WINNER OF THE AVENTIS PRIZE FOR SCIENCE BOOKS 2004

'The very book I have been looking for most of my life... trunkloads of information, amazing stories and extraordinary personalities'
Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the -world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.

'It represents a wonderful education, and all schools would be better places if it were the core science reader on the curriculum' Tim Flannery,
The Times Literary Suplement

'A truly remarkable achievement... a bravura performance, which will give much pleasure'
Walter Gratzer. Nature

'A travelogue of science, with a witty, engaging, and well-informed guide who loves his patch and is desperate to share its delights with us'
Peter Atkins, The Times