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[Patguy]

For the record, this is the "Special Illustrated Edition." And I'm glad for that; not to sound too preschool about it, but it was a lot more fun to read when I could look at the pictures too.

It's a broad survey of scientific history from a solidly entertaining writer. Bryson does a good job outlining the historical progression of scientific concepts, especially astronomy and the earth sciences. He fumbles a bit when talking about quantum theory, but what the hell, right? No one really knows what they're talking about there.

I didn't exactly learn a lot from this book, but it did what I intended it to: put my pitifully unstructured scientific learning into a wider context. And it's worth reading for the anecdotes about strange scientist behavior alone.

(My favorite anecdote: After spending—for some reason—eight years working on a comprehensive study of barnacles, Darwin was quoted as saying, "I hate a barnacle as no man ever did before.")

If you're looking to brush up on your sciences, this is the book. Nothing here will be useful to anyone already well-versed in the fields, but for ex-humanities majors like me, it was a lot of fun.