Reddit mentions of A Short History of Nearly Everything

I'd invite you to pick up an amazing read...

https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-ebook/dp/B000FBFNII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498844129&sr=8-1&keywords=a+short+history+of+nearly+everything

In it, you will learn that the people who actually do the discovering almost never get the credit.

It's a shortened version of the quote from "A Short History of Nearly Everything" because I couldn't fit the whole thing on the image, but you can read the rest here: http://www.huzheng.org/bookstore/AShortHistoryofNearlyEverything.pdf

Or buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-ebook/dp/B000FBFNII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325176212&sr=8-1

I'd recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. This book is great because it covers so many of the most scientifically important events throughout history, rather than just being a layman's introduction to a specific branch of science.

If you're at all interested in statistics and how misleading they can be, check out The Drunkard's Walk.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" covers all these topics, and more. It's written in really understandable language as well. I highly recommend it.

New to /r/EDC, here's my start:

1. Notebook, puzzles, & book I'm currently reading (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
   
   
2. Gloves
   
   
3. Beanie
   
   
4. Nalgene
   
   
5. Firefox-branded Ogio backpack
   
   
6. Meds
   
   
7. mini-USB cable
   
   
8. Gerber multi-tool + Leatherman Freestyle CX
   
   
9. Kobalt flashlight
   
   
10. Belkin mini-surge + USB
    
    
11. Klipsch Image S4 headphones
    
    
12. Case for business cards
    
    
13. Spare earbuds
    
    
14. Contacts + glasses
    
    
15. Zune HD (yes, a Zune)
    
    
16. Spare 8GB flash drive
    
    
17. Nike sunglasses
    
    Items 18-24 are always in my pockets (+/- a few extras occassionally)
    
    
18. Chapstick
    
    
19. Keys
    
    
20. Gerber pocketknife
    
    
21. Gum (always always always)
    
    
22. 8GB flash drive
    
    
23. Money clip (credit/debit cards, license, a few business cards)
    
    
24. Fob for office
    
    
25. (Not pictured) HTC Inspire 4G
    
    Very open to suggestions/critiques. I really enjoy seeing all the different EDC collections, from minimalist to zombie apocalypse-ready.
    I'm thinking about putting together a car/bug-out bag, but that'll come later.
    
    EDIT: formatting

I love the Mental Floss History of the World and Mental Floss History of the United States. Those two may be exactly what you're looking for. Also, check out Sarah Vowell. Assasination Vacation is great. Bill Bryson's work is excellent. A Short History of Nearly Everything is mind-blowing and I've heard great things about At Home which is next on my reading list. :)

That's where I first learned of Mary Anning.

>...In 1812, at Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast, an extraordinary child named Mary Anning--aged eleven, twelve, or thirteen, depending on whose account you read--found a strange fossilized sea monster, seventeen feet long and now known as the icthyosaurus, embedded in the steep and dangerous cliffs along the English Channel.
>
>It was the start of a remarkable career. Anning would spend the next thirty-five years gathering fossils, which she sold to visitors. (She is commonly held to be the source for the famous tongue twister "She sells seashells on the seashore.) She would also find the first plesiosaurus, another marine monster, and one of the first and best pterodactyls. Though none of these was technically a dinosaur, that wasn't terribly relevant at the time since nobody then knew what a dinosaur was. It was enough to realize that the world had once held creatures strikingly unlike anything we might now find.
>
>It wasn't simply that Anning was good at spotting fossils-though she was unrivalled at that--but that she could extract them with the greatest delicacy and without damage. If you ever have the chance to visit the hall of ancient marine reptiles at the Natural History Museum in London, I urge you to take it for there is no other way to appreciate the scale and beauty of what this young woman achieved working virtually unaided with the most basic tools in nearly impossible conditions. The plesiosaur alone took her ten years of patient excavation. Although untrained, Anning was also able to provide competent drawings and descriptions for scholars. But even with the advantage of her skills, significant finds were rare and she passed most of her life in poverty.
>
>It would be hard to think of a more overlooked person in the library of paleontology than Mary Anning, but in fact there was one who came painfully close. His name was Gideon Algernon Mantell and he was a country doctor in Sussex.

Reference: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

1. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of Modern China
   
   
2. A Short History of Nearly Everything
   
   
3. [The Essential Smart Football] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085XSN26/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

I'll recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a relatively easy read but packed with all sorts of interesting bits of history and science.

1. I'd definitely choose to spend my day picking my nose through every single conversation. I work with kids so they'd think it was HILARIOUS! Also, I could preface every single interaction with "It was either this or sand in my underwear and a pebble in my shoe".
   
2. No shoes, because shoes are the worst!
   
3. I don't really care all that much about apps... but I like the FalconPRO app for Twitter. It's pretty HSLD.
   
4. Macaroni and cheese :)
   
5. That when they were wearing shoes/boots and socks and driving, the bottoms of their feet would itch.
   
6. Hawaii. I would like to go because my best friend's hubby is stationed out there, so we would have a place to crash. I imagine it's very sunburn-y out there (I am a pasty, pasty lady). And gloriously warm and sunny. Really, I imagine it is the opposite of where I am now.
   
7. Person who can jam the most rusty nails through their hands (must provide pics for proof!) will win a wishlist item of my choosing <$5!!
   
8. There are number of land reserves that have pretty remote areas. You could build yourself a pretty solid camp and no one would notice. It's happened before here in Maine.
   
9. My dog and I would perform a duet where I bark "Jingle Bells" and she howls at me.
   
10. This is one of the best works of non-fiction I have ever read. My husband just finished this and absolutely loved it. He described it as fantastical historical fiction.
    
11. As a summer camp director, I am a legally bound mandated reporter. What that means is that if I suspect a child has been abused or neglected at home, I have to report that to the state. It is my least favorite part of my job.
    
12. Ah crap, you caught me with Pokemon cards. In my defense - I was bringing them in to give away, since I haven't touched them since 1998. (We don't allow Pokemon cards, or any other trading/gaming cards at after care or camp for a number of reasons. Not just because kids lose them or they make trades they regret, but because we do have kids whose families can't afford them and it makes those kids feel like shit.)
    
13. Did you go to summer camp as a kid? If you did - what's your favorite camp song? If not - what's your favorite silly song from your childhood?
    
14. The sound of someone forcefully dragging a knife across a plate.
    
15. That look my dog gives me that lets me know she loves me unconditionally <3
    
16. "No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip, she is spherical, like a globe, I could find out countries in her". Because COME ON! it is totally the original yo' momma is so fat joke.
    
17. Calamity Jane, Nefertiti, Captain Jack
    
18. In the kitchen at work, preparing snack for the middle schoolers.
    
19. I was a deviled egg. I wore a white t-shirt, taped a yellow construction paper oval to my tummy, and had devils horns/pitchfork/tail.
    
20. I sure did! No one I voted for won, but that wasn't the point.

It was a thread like this on Reddit where someone recommended this book. Lemme pay it back.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Loved every page of this book.

I listen to Radio Lab and This American Life a lot while working. Also Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (audio book)

Not really comic related but they keep my brain busy during the more mundane parts of comicking.

Read about it in Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Learned about him from Bill Byson's excellent "A Short History Of Nearly Everything"

http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-ebook/dp/B000FBFNII

We probably owe a lot of this guy, and it's a grim reminder that we are no where near done fighting for consumer and public protection.

• The Disappearing Spoon
  
  
• A Short History of Nearly Everything
  
  These are two I've read and suggest. The first is about the history and events surrounding discovery of the elements. The second is just a nice history of various science topics.
  
  Enjoy, and have a nice couple weeks off.
  
  -- C