physics = hard

I'm really into a book right now called A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. One of my resolutions was to "read better books" and this definitely counts. Bryson is a travel writer but with this effort he assumed the task of making science--fathomless, mind-bending, Stephen Hawking-league science--graspable to English majors like me. The book starts with the creation of the universe and takes off from there, taking on all the big questions and delving into all of the natural sciences: astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, paleonology, alchemy, anatomy, you name it.

So far it's interesting and doesn't read like a textbook at all. The first chapter about the creation and scope of the universe was fascinating, especially the comparisons he uses to try to provide a sense of scale. Like, if Earth was the size of a pea, Pluto would be a mile and a half away. And if you filled up the Boston Garden with peas, that's how many galaxies there are in the universe. Now I'm on to the history of early theories and discoveries and it's a bit less fascinating... no matter how talented a writer one is, dead scientists will always be dull.

From the reviews I read online, it sounds as if you can skip through the chapters to get to the good stuff but that's pussying out. I may never read certain chapters again but I will definitely read them all, in order, the first time. I'll see you in about a week.