Short history of nearly everything

I ve just started to read this book by Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything and its just fabulous. Being a Science and Engineering student, this book is like going back to basics and also a revelation of many sorts.. things you didnt understand being presented to you in a basic layman's terms... He writes about everything... the title says it all... he talks about Cosmos, Universe, Big bang, life, evolution, civilization, how it all began... simply fascinating... safe to say its a book about Life, Universe and Everything... After reading this book, I ve got to revisit Douglas Adam's - Hitch Hiker's to get a new perspective on it... :) .. Maybe read it at sipping a coffee in the restaurant at the end of the universe... hehe... :) .. watch the end and then go back and watch the Big bang too... :) ... Bill Bryson also talks about the Scientists(Newton, Cavendish, Hooke et. al) of many eras, their works, and their eccentricities.. I would highly recommend this book as a text book for 1st year college student to really understand what they studied in High school physics and chemistry... this book will take you to a new level of understanding of all that you ve learnt so far... Because it is written by a non-scientist for a layman... so you can expect lot of simplicity and no scientific mumbo-jumbo and no complex equations... just illustrations..

Some of the interesting quotes I ve come across so far...

"The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, it is queerer than we can suppose" - JBS Haldane

"What would happen if you traveled to the edge of the universe and peek your head out of the curtains? what would you find beyond? where would your head be if it was not in the universe? "