A Short History of Nearly Everything (SHoNE) was bought for me one Christmas by my sister and I must admit to thinking the worst. I knew Bill Bryson was some kind of travel writer but I’d never read any of his work before and didn’t really expect this to .. erm .. shine (sorry).  But SHoNE is really a quite remarkable book. Infact I’d go so far as to say its one of those books that really everyone should read just so everyone has a basic understanding of the world and universe around us and how the world as we know it today has been shaped and in a way that schools simply fail to do. For example never before have I truly understood the mind bogglingly massive distances involved when we talk about say space travel. Not particularly useful for everyday life but non the less mind altering. He has a way with words that makes the biggest or most profound facts just pop into clarity.

Whoever you are. What ever you are. Read it.

The second book below is the version the Santa bought for Matthew.