Bill Bryson has set out to produce a book about science for the non-scientist - a book which makes science more interesting than the school textbooks he remembers from his childhood - an admirable aim, which I think he has largely achieved with a great deal of charm.In an ambitious attempt to cover everything from the Big Bang to modern man, Bryson spent three years researching, reading and interviewing scientists from all disciplines to produce a clear and entertaining account of the lives and work of the major (and many of the minor) names and discoveries in cosmology, chemistry, palaeontology, physics, geology, biology, evolution... you name it.
Anyone who has read his travel books will recognise his chummy, easy-to-read style, and he puts it to good use here, making complex ideas plainer and neatly summarising some knotty controversies.There are some areas of bias - half the book is concerned with the biological side of science, for example- and some areas that Bryson has obviously found difficult and glossed quickly over (such as quantum mechanics); but for the layman this would not necessarily present a problem, and should even encourage further reading. The book will not tell the professional scientist anything they do not already know, (and, because of the nature of the subject matter, some of it has already dated), but as an introduction to science for an interested layman it is excellent - full of startling facts and witty anecdotes. Having read this book, I half expected it to have the words "Don't Panic" written in large friendly letters on the cover. Forgive me if I quote from Douglas Adams here, for while Bill Bryson's book may contain much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it is nevertheless a very enjoyable sprint - a travel guide - through science.
