History Mystery - Bill Frisell

Advantages: Incredibly accessible introduction to science
Disadvantages: None

...A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson What a good idea this book is. Take one of the most engaging writers around today and say "you know all this complicated science stuff out there; go and have a look and then come back and explain it to us." The result is a cracking book that fizzes along and manages to tell you more than you ever thought you needed to know. The book is divided into sections, each roughly assigned to a particular discipline. These cover physics, particularly the study of the universe. Geology, including the history of the Earth as a physical entity, and then moving into chemistry. And finally a history of life on Earth and evolution. Each topic is given ample room to be discussed and Bryson moves at an agreeable pace throughout. Bryson mixes history and exposition easily throughout, depending... Read review

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Advantages: The da vinci code for grown ups?
Disadvantages: forensic in its description of dead bodies

...The first half of this archeological thriller is based in Montreal, Canada, where Dr Temperance Brennan lives and works as a forensic anthropologist (ie. analysing bones and skeletons for the police). It opens as a fairly straightforward police procedural, when Brennan is called to attend the autopsy of orthodox Jewish businessman, Avram Ferris, to determine if the gunshot to his head that killed him was suicide or murder. Interlinked with this story is her relationship with Ryan, her tall, commitment phobe longtime lover - and also a police detective. All is par for the course until a man thrusts a photograph of a skeleton into her hand, claiming it to be the reason why Ferris was killed. Thus we are led further into the antechamber of the mystery. An archeologist friend identifies it as coming from an excavation in Israel... Read review

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Advantages: Accessible introduction to science
Disadvantages: Still difficult to understand in parts

...I've recently read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything as part of an online bookclub I sometimes take part in. The book had been on my reading list for ages, and since it's recently out in paperback (on 1 June 2004), it seemed the ideal opportunity to give it a go. I'm familar with Bill Bryson's writing through having read many of the other books he's written, not only the well-known travelogues (Notes from a Small Island, Walk in the Woods etc) but also from his book on the English language, Mother Tongue. So I was aware that he's much more than just a travel writer, but was curious to find out just how he'd manage to deal with scientific theory in a way that remained accessible to "the masses" (ie, me!). Given that the book has just won the Aventis science book prize, I was somewhat dubious, but took heart from... Read review

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