A Short History of Nearly Everything was a standout publication, a once in generation masterpiece which everybody should hold a copy of.

Many years ago, I had the audiobook, I listened to it over and over, read by a excellent narrator.

Sadly this version is appalling, the closest it achieves to scientific greatness is a listening experience akin to Stephen Hawkins voice simulator.

William Roberts may be well equipped for children's tales, television voiceovers or impressions of a village idiot, but adding the required weight to volume of this quality he is left exposed and out of his depth.

Sadly the waste of a credit and now I am left to find original copy I so enjoyed.

I know Bill Bryson has somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 books on here but this was my first listen. I was quickly captivated - - William Roberts narrates like an ol' time Disney cartoon character...you know, the Disney cartoon shorts that usually began with a duck professor pulling out a projector and screen and "teaching" something - - those style Disney cartoons are what I thought of as soon as I heard his voice. That hooked me right from the outset and I found it easy to visualize what Bryson wrote and Roberts narrated in splendid cartoon imagery. I took this audio on a business trip, shut off the t.v., turned off the lights and let this book talk to me until I fell asleep; promptly rewinding in the morning to the part I last remembered.
Beyond the narration, the book provides a lot of interesting information - many concepts I haven't heard of or thought about before, answers to questions I had but never looked up, and people and events I rediscovered in a new way. I, probably like you, buy audio books to help me think, expand my ideas, and for enjoyment - this book nailed it! I have had many interesting talks with my son and daughter discussing various topics from this book - fantastic!

To be fair, I usually listen to fiction, but have read and enjoyed a number of Bryson's travelogue-type books. However, I found this audiobook hard going - I had to be in the right state of mind to listen, with nothing else going on around me and not in the least bit tired. The moment your mind wanders, you have missed something and the next 10 minutes may well become meaningless.

I also couldn't get our of my head, a basic objection to what Bryson was doing. He starts by telling us that he hates the fact that scientists tell us things without explaining how they know it to be true ... and then spends the rest of the book spewing out a fantastic array of 'facts' which we are just expected to believe. I'm sorry, but I just didn't buy it!

Everything you want to know about everything, well researched beautifully written and very well read too.

I really enjoyed this and will be listening to it again.

Enjoyed this audiobook. This is not an easy listen as there are a lot of facts to absorb. I liked science at school so the subject matter was close to my heart, it was good to revisit and also learn some new things after so many years. Will listen to it again.

I've listened to it twice and also bought the paperback in swedish to better grasp all the amazing facts that are presented in this book. Not saying that it is difficult to understand the language in the book but translation of some scientific terms are better left to a professional. It is well-written and well-narrated. A genuine must-have book.

This is a chunky book, and the audio version is no different. There is a LOT of scientific ground covered in this, and there's no time for hanging around, explaining things twice over. However, unlike lectures, you can rewind this, stop when you get a bit overwhelmed and (certainly what I'm going to do) listen to it all over again.
This probably wouldn't suit anyone who's got A-levels or higher in science, but also, you have to be interested in finding out stuff, as although the author has little stories within, you ARE going to be listening to a lot of scientific histories and theories.
Nice narration and I especially approve of the author's view on carbon dating !

All i can say is Read this book, or do as i did and Listen to this book ! this is now my fav book ever (as of 12th May 2013)

This is another good Bryson. This book does what is says on the tin and you get a short history of nearly everything. Some parts are more interesting than others but Bryson does his best with some difficult topics. It's overall a great read and well narrated.

The amount of information and the extent of the topics in this book could have been an overload if it wasn't for the skills of Bill Bryson. He manges to inject anecdotes and character portraits along with the historical facts which enlivens this subject making it accessible to all. As well as an interesting scientific read it is beautifully crafted. It is worth taking time over it; I found I was stopping frequently to look up more on the Internet.