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Thread: A Short History of Nearly Everything- BOOK REVIEW

  1. #1
    sub specie aeternitatis Pete Hanlin's Avatar
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    A Short History of Nearly Everything- BOOK REVIEW

    I think this was the title of the Bill Bryson book I just finished (or something like that). For anyone who has never read a Bill Bryson book, he is perhaps one of the most intelligently funny authors I've ever run across.

    Anyway, Mr. Bryson takes you through everything from chemistry to the beginning of the universe to evolutionary theory in a way that is actually entertaining! This was his goal, and he acheives it admirably. I'm a science fan anyway, but I learned so many interesting facts from this book- without feeling "bogged down" with the usual mumbo jumbo.

    About the only "sadly funny" thing about the book is Mr. Bryson's seeming inability to concede that- just possibly- some of the "ultimate solutions" to some of the "scientific mysteries" he sometimes runs into might just involve a Creator. I'm content to read about evolution- since I wasn't around to observe the creation of the universe its as likely to have happened one way as well as the other- still...

    Anyhoo, I found this to be an absolutely fabulous book. When you've run out of novels- or just want to "try something different"- I high recommend this work. Anyelse read this book- or anything else by Bill Bryson?
    Pete Hanlin, ABOM
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    http://linkedin.com/in/pete-hanlin-72a3a74

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    Pomposity! Spexvet's Avatar
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    I'm curious, Pete. I've seen that your BA is in theology, and you have a love of science. I've always had trouble reconciling those two aspects. Science has given us an explanation of pretty much everything. The only thing scientists have not attributed to "natural forces" or physics is that which caused the big bang, and that which created matter/energy in the first place. If you believe in science, you must dismiss religious explanations. If you believe religion, you cannot accept scientific explanations. How do you reconcile these two facets of your life?
    ...Just ask me...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spexvet
    I'm curious, Pete. I've seen that your BA is in theology, and you have a love of science. I've always had trouble reconciling those two aspects. Science has given us an explanation of pretty much everything. The only thing scientists have not attributed to "natural forces" or physics is that which caused the big bang, and that which created matter/energy in the first place. If you believe in science, you must dismiss religious explanations. If you believe religion, you cannot accept scientific explanations. How do you reconcile these two facets of your life?
    I'm pretty solidly an atheist however I spent some time studying comparitive religion before I decided to become an engineer and have always had a fascination with religion and the reglious. If one become willing to read the creation stories in the Bible (and other religious texts) as parable, a technique regularly used in other areas, it really becomes simply to reconcile "natural forces" and creation. It is certainly not difficult to see 'God' as a creator of rules (gravity, electromagnetic force, strong and weak nuclear forces, etc.) with a specific purpose in mind, i.e. the creation of a universe to his liking (and if you are feeling particularly important the creation of an intelligent human species). Not too difficult to reconcile the two supposedly antagonistic views.

  4. #4
    Master OptiBoarder chm2023's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Hanlin
    I think this was the title of the Bill Bryson book I just finished (or something like that). For anyone who has never read a Bill Bryson book, he is perhaps one of the most intelligently funny authors I've ever run across.

    Anyway, Mr. Bryson takes you through everything from chemistry to the beginning of the universe to evolutionary theory in a way that is actually entertaining! This was his goal, and he acheives it admirably. I'm a science fan anyway, but I learned so many interesting facts from this book- without feeling "bogged down" with the usual mumbo jumbo.

    About the only "sadly funny" thing about the book is Mr. Bryson's seeming inability to concede that- just possibly- some of the "ultimate solutions" to some of the "scientific mysteries" he sometimes runs into might just involve a Creator. I'm content to read about evolution- since I wasn't around to observe the creation of the universe its as likely to have happened one way as well as the other- still...

    Anyhoo, I found this to be an absolutely fabulous book. When you've run out of novels- or just want to "try something different"- I high recommend this work. Anyelse read this book- or anything else by Bill Bryson?
    This is the same guy who wrote "In a Sunburned Country"--an absolutely hilarious travel/memoir about Australia, if I am not mistaken. Highly recommend. I will pick this up as well.
    Last edited by chm2023; 11-05-2004 at 02:43 PM.

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