B. Mann Consulting

This thick brick of a book was something that I thought was going to be used to lull me to sleep or perhaps sit permanently in the bathroom as I slogged my way through it. Bryson usually writes laugh-out loud travel books, but since the subject of this book was an explanation of general scientific principles for the layperson, I thought it would be different.

Well, Bryson's excellent, highly readable prose, interspersed with his typical British humour, makes this a very enjoyable book. I read the whole thing in only a handful of days, and was interested throughout. It starts at the beginning -- the formation of the Earth -- and goes through all the various science disciplines, explaining how today's theories evolved (or are still evolving) and how they changed over time.