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I started this thread since there doesn't seem to be one about books on various topics meant for the inquisitive but non-expert person. These books might fill small niches in one's knowledge of our world. Sometimes we find a book that is just a lot of fun.
I just finished "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson (2003). It is about how the knowledge of our world and some of the theories that help us understand it developed over time.
The interest and value of this book, as I see it, is not in the facts but in the processes and personalities of the scientists that discovered and evaluated the discoveries. A takeaway from the book is that a new idea is often criticized or ignored by the current authority. If it is valid then it may be deemed unimportant by the same. Finally, these new ideas are often forgotten for an extended time before universal acceptance and are sometimes attributed to the wrong person.
Some factual errors may be caught by the specialist or from verification of numerical data, but this is not a text for learning those sciences. A reviewer stated that the material was annoyingly free of errors. If the reader is interested, there is an online list of several dozen corrections.
This is the second book I have read from Bryson, the first being "The Body; A Guide for Occupants" (2019) which is basically a travel guide of the human body in and out and is also recommended.
Bryson is an excellent writer and witty. Bryson is noted for his travel books but has also written about language. Another of his books "A Walk in the Wood", based on his introduction to the Appalachian Trail, was made into a movie starring Nick Nolte and Robert Redford.
I am looking forward to reading his other books, especially on language.
I just finished "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson (2003). It is about how the knowledge of our world and some of the theories that help us understand it developed over time.
The interest and value of this book, as I see it, is not in the facts but in the processes and personalities of the scientists that discovered and evaluated the discoveries. A takeaway from the book is that a new idea is often criticized or ignored by the current authority. If it is valid then it may be deemed unimportant by the same. Finally, these new ideas are often forgotten for an extended time before universal acceptance and are sometimes attributed to the wrong person.
Some factual errors may be caught by the specialist or from verification of numerical data, but this is not a text for learning those sciences. A reviewer stated that the material was annoyingly free of errors. If the reader is interested, there is an online list of several dozen corrections.
This is the second book I have read from Bryson, the first being "The Body; A Guide for Occupants" (2019) which is basically a travel guide of the human body in and out and is also recommended.
Bryson is an excellent writer and witty. Bryson is noted for his travel books but has also written about language. Another of his books "A Walk in the Wood", based on his introduction to the Appalachian Trail, was made into a movie starring Nick Nolte and Robert Redford.
I am looking forward to reading his other books, especially on language.
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