A Short History of Nearly Everything

· Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Bill Bryson
4.8
28 reviews
Audiobook
5 hr 47 min
Abridged
Eligible
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About this audiobook

One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.

In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.

Ratings and reviews

4.8
28 reviews
Robert Zuti-Lewis (Robby)
July 23, 2023
Not only is the book informative and interesting, Bill Bryson has a great voice that makes you just want to sit and listen to him for hours.
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Nebula Huertos
April 3, 2023
I am reading along with my book and for some reason it's not in line with the book? it skips paragraphs? I liked it but wish it would do that
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Christopher Cavender
August 31, 2019
Great book, it will change the way you see yourself in this world.
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About the author

Bill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the WoodsThe Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and A Short History of Nearly Everything (which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union's highest literary award). He was chancellor of Durham University, England's third oldest university, from 2005 to 2011, and is an honorary fellow of Britain's Royal Society.

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