Our hero Bill takes a top prize for his non-travel book. A Short History of Nearly Everything is still about our world, our planet, and all things global—in a sense—but should we take a hint that real book sales and recognition are not in travel at all, but in books more general than the word general?
Bryson wins Descartes prize for his guide to science [Guardian Unlimited]
I better add this to my Christmas wish list. Then we can do an over/under bet as to whether or not I could finish reading it before my future first child is born. 560 pages or five years? Back to Bill….
Accepting his award, Bill Bryson said: “Never has someone been more generously awarded for his ignorance. I’m very grateful to all the scientists who, without exception, helped me to discover the wonder of their science.
“I’m especially grateful to the Royal Society for nominating me for this award and in recognition of that, plan to return a small portion of the prize to the Society, in the hope they’ll be able to buy the staff a seasonal drink.”
Congrats Bill!
Strangely enough, this is one of those books that you can’t put down. Honestly. The guy can do no wrong, it seems.
Though to be fair, I read it on a twenty- four hour bus ride from Ecuador to Peru. You spend twenty-four hours on a bus in South America, you’ll read anything written in a Latin alphabet. Of course, you also might try to strangle yourself with your travel pillow; it’s a pretty long journey.
Either way, looks good on the bookshelf.
Conor