A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

"Stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth. On that scale, the distance from the fingertips to the wrist of the other is Precambrian [long period of time when the first forms of primitive life came into being]. All of complex life is in one hand, and in a single stroke with a medium-grained nail file you could eradicate human history." Wow!

I'm not much of a history buff; in fact, I'm embarrassed to admit how little I can actually remember about significant names, events, and dates. So when I saw the title of this book, I thought I had hit the jackpot and I might actually be able to refresh my memory with just a short read. Well, it turns out that A Really Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, isn't actually a history book; it's a science book. But it's a great book that gets down and dirty with scientific theories from the big bang to earthquakes and volcanoes to dinosaur extinction to global warming. Each page spread is devoted to a different subject, though it is organized in logical and chronological order so that you can just read straight through it. Or, if you're like me, you can easily look at the Table of Contents with clever and interesting but usually self-explanatory names such as Einstein - the genius - the Special Theory of Relativity or To the edge of the universe - how far is it? and just pick and choose what you think looks interesting.

The author makes some pretty complex scientific concepts pretty accessible to kids. Whether your child is a science buff or working on a school assignment, this book would be a good starting point. The language in the quote above is representative of the level in which the book is written, so I would recommend this for lower elementary kids only if you can sit and read through the info with them. But it would definitely be good for upper elementary- and even middle school-aged kids.