Book recommendation: A Short History of Nearly Everything (unabridged)
There are few things in life that can really calm my Chicago road rage; maybe it's the small town upbringing or maybe I'm just a jerk. I have, however, found a temporary cure: The audiobook A Short History of Nearly Everything (unabriged) really has impressed me, and definitely taken my mind off the traffic.
The author Bill Bryson, known for his travel books, attempts to learn as much as he can about a wide array of scientific fields, including chemistry, astronomy, anthropology, biology & geology. Bryson does a terrific job of making these topics not only interesting but captivating. I found myself looking forward to the evening commute, so I could hear more about the details of the Manson Crater (not kidding). What I liked most was that he always seems to go the extra step to make the story so intriguing; for example, when researching this topic, he didn't just go online or call geological experts to get his facts, he also went to the Manson library to interview locals, and to the Iowa geological group that worked on the project. (I grew up about 5 miles from the crater, btw, so I'm biased towards this topic... although knowing how flat the area is now boggles the mind that this event ever took place).
I love books like this, mainly because I feel like the everyday routine we all live within doesn't challenge the brain to learn new topics or explore different theories. A Short History of Nearly Everything reminded me just how much information is out there waiting to be discovered.
One interesting point Bryson continues to return to is just how lucky we are that Earth and its human race evolved to exactly the conditions needed to support advanced life. He does a great job of exploring just how many events had to go our way over billions of years in order for us to be here. The main vibe the book left me is that we are "living on a knife edge", so we should enjoy our current circumstances... now if I could just get around that semi...