If you believe that our universe began with a divine miracle of six days, this book is not for you. Others, however, will find here a most readable and comprehensive account the story of creation, as traced by science. A Short History of Nearly Everything opens with the Big Bang and ends with Homo sapiens' most recent ancestors. In between come volcanoes, asteroids, the strange development of microbial life, and hundreds of stories and details. In addition to its wide scope and its clear, enticing style, Bryson's book has two important virtues. First, it focuses on the process of finding out. This is where the thinking of a scientist differs from that of a student. The student wants to know factsc numbers, dates, results, things which might appear on the final exam. How old is the universe? How distant is the Moon? How hot is the Sun's visible face? All these can be dug out of textbooks and encyclopedias, but they alone tell next to nothing about the science. A scientist instead asks, What is the evidence? Answering that question brings science itself to the fore.