The Brief History Of Everything

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  the brief history of everything: A Brief History of Everything Ken Wilber, 2007 Told in an accessible and entertaining question-and-answer format, this account examines the course of evolution as the unfolding manifestation of Spirit, from matter to life to mind, including the higher stages of spiritual development where Spirit becomes conscious of itself.
  the brief history of everything: A Brief History of Everything (20th Anniversary Edition) Ken Wilber, 2017-05-02 “A clarion call for seeing the world as a whole,” this philosophical bestseller takes readers through history, from the Big Bang through the 21st century—now featuring an afterword with the writer-director of the Matrix franchise (San Francisco Chronicle) Join one of the greatest contemporary philosophers on a breathtaking tour of time and the Cosmos—from the Big Bang right up to the eve of the twenty-first century. This accessible and entertaining summary of Ken Wilber’s great ideas has been expanding minds now for two decades, providing a unified field theory of the universe. Along the way, Wilber talks on a host of issues related to that universe, from gender roles, to multiculturalism, environmentalism, and even the meaning of the Internet. This special anniversary edition contains an afterword, a dialogue between the author and Lana Wachowski—the award-winning writer-director of the Matrix film trilogy—in which we’re offered an intimate glimpse into the evolution of Ken’s thinking and where he stands today. A Brief History of Everything may well be the best introduction to the thought of this man who has been called the “Einstein of Consciousness” (John White).
  the brief history of everything: A Brief History of Everything Ken Wilber, 1996 Wilber takes his philosophies of spiritual consciousness and applies them to the course of evolution, from matter to life to mind.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, 2012-05-15 One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer. In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.
  the brief history of everything: A Really Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, 2020-10-29 Ever wondered how we got from nothing to something? Or thought about how we can weigh the earth? Or wanted to reach the edge of the universe? Uncover the mysteries of time, space and life on earth in this extraordinary book - a journey from the centre of the planet to the dawn of the dinosaurs, and everything in between. And discover our own incredible journey, from single cell to civilisation, including the brilliant (and sometimes very bizarre) scientists who helped us find out the how and why.
  the brief history of everything: Origin Story David Christian, 2018-05-22 This New York Times bestseller elegantly weaves evidence and insights . . . into a single, accessible historical narrative (Bill Gates) and presents a captivating history of the universe -- from the Big Bang to dinosaurs to mass globalization and beyond. Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day -- and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence? These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of Big History, the most exciting new approach to understanding where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. In Origin Story, Christian takes readers on a wild ride through the entire 13.8 billion years we've come to know as history. By focusing on defining events (thresholds), major trends, and profound questions about our origins, Christian exposes the hidden threads that tie everything together -- from the creation of the planet to the advent of agriculture, nuclear war, and beyond. With stunning insights into the origin of the universe, the beginning of life, the emergence of humans, and what the future might bring, Origin Story boldly reframes our place in the cosmos.
  the brief history of everything: A Brief History of Everything Wireless Petri Launiainen, 2018-06-06 Since the discovery of electromagnetic waves less than 150 years ago, the application of wireless communications technology has not only revolutionized our daily lives, but also fundamentally changed the course of world history. A Brief History of Everything Wireless charts the fascinating story of wireless communications. The book leads the reader on an intriguing journey of personal triumphs and stinging defeats, relating the prominent events, individuals and companies involved in each progressive leap in technology, with a particular focus on the phenomenal impact of each new invention on society. Beginning at the early days of spark-gap transmitters, this tale touches on the emergence of radio and television broadcasting, as well as radio navigation and radar, before moving on to the rise of satellite, near-field and light-based communications. Finally, the development of wireless home networks and the explosive growth of modern cellular technologies are revealed, complete with a captivating account of their corresponding company histories and behind-the-scenes battles over standards. For those wishing to peek behind the magic curtain of friendly user interfaces and clever engineering, and delve further into various processes underlying the ubiquitous technology we depend upon yet take for granted, the book also contains special “TechTalk” chapters that explain the theoretical basics in an intuitive way.
  the brief history of everything: A Theory of Everything Ken Wilber, 2001-10-16 A concise, comprehensive overview of the “M Theory” and its application in today’s world, by a renowned American philosopher Ken Wilber has long been hailed as one of the most important thinkers of our time, but his work has seemed inaccessible to readers who lack a background in consciousness studies or evolutionary theory—until now. In A Theory of Everything, Wilber uses clear, non-technical language to present complex, cutting-edge theories that integrate the realms of body, mind, soul, and spirit. He then demonstrates how these theories and models can be applied to real world problems and incorporated into readers’ everyday lives. Wilber begins his study by presenting models like “spiral dynamics”—a leading model of human evolution—and his groundbreaking “all-level, all-quadrant” model for integrating science and religion, showing how they are being applied to politics, medicine, business, education, and the environment. He also covers broader models, explaining how they can integrate the various worldviews that have been developed around the world throughout the ages. Finally, Wilber proposes that readers take up an integral transformative practice—such as meditation—to help them apply and develop this integral vision in their personal, daily lives. A fascinating and easy-to-follow exploration of the “M Theory,” this book is another tour-de-force from one of America’s most inventive minds.
  the brief history of everything: The Mother Tongue Bill Bryson, 2015-06-02 “Vastly informative and vastly entertaining…A scholarly and fascinating book.” —Los Angeles Times With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can’t), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world’s largest growth industries.
  the brief history of everything: Quackery Lydia Kang, Nate Pedersen, 2017-10-17 What won’t we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine—yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison—was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.
  the brief history of everything: The Dawn of Everything David Graeber, David Wengrow, 2021-11-09 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself. Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume. The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action. Includes Black-and-White Illustrations
  the brief history of everything: The Little Book of Big History Ian Crofton, Jeremy Black, 2016-06-23 The Little Book of Big History breaks down the main themes of Big History into highly informative and accessible parts for all readers to enjoy.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of (Nearly) Everything Paranormal Terje G. Simonsen, 2020-06-09 “A superb survey of the paranormal” and a travelogue through the twilight zone of human consciousness—hailed by experts as the best introduction to psychic phenomena (Herbie Brennan, New York Times–bestselling author). This is the most entertaining and broad survey of the paranormal ever made—combining forgotten lore, evidence from parapsychological experiments, and the testimonies of scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists, psychologists, physicists, and philosophers. Exploring the possibility that paranormal phenomena may be objectively real, this travelogue through the twilight zone of human consciousness is both scientifically rigorous and extremely entertaining. Readers may be surprised to learn that reputable scientists, among them several Nobel laureates, have claimed that: • Telepathy is a reality • Cleopatra’s lost palace and Richard III’s burial place were recovered with clairvoyance • The US military set up an espionage program using psychics Could it be that what we usually call “supernatural” is a natural but little understood communication via this mental internet? The winner of the most prestigious award in the field, the Parapsychological Association Book Award, A Short History of (Nearly) Everything Paranormal is an engaging, entertaining and informative analysis of a controversial subject.
  the brief history of everything: The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less) David Bercovici, 2016-11-22 Covering 13.8 billion years in some 100 pages, a concise, wryly intelligent history of everything, from the Big Bang to the advent of human civilization. With wonder, wit, and flair—and in record time and space—geophysicist David Bercovici explains how everything came to be everywhere, from the creation of stars and galaxies to the formation of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, to the origin of life and human civilization. Bercovici marries humor and legitimate scientific intrigue, rocketing readers across nearly fourteen billion years and making connections between the essential theories that give us our current understanding of topics as varied as particle physics, plate tectonics, and photosynthesis. Bercovici’s unique literary endeavor is a treasure trove of real, compelling science and fascinating history, providing both science lovers and complete neophytes with an unforgettable introduction to the fields of cosmology, geology, genetics, climate science, human evolution, and more. “For determined minds hoping for cogent, clever explanations for what we know of the history of the universe, Bercovici nails it.” —Shelf Awareness “Explaining life, the universe and everything in 100 pages may be a tall order, but physicist and volcano enthusiast Bercovici rises to the challenge. . . . Origins delivers on its promise—and (bonus!) it’s even fun to read.” —Discover “Clear, concise, comprehensive, and written with verve and a sense of humor, The Origins of Everything is a delightful journey through time from the big bang to the present day.” —Doug Macdougall, author of Frozen Earth
  the brief history of everything: The History of Everything in 32 Pages Anna Claybourne, 2020-10-06 From the Big Bang and the creation of the stars, through the evolution of plants and animals, the dawn of the dinosaurs, and on toward the first humans, early civilizations, empires, and technology, this incredible book will take you through the history of, well, everything! Fourteen exciting double-page spreads draw the reader into a world of discovery. Each fascinating scene depicts a key development in life on earth, illustrated in a colorful and engaging way and packed with interesting facts and figures.
  the brief history of everything: The Evolution of Everything Matt Ridley, 2015-10-27 “Mr. Ridley’s best and most important work to date…there is something profoundly democratic and egalitarian—even anti-elitist—in this bottom-up approach: Everyone can have a role in bringing about change.” —Wall Street Journal The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a fascinating argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world Human society evolves. Change in technology, language, morality, and society is incremental, inexorable, gradual, and spontaneous. It follows a narrative, going from one stage to the next, and it largely happens by trial and error—a version of natural selection. Much of the human world is the result of human action but not of human design: it emerges from the interactions of millions, not from the plans of a few. Drawing on fascinating evidence from science, economics, history, politics, and philosophy, Matt Ridley demolishes conventional assumptions that the great events and trends of our day are dictated by those on high. On the contrary, our most important achievements develop from the bottom up. The Industrial Revolution, cell phones, the rise of Asia, and the Internet were never planned; they happened. Languages emerged and evolved by a form of natural selection, as did common law. Torture, racism, slavery, and pedophilia—all once widely regarded as acceptable—are now seen as immoral despite the decline of religion in recent decades. In this wide-ranging, erudite book, Ridley brilliantly makes the case for evolution, rather than design, as the force that has shaped much of our culture, our technology, our minds, and that even now is shaping our future.
  the brief history of everything: A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson, 2012-05-15 God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.
  the brief history of everything: Big History David Christian, Craig Benjamin, Cynthia Brown, 2013-08-02 Big History: Between Nothing and Everything surveys the past not just of humanity, or even of planet Earth, but of the entire universe. In reading this book instructors and students will retrace a voyage that began 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang and the appearance of the universe. Big history incorporates findings from cosmology, earth and life sciences, and human history, and assembles them into a single, universal historical narrative of our universe and of our place within it.ËË The first edition of Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, is written by the pioneers of the field, and presents a framework for learning about anything and everything. It encourages students to think critically about our cumulative history and the future of the world through a variety of lenses.
  the brief history of everything: The Body Bill Bryson, 2019-10-15 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A must-read owner’s manual for every body. Take a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body in this “delightful, anecdote-propelled read” (The Boston Globe) from the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything. With a new Afterword. “You will marvel at the brilliance and vast weirdness of your design. —The Washington Post Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body—how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Brysonesque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, “We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted.” The Body will cure that indifference with generous doses of wondrous, compulsively readable facts and information. As addictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best.
  the brief history of everything: A Brief History of Everyone who Ever Lived Adam Rutherford, 2017 'A brilliant, authoritative, surprising, captivating introduction to human genetics. You'll be spellbound' Brian Cox This is a story about you. It is the history of who you are and how you came to be. It is unique to you, as it is to each of the 100 billion modern humans who have ever drawn breath. But it is also our collective story, because in every one of our genomes we each carry the history of our species - births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration and a lot of sex. In this captivating journey through the expanding landscape of genetics, Adam Rutherford reveals what our genes now tell us about human history, and what history can now tell us about our genes. From Neanderthals to murder, from redheads to race, dead kings to plague, evolution to epigenetics, this is a demystifying and illuminating new portrait of who we are and how we came to be. *** 'A thoroughly entertaining history of Homo sapiens and its DNA in a manner that displays popular science writing at its best' Observer 'Magisterial, informative and delightful' Peter Frankopan 'An extraordinary adventure...From the Neanderthals to the Vikings, from the Queen of Sheba to Richard III, Rutherford goes in search of our ancestors, tracing the genetic clues deep into the past' Alice Roberts
  the brief history of everything: The Everything Store Brad Stone, 2013-10-15 The authoritative account of the rise of Amazon and its intensely driven founder, Jeff Bezos, praised by the Seattle Times as the definitive account of how a tech icon came to life. Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators -- Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg -- Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing. The Everything Store is the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.
  the brief history of everything: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid Bill Bryson, 2006-10-17 From one of the world's most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s. Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as The Thunderbolt Kid. Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and of his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends. Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of Women Kate Walbert, 2009-06-16 Inspired by a suffragist ancestor who starved herself to promote the integration of Cambridge University, Evie refuses to marry and Dorothy defies a ban on photographing the bodies of her dead Iraq War soldier sons, a choice that embarrasses Dorothy's daughters.
  the brief history of everything: Black Holes and the Universe Igorʹ Dmitrievich Novikov, 1995-09-28 A popular account of the properties and significance of black holes.
  the brief history of everything: The Love Hypothesis Ali Hazelwood, 2021-09-14 The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation! As seen on THE VIEW! A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021 When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships—but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor—and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
  the brief history of everything: The Religion of Tomorrow Ken Wilber, 2017-05-02 A provocative examination of how the great religious traditions can remain relevant in modern times by incorporating scientific truths learned about human nature over the last century A single purpose lies at the heart of all the great religious traditions: awakening to the astonishing reality of the true nature of ourselves and the universe. At the same time, through centuries of cultural accretion and focus on myth and ritual as ends in themselves, this core insight has become obscured. Here, Ken Wilber provides a path for re-envisioning a religion of the future that acknowledges the evolution of humanity in every realm while remaining faithful to that original spiritual vision. For the traditions to attract modern men and women, Wilber asserts, they must incorporate the extraordinary number of scientific truths learned about human nature in just the past hundred years—for example, about the mind and brain, emotions, and the growth of consciousness—that the ancients were simply unaware of and thus were unable to include in their meditative systems. Taking Buddhism as an example, Wilber demonstrates how his comprehensive Integral Approach—which is already being applied to several world religions by some of their adherents—can avert a “cultural disaster of unparalleled proportions”: the utter neglect of the glorious upper reaches of human potential by the materialistic postmodern worldview. Moreover, he shows how we can apply this approach to our own spiritual practice. This, his most sweeping work since Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, is a thrilling call for wholeness, inclusiveness, and unity in the religions of tomorrow.
  the brief history of everything: The Universe in a Nutshell Stephen W. Hawking, 2005-01 Stephen Hawking s A Brief History of Time was a publishing phenomenon. Translated into thirty languages, it has sold over nine million copies worldwide. It continues to captivate and inspire new readers every year. When it was first published in 1988 the ideas discussed in it were at the cutting edge of what was then known about the universe. In the intervening years there have been extraordinary advances in our understanding of the space and time. The technology for observing the micro- and macro-cosmic world has developed in leaps and bounds. During the same period cosmology and the theoretical sciences have entered a new golden age. Professor Stephen Hawking has been at the heart of this new scientific renaissance. Now, in The Universe in a Nutshell, Stephen Hawking brings us fully up-to-date with the advances in scientific thinking. We are now nearer than we have ever been to a full understanding of the universe. In a fascinating and accessible discussion that ranges from quantum mechanics, to time travel, black holes to uncertainty theory, to the search for science s Holy Grail the unified field theory (or in layman s terms the theory of absolutely everything ) Professor Hawking once more takes us to the cutting edge of modern thinking. Beautifully illustrated throughout, with original artwork commissioned for this project, The Universe in a Nutshell is guaranteed to be the biggest science book of 2001.
  the brief history of everything: Everything American History Book Loriann Hoff Oberlin, 2001-08-01 With over 4 million sold, our Everything RM books are just too good to pass up. Each book in the Everything RM series is packed with clear, concise information that is written in a fun, engaging style. The large trim-size, bright colors, and great price attract readers, and over 300 pages of unparalled content and two-color illustrations keep them reading!
  the brief history of everything: In the Beginning -- Brian Delf, Richard Platt, Reader's Digest Association (Canada), 1995 An introduction to inventions, discoveries, and developments in transportation, communication, medicine, and other fields.
  the brief history of everything: Don't Know Much About American History Kenneth C. Davis, 2003-04 Presents, in question and answer format, a history of the United States from the exploration of Christopher Columbus to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
  the brief history of everything: A Really Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, 2010 Bill's own fascination with science began with a battered old schoolbook he had when he was about ten or eleven years old in America. It had an illustration that captivated him - a cutaway diagram showing Earth's interior as it would look if you cut into it with a large knife and carefully removed about a quarter of its bulk. And he very clearly remembers thinking: 'How do they know that?' Bill's story-telling skill makes the 'How?' and, just as importantly, the 'Who?' of scientific discovery entertaining and accessible for all ages. In this exciting edition for younger readers, he covers the wonder and mysteries of time and space, the frequently bizarre and often obsessive scientists and the methods they used, the crackpot theories which held sway for far too long, the extraordinary accidental discoveries which suddenly advanced whole areas of science when the people were actually looking for something else (or in the wrong direction) and the mind-boggling fact that, somehow, the universe exists and, against all odds, life came to be on this wondrous planet we call home. -- publisher website.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Illustrated Edition Bill Bryson, 2010-10-05 One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer. In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, 2004-09-01 The author traces the Big Bang through the rise of civilization, documenting his work with a host of the world's most advanced scientists and mathematicians to explain why things are the way they are.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of Nearly Everything - 10th Anniversary Edition Bill Bryson, 2013 Now revised and updated to take in the major scientific developments of the past decade, A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's classic quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. Winner of the Aventis Prize for Science Books and the Descartes Science Communcation Prize, it became a huge bestseller, and remains one of the most popular science books of all time. Bill Bryson's challenge was to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry and particle physics, and see if there wasn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. On his travels through time and space, he encounters a splendid collection of astonishingly eccentric, competitive, obsessive and foolish scientists, and takes us on an eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.
  the brief history of everything: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition Bill Bryson, 2010-10-05 This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Now, in this handsome new edition, Bill Bryson’s words are supplemented by full-color artwork that explains in visual terms the concepts and wonder of science, at the same time giving face to the major players in the world of scientific study. Eloquently and entertainingly described, as well as richly illustrated, science has never been more involving or entertaining.
  the brief history of everything: Ken Wilber Frank Visser, 2003-08-28 The first comprehensive overview of the life and thought of the American philosopher Ken Wilber.
  the brief history of everything: Untold Stories Nancy Hansen, Roy Hanes, Diane Driedger, 2018-04-18 This long-awaited reader explores the history of Canadian people with disabilities from Confederation to current day. This edited collection focuses on Canadians with mental, physical, and cognitive disabilities, and discusses their lives, work, and influence on public policy. Organized by time period, the 23 chapters in this collection are authored by a diverse group of scholars who discuss the untold histories of Canadians with disabilities―Canadians who influenced science and technology, law, education, healthcare, and social justice. Selected chapters discuss disabilities among Indigenous women; the importance of community inclusion; the ubiquity of stairs in the Montreal metro; and the ethics of disability research. This volume is a terrific resource for students and anyone interested in disability studies, history, sociology, social work, geography, and education. Untold Stories: A Canadian Disability History Reader offers an exceptional presentation of influential people with various disabilities who brought about social change and helped to make Canada more accessible.
  the brief history of everything: Books and Beyond [4 volumes] Kenneth Womack, 2008-10-30 There's a strong interest in reading for pleasure or self-improvement in America, as shown by the popularity of Harry Potter, and book clubs, including Oprah Winfrey's. Although recent government reports show a decline in recreational reading, the same reports show a strong correlation between interest in reading and academic acheivement. This set provides a snapshot of the current state of popular American literature, including various types and genres. The volume presents alphabetically arranged entries on more than 70 diverse literary categories, such as cyberpunk, fantasy literature, flash fiction, GLBTQ literature, graphic novels, manga and anime, and zines. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and provides a definition of the genre, an overview of its history, a look at trends and themes, a discussion of how the literary form engages contemporary issues, a review of the genre's reception, a discussion of authors and works, and suggestions for further reading. Sidebars provide fascinating details, and the set closes with a selected, general bibliography. Reading in America for pleasure and knowledge continues to be popular, even while other media compete for attention. While students continue to read many of the standard classics, new genres have emerged. These have captured the attention of general readers and are also playing a critical role in the language arts classroom. This book maps the state of popular literature and reading in America today, including the growth of new genres, such as cyberpunk, zines, flash fiction, GLBTQ literature, and other topics. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and provides a definition of the genre, an overview of its history, a look at trends and themes, a discussion of how the literary form engages contemporary issues, a review of the genre's critical reception, a discussion of authors and works, and suggestions for further reading. Sidebars provide fascinating details, and the set closes with a selected, general bibliography. Students will find this book a valuable guide to what they're reading today and will appreciate its illumination of popular culture and contemporary social issues.
  the brief history of everything: An Ecology of Communication William Homestead, 2021-04-20 An Ecology of Communication addresses an ecological and communicative dilemma: the universe, earth, and socio-cultural life world are resoundingly dialogic, yet we have created modern and postmodern cultures largely governed by monologue. This book is indispensable reading for scholars and students of communication, ecology, and social sciences, as it moves readers beyond the anthropocentric bias of communication study toward a listening-based model of communication, an essential move for discerning fitting responses and the call to responsibility in an age of ecocrisis.
  the brief history of everything: From Postmodernism to Postsecularism Eric Walberg, 2013-07-31 Eric Walberg's new book From Postmodernism to Postsecularism: Re-emerging Islamic Civilization provides an overview of imperialism and colonialism in the Muslim world. It elaborates on the third of the Great Games addressed in his earlier work, Postmodern Imperialism, which traced the movement of history from the colonialism of the British and other empires, through the neocolonialism of the US empire, to the current Great Game marked by the revival of Islam. Walberg reviews the Islamic reform traditions from the 19th century on (deriving from Al-Afghani, Qutb) incorporating the Islamic critique of the West as well as the Sunni/ Shia, mainstream/ Sufi/ Salafi divisions. Then he addresses the twentieth century experience of Islamic states (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran), as well as the current dynamics of the Muslim world (Saudi, Iran, Qatar, Turkey, and now Egypt/ Tunisia/ Libya). Key actors and milestones in the struggle to free the Muslim world from the imperial yoke are discussed. While the Christian/Judaic surrender to capitalism led to Marxist secularism and the communist utopia, Walberg views the Islamic project as containing an alternative socio-economic orientation. This prevented the rise of capitalism/ imperialism in lands populated by Muslims, making them the losers in the technology race of the 19th-20th centuries, but the repository of a corrected vision of the rich lost values of the earlier monotheistic traditions. Here modernity and postmodernism are critiqued from both left and right, and Islam is discussed as both an alternative worldview and world order. However the contradictions of the Arab Spring may be resolved as the West continues its decline, Walberg projects how the understandings entrenched in Islamic civilization point toward a new-old civilizational alternative, one not derivative from the West, but indigenous to the developing world still under its heel.
BRIEF Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of BRIEF is short in duration, extent, or length. How to use brief in a sentence.

BRIEF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
BRIEF definition: 1. lasting only a short time or containing few words: 2. used to express how quickly time goes…. Learn more.

Brief - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
Something brief is short and to the point. If you make a brief visit, you don't stay long. If you make a brief statement, you use few words. If you wear brief shorts, you are showing a little too …

Brief vs. Debrief – What’s the Difference? - Writing Explained
As a noun, brief means a summary or short statement. “Did everyone read the brief I sent out via email?” asked the manager. As a verb , brief means to prepare someone by informing him or …

Brief - definition of brief by The Free Dictionary
1. short in duration: a brief holiday. 2. short in length or extent; scanty: a brief bikini. 3. abrupt in manner; brusque: the professor was brief with me this morning. 4. terse or concise; containing …

brief adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of brief adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

BRIEF definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
A brief speech or piece of writing does not contain too many words or details. In a brief statement, he concentrated entirely on international affairs. Write a very brief description of a typical …

What does brief mean? - Definitions.net
What does brief mean? This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word brief. An attorney's legal argument in written form …

brief - definition and meaning - Wordnik
Apr 8, 2014 · adjective Short in time, duration, length, or extent. adjective Succinct; concise. adjective Curt; abrupt. noun A short, succinct statement. noun A condensation or an abstract …

BRIEF Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Brief is most commonly used as an adjective to mean lasting a short amount of time. As an adjective, it can also mean concise or said in a few words, as in Keep your introduction brief …

BRIEF Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of BRIEF is short in duration, extent, or length. How to use brief in a sentence.

BRIEF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
BRIEF definition: 1. lasting only a short time or containing few words: 2. used to express how quickly time goes…. Learn more.

Brief - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
Something brief is short and to the point. If you make a brief visit, you don't stay long. If you make a brief statement, you use few words. If you wear brief shorts, you are showing a little too much …

Brief vs. Debrief – What’s the Difference? - Writing Explained
As a noun, brief means a summary or short statement. “Did everyone read the brief I sent out via email?” asked the manager. As a verb , brief means to prepare someone by informing him or …

Brief - definition of brief by The Free Dictionary
1. short in duration: a brief holiday. 2. short in length or extent; scanty: a brief bikini. 3. abrupt in manner; brusque: the professor was brief with me this morning. 4. terse or concise; containing …

brief adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of brief adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

BRIEF definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
A brief speech or piece of writing does not contain too many words or details. In a brief statement, he concentrated entirely on international affairs. Write a very brief description of a typical …

What does brief mean? - Definitions.net
What does brief mean? This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word brief. An attorney's legal argument in written form …

brief - definition and meaning - Wordnik
Apr 8, 2014 · adjective Short in time, duration, length, or extent. adjective Succinct; concise. adjective Curt; abrupt. noun A short, succinct statement. noun A condensation or an abstract of …

BRIEF Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Brief is most commonly used as an adjective to mean lasting a short amount of time. As an adjective, it can also mean concise or said in a few words, as in Keep your introduction brief …