Review by volunteer Robert D.

Bill Bryson is quickly becoming well known for his humor and wit while tackling subjects that are often delivered in dry, dense books.  Those who have checked out his new book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, are familiar with the way Bryson wanders from subject to subject.  In A Short History of Nearly Everything, he starts at the very beginning with the Big Bang and the sarcastic roots of that name.  Bryson's humor is well paired with topics such as the knock-down, drag-out personal battles between scientists over things such as fossils or the subject of continental drift.  Bryson has managed to do the impossible, to make science and history fun for the average person to read and explain its context in a way that's understandable to the average person.