a diverse cast of the world’s most impressive archaeologists, paleontologists, physicists, astronomers, anthropologists, and mathematicians—from their offices and laboratories to dig sites and field camps—Bryson embarks on a journey to discover answers to the biggest questions about the universe and ourselves. A Short History of Nearly Everything is a profoundly enlightening, surprisingly humorous, and charmingly clever adventure into the realm of human knowledge, as only Bryson can render it. His revamped Short History is a thrilling journey through time and space, and his writing will make readers both new and old see the world in a whole new way. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
THE SIZE OF THE EARTH | 41 |
A NEW AGE DAWNS | 113 |
DANGEROUS PLANET | 187 |
LIFE ITSELF | 237 |
THE ROAD TO US | 417 |
NOTES | 479 |
| 517 | |
| 529 | |
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actually Africa American ancient animals astronomer atmosphere atoms australopithecines bacteria bacterium became Big Bang bones called Cambrian carbon cells century chemical cloud crater creatures Darwin dinosaurs discovered discovery Earth Ediacaran event existence extinction fact feet Flannery Fortey fossil galaxies genes genetic geological geologist Gould Gribbin half happened hominid Homo erectus hundred ice ages idea known least less living look Lyell Manson crater matter measure microbes miles million years ago modern humans molecules Moon Museum named National Neandertals nearly never Nobel ocean once Oort cloud organisms oxygen paleontologist particles percent perhaps physicist planet Pluto produced proteins protons Richard Fortey rocks Sagan scientific scientists solar system space species stars suggested supernova surface T. H. Huxley Tattersall theory things thought thousand tiny tion took trillion trilobites turned universe Yellowstone