I just finished this book, written by Bill Bryson on the recommendation of a friend. At first I didn't like it, with end of the world scenarios of being hit by meteors, or blown up by volcanoes. However, by the end of the book, the sensation I have been left with is one of gratitude. Grateful to be alive, thinking and doing well. Even though I disagree with some things he writes about, I still enjoyed this book very much.
He explains very well in summary form many of the principles of science and different scientific fields and theories. The stories behind the "facts" are revealed in some cases to be quite hilarious. There are anecdotes, dramas and disagreements, people who discovered things but never got credit for it, scientists ripping each others ideas to shreds. In some cases the truth of science is little more than one persons interpretation, or a best guess at a point in time, or "what we think we know," ideas which may potentially be over written by future analysis or discovery of another person.
He reveals the personalities, background, foibles and quirks of the scientists whose learnings developed our understanding of the world around us, which is so much better than just cold hard information.
I found the book intriguing and highly enjoyable (which is why it was overdue at the library - I couldn't give it up until I had finished it). I like its attempt to make science accessible to the layperson (in that respect it reminds me of the DVD "What the Bleep do we know" about Quantum Physics).
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