Friday I finished Bill Bryson's book "A Short History of Nearly Everything". I liked the book and recommend it. For me, that's unexpected. I reluctantly began the book, almost returning it after reading briefly from the introduction. It is only due to laziness that the book remained on my reading shelf instead of finding it's way back to the rack at my local Barnes & Noble.

Bryson's approach is that of a scientist. He definitely does not mention religion and does not give any religion any credibility, either by disputing or discounting. He simply assumes that man is one more product in a long line of random evolution. Yes, life is a miracle. But to him, we are just a remarkable coincidence.

And yet, he admits over and over again that the scientific theories that describe our history are based on the slightest amount of factual evidence. It is Bryson that points out that our fossil record is in the neighborhood of 1 bone per every billion creatures. So in a million years there may be 20 or so bones from Homo Sapiens that become part of the fossilized history of planet earth. And his numbers express the total bones that may survive. He does not assume that all of these bones would be found.

So, Bryson trusts sciences version of who we are and how we got to this point, even though he admits that these conclusions are most often conjecture and speculation. And he does not discount the role of ego and treachery among scientist in the influencing of our world view. His is a godless look at existence.

And yet Bryson gives me hope. Our understanding of our world and surroundings, our history and our future, is ever changing and evolving. We are part of life that is both fascinating and ultimately inexplicable. What we don't know about ourselves will keep us occupied and interested for a long time to come...........
9:11:24 PM    comment []