A Short History Of Nearly Everything

I just finished the Bill Bryson book, A Short History Of Nearly Everything: a fun, fascinating review of all the science you never paid attention to in school. Bryson has a lot of ground to cover, bringing to life discoveries in the atomic world, genetics, geology, physics, astrophysics, and many, many others. He whittles these complicated subjects down to their human stories, while keeping the science real. I found it very entertaining, as I mentioned here before.

Bryson has a subtle, underlying theme to his book: how incredibly fragile life on our planet really is. In his genetics lesson, he marvels at the incredible chain of events that led to life here. He discusses the twin ecological disasters a single inventor, Thomas Midgley, unleashed with chlorofluorocarbons and leaded gasoline. He also weaves in giant killer meteors and the ticking time bomb supervolcano better known as Yellowstone National Park. His message: it’s a tough universe out there.

Bryson closes his book on a somber note, where he discusses humanity’s destructive interaction with our planet’s plants and animals. He quotes experts who estimate that anywhere between six hundred to over a thousand species become extinct due to human activities, each week. His accounts of so-called birding enthusiasts happily killing off the last of unique bird species had me enraged. The real tragedy, though, is that we really have no idea what we’ve lost. As Bryson puts it, “we may be the living universe’s supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously.”

I am grateful to Bryson for taking time to distill these important topics into something fun and educational at the same time. I was glued to the book for weeks, and took my time reading it in order to properly digest its knowledge. In light of the never-ending drought here, the rising carbon dioxide levels in the air, and the insanity of ongoing wars, Bryson’s book shows us why we should be minding the store.

Its the only one we’ve got, you know.