Nicholas ([info]nhw) wrote,
@ 2007-04-21 08:28:00
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Entry tags:bill bryson, bookblog 2007

April Books 15) A Short History of Nearly Everything
15) A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson

As a lapsed scientist myself, not a huge amount of this book was new to me, but I can see why it is popular with people who have never had to crack open a science textbook since leaving school, or even with some who have. Bryson's chatty style, which hasn't always worked for me, carries us fairly effortlessly through the fundamentals of physics, geology and evolutionary biology, with a decent amount of reflection on the men and women behind the scientific theories (though without going very far into the sociology of knowledge).

Two things really jumped out at me, both of which I was vaguely aware of but which Bryson really brought to life: 1) the imminent and catastophic eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, which will wipe out a significantly large chunk of the continental United States; and 2) the catastrophic impact of human fishing on the fauna of our oceans. Definitely losing sleep about both of those now.

Top UnSuggestion for this book: The New Reformation Study Bible. Hmmm.


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[info]watervole
2007-04-21 08:03 am UTC (link)
WE can't do much about Yellowstone, but it's an international tragedy that no action is being taken about the oceans.

The devastation is enormous and the will to take action seems non-existant. Trying to gain protection for even small areas is hard and yet the gains are demonstrable, not just for conservation but for fishing as well.

As fast as we fish out our own resources, we descend on smaller countries and destroy their stocks too. And as for the deep oceans!

If ever the world needs diplomats, it's to find a way to conserve the world's fish stocks while there are still some stocks left to save.

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[info]pocketnaomi
2007-04-21 09:13 am UTC (link)
AFAICT from other sources, Yellowstone isn't actually imminent, and probably won't go caldera-fashion when it does. It's most likely to blow a small hole in its own immediate vicinity, giving us another geyser or somesuch.

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[info]nhw
2007-04-21 11:16 am UTC (link)
Bryson points out that it exploded cataclysmically 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago and 650,000 years ago, so we are "due" for another big 'un!

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[info]pocketnaomi
2007-04-21 04:16 pm UTC (link)
Which is a fun way of manipulating statistics but has zero to do with what is actually going on under the surface there.

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[info]inulro
2007-04-21 02:41 pm UTC (link)
As an arts graduate with a better background in science that most and a lifetime subscription to New Scientist, some of it was news to me and some of it wasn't. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'm not the target audience.

I still thoroughly enjoyed it and thought that it was really successful at doing what it set out to do and happily recommend it to people who are less scientifically literate than I am.

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[info]nickbarnes
2007-04-21 04:54 pm UTC (link)
Bryson's writing is entertaining, but I found his occasional errors of fact sufficiently grating that the book was spoiled for me. I can't recall off-hand what any of them were, but they came along once every four or five pages.
Over-fishing is bad, and could conceivably be stopped. Ocean acidification (due to anthropogenic atmospheric CO2), on the other hand, is at least as bad for ocean ecosystems and is unstoppable.

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