In this fully revised and updated edition of the best-selling popular science book of the 21st century, Bill Bryson makes complex subjects clear and compelling for everyone with an interest in the world around them. NOW FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED. 'Possibly the best scientific primer ever published.' Economist 'Truly impressive...It's hard to imagine a better rough guide to science.' Guardian Bill Bryson can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 is the result of his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from being nothing at all to what we are today. Now fully updated to reflect the many scientific discoveries in the last twenty years since this book was first published, it explains among much else: why Pluto is no longer a planet how the number of moons in the solar system has more than doubled in 20 years how scientists used advances in genetics to discover previously unknown species of early humans why we still don't know what most of the universe is made of how the little Higgs boson transformed physics This journey through time and space will inform a new generation of readers, young and old, as well as those who read this book on first publication with a new perspective based on what we know now. Written in his inimitable style, Bryson makes complex subjects fascinating and accessible to everyone with an interest in the world around them.