Book Review: A Short History of Nearly Everything

Finished reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Here's my short review of the book. (originally posted on shelfari)

What a trip!
From the tiniest particle we know of to the largest object we have seen in this universe, from the time of big bang (or just right after) to the 21st century.

If I learned anything from this book, it must be that we humans know so little about the world including ourselves. To be fair, it isn't so much that we are ignorant to all these, but rather the world is just so vast and there's simply so much more to know. Indeed, we only just begun to understand anything really.

Another good thing about this book was that the author didn't seem to take a side on an inconclusive scientific theory. As it is, Science should be understood as a discipline of approach to understanding the world around us, not the understanding itself. Good science tells us "what" in the universe, and sometimes "perhaps this is how" of it. But It shouldn't attempt to, and cannot explain "why" questions, since the "why" question is the subject of theology (and if you'd refuse to believe there's a such thing as theology, then, maybe philosophy). This book is humble enough to stop at "perhaps how".

Definitely a good read.