Downloadable audio file. Duration: 18:19:24. Lost in the cosmos: How to build a universe; Welcome to the solar system; Reverend Evans's universe -- Size of the earth: Measure of things; Stone-breakers; Science red in tooth and claw; Elemental matters -- New age dawns: Einstein's universe; Mighty atom; Getting the lead out; Muster Mark's quarks; Earth moves -- Dangerous planet: Bang!; Fire below; Dangerous beauty -- Life itself: Lonely planet; Into the troposphere; Bounding main; Rise of life; Small world; Life goes on; Good-bye to all that; Richness of being; Cells; Darwin's singular notion -- Road to us: Ice time; Mysterious biped; Restless ape; Good-bye. Title from: Title details screen. Unabridged. Read by Richard Matthews.
Summary:
Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant. Even the most pointy-headed, obscure scientist succumbs to the affable Bryson's good nature, and reveals how he or she figures things out. Showing us how scientists get from observations to ideas and theories is Bryson's aim, and he succeeds brilliantly. It is an adventure of the mind, as exciting as any of Bryson's terrestrial journeys.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.