Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.

A Short History of Nearly Everything was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, won the Aventis Prize for Science Books and won the Descartes Science Communication Prize. Translated into 33 languages, the Black Swan paperback is the UK's bestselling non-fiction paperback of the 21st century.

 

Now available as an illustrated edition

In the bestselling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the world of science both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe. Now in this glorious new illustrated edition, everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization is even more vividly brought to life with stunning full-colour photographs, drawings, portraits and cartoons.