A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition

I learned so so much about the world, where it came from, where we came from, what we are, where it might all be going. The more I learned, the more adrift in the meaninglessness of life i became. I would look at society, buildings, conflicts, plans.... everything was reduced to a reminder that all this is is spinning atoms,organized stardust. Is meaning or purpose or even life itself just an illusion? Is it all just random, accidental? Going nowhere? Before this book i could live in a relatively content bubble of a sense of meaning, purpose, control, and yes, a belief that something greater was behind it all, to somehow make it all make sense, a plan, a reason. Now, i have all that thrown into severe doubt, and i live daily with a bleak loss of the comfort of the illusion. But, it’s important to learn everything this book has compiled, to make an educated decision of how to view life.

I just started reading it in iBooks edition. The dates (years) appear as 1077 instead 1977; at least in references for first chapters. I hope it can be corrected by next update.

A brilliantly written page-turner, this book disambiguates so much of the world around us it deserves to be on every school's curriculum.

I'm incredulous of the amount of research Bryson put into this book. He really took the time to go above and beyond toward realms of thought and inquiry far outreaching his scope as an author. I can't help but appreciate the immensity of this work. I encourage anybody of a high school reading level to give this book a chance. The beginning is breathtakingly illustrative of concepts otherwise unimaginable to the average Joe, and what's more, Bryson's language does little to obstruct or obscure the big picture. So much literature of this nature is dismissed on account of lofty diction and esoteric jargon, but this particular book is a breath of fresh air for anybody with even a subtle interest in science and natural history wanting to better understand it all. All that keeps this book from a five-star rating are the brief periods of dry material which prove necessary in compiling a vast summary of time so succinctly. It's a picky critique and easily overlooked.

Absolutely amazing book, portraying the full scope of our amazing world. Thank you Bill Bryson for taking me on that journey and for including your usual insights and humor.

This book is amazing! It's so entertaining and informative. The writing was powerful enough to change the way I look at the world. One of my favorites!

As I've gotten older, I've become more interested in nonfiction, and this book was a great reintroduction to science for me. Of course, Bryson's wit makes it all the more palatable.

Save yourself a couple bucks and buy the regular edition of this book. The illustrations are really just google search worthy, and frankly just take away from the writing. Some of the illustrations were cartoons from the newspaper vaguely referencing the subject, and others are low resolution pictures of nebula and other spacy things (clearly I'm no expert). Overall not worth it, though the regular text is brilliant. I love it.

I own the hardcover and have read it around 6 times, cover to cover. Great book and easy to read on

This is the sort of book you can read over and over again. I just read it for the second time and I'm looking forward to reading it out loud to my kids when they're old enough to appreciate Bryson's passion and wit.