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Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Hardcover: 528 pages

Publisher: Doubleday Books; First Edition edition (September 15, 2009)

Language: English

Cover of The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, No. 3)

ISBN-10: 0385504225

ISBN-13: 978-0385504225

Genre: Dan Brown, everything else would be an undeserved compliment.

Synopsis:

Robert Langdon is invited at short notice by his wealthy Masonic friend, Peter Salomon, to Washington DC - allegedly to deliver a lecture about the symbolism of the capital of the USA in the Smithsonian Institution. When he arrives there, though, there is no conference, no guests and, most importantly, no Peter to greet him, only a weirdo who phones him shortly after the landing and claims he has orchestrated a spurious event because he needs Langdon to decipher some code and help him to unlock an "ancient portal". A severed human hand found by the security officers, probably Peter’s, the first clue to the secret, doesn’t bode well. The CIA (why them, not FBI?) is already sniffing around making the situation even worse. What’s happened? Will Langdon manage to solve several codes, one inside another, under huge stress and within given 24 hours? Will he save the abducted friend, his attractive sister Katherine, the Masons and most probably the world (or at least the North America)? You bet.

What I liked:

Dan Brown undeniably did a lot of research for this book. It doesn’t mean he got every single fact correct, but you no longer can find such huge and quite disarming in their naiveté mistakes as those of the notorious DaVinci Code (e.g. the Merovingians founded Paris – gah!) and have field day with them when writing your review. The Lost Symbol focuses on new territory, specifically the world of Freemasons and the science of Noetics, and I found it quite original. Overall the book certainly makes for riveting reading as you follow the twists and turns of the story. As long as you don’t think too much about it. Preferably not at all.

What I didn’t like:

Oh dear, where to start…ok, my head first - horns are already there, red-hot and sharp…tail is properly groomed and waxed…hooves - well- polished.  ;) Good.

Speaking more seriously I have failed so far to find a way to switch my thinking off while reading Dan Brown’s books. It is bad. Here are the lamentable results.

If you have read any other Dan Brown book you can claim you’ve read all his books as you will know very well what to expect – formulaic, somewhat predictable, and simplistic narration. Perhaps the author has a "Dan Brown Story Template" on his PC and just runs on autopilot when writing?

 When it comes to the plot of The Lost Symbol the situation is almost tragic - there is no real cohesion, many of the chapters are just short paragraphs, the novel reads as if it wasn't edited at all.  It almost appears as if the author decided to write a B class movie script instead a novel: plenty of action, not much sense. Apart from that the story really takes a while to find its momentum. The early chapters are cluttered with info but do we need to be told ALL of it at once right at the beginning ?

The characters, as usual, are really laughably cardboard- flat. For a Harvard Professor with a specialty in Symbolism Robert Langdon is becoming more and more ignorant repeating in every novel his own words and trite formulas over and over again. The mystery code he solved this time was childish to say the least of it. The baddie called Mal’ach lacks any psychological depth and his back story had as many holes as a broken sieve (but we get the full description of  his almost super human strength, his tattoos and a spray tan that covers them instead – truly classy and fascinating stuff). We are also presented with a 4"9 Japanese woman who is the head of the CIA but  has a remarkable degree of ignorance of history and generally doesn’t seem to be intelligent at all - just sadistic and boorish. Right. That’s a typical Dan Brown's CIA director for you.

Finally Katherine, the Noetics scientist, and her associate, Trish. Katherine is rich, slender and attractive so she survives the most gruesome assaults  and even lands several times in the oh- so-fine-desirable-and-manly arms of Mr Langdon. Trish, although younger, is plump, not so attractive and not so rich so she is murdered…no comment (it could have been an expletive).

Let me end these complaints by saying that Soganlik is a district of Kartal/Istanbul not the name of a prison. A nice and respectable district with hotels and little shops. Do the Turks even have a Soganlik prison? Perhaps but I couldn’t find it – there were plenty of other names of Turkish prisons but not this one. I am hardly surprised, though. Mr. Dan Brown when oh when you (or your editor) will finally discover the fantastic possibilities of the Google search engine?

The final verdict:

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I read this book because my fellow blogger reviewed it and found it to be not so bad. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by it as usual. I am not a fan of Mr. Brown and it seems I will never be. If you like childish conspiracy theories, Masonic rituals, symbolism, founding fathers' philosophy, knowledge of the ancients and Noetics then maybe you'll enjoy his novels but remember we are speaking about a seriously dumbed down version of many otherwise interesting theories and events. In my very humble opinion there are many better positions dealing with them.

Thougthful Thursday, 30 December

 

What does a New Year mean to you? Is it an important occasion or just a date? Do you see the point of celebrating it? Is it a new beginning, a day as usual, a nice holiday, or simply some free time to enjoy with  your family and/or friends? Do you go to a party or do you stay at home watching tv? Do you make New Year's resolutions? Do you really intend to keep them?

Here are some quotes I chosen for this topic:

Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve.  Middle age is when you're forced to.  ~Bill Vaughn

Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits.  ~Author Unknown

New Year's Day is every man's birthday.  ~Charles Lamb

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.Benjamin Franklin

New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions. ~Mark Twain

 

I would love to know your opinion - do share!

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse; First Edition edition (October 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416971734

Cover of Leviathan

ISBN-13: 978-1416971733
Genre: steampunk, adventure

I got a copy of this book courtesy of one of my friends (thanks Kasiul!) in a form of an e-book.

Synopsis:

The first novel of this series presents World War I as never seen before. The story begins in accordance with the historical facts: on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are assassinated, triggering a sequence of alliances that plunges the world into war. But that is where the similarity with history ends. After the assassination of his parents, Prince Aleksandar, their only child, must run for his life or he will be assassinated as well. The worst thing is that he is not aware of the danger. He is smuggled out of his palace by a small group of loyal servants – apparently his father has organized everything beforehand just in case. The five of them flee Austria at night in a Cyklop Stormwalker, a war machine powered by Diesel engines that walks on two legs. Not everything goes smoothly, though. How do you get a 15-year old boy to do exactly what you want him to do? Ask him if he's too scared to do it and he will be eager to prove you can’t be more wrong. The technique works with princes too - at first Aleksandar is defiant and almost openly hostile but soon enough, thanks to the cleverness of one of his tutors, Wildcount Volger, he provides full support to his people. They will need every help they can get.

The war, however, won't be about mustard gas and months spent by tired soldiers in muddy trenches; Aleksandar's Great War is going to be a showdown between two factions: the Clankers and the Darwinists. The Clankers (Austrians and Germans) depend on mechanics and steam power, man-made machines with a various number of legs and firepower that rivals the creative weaponry and biotechnology of their opponents. The Darwinists are inspired by Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution, creating crossbreeds of animals and also airships out of living organisms with changed DNA. On one such an airship, called Leviathan, serves an unusual girl called Deryn (or Dylan) Sharp. She prays that no one will discover that she is a girl or her career as an airman, the most exciting thing she’s ever done in her young life, might end rather abruptly. Girls can't be soldiers. When her airship crashes in Switzerland, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross, and suddenly the line between enemy and ally is no longer clearly defined. The damaged ship needs plenty of food and new engines – two of many things hard to get on a glacier unless you can get help from the Clankers; Aleksandar, contrary to his servants, thinks it would be a good idea to help with the repairing of the ship and move outside Switzerland… As it happens Leviathan heads south, to the Ottoman Empire, and its mission is highly secretive, involving a lady-scientist, a thylacine, some talking lizards, talking parrots, and a batch of temperature-sensitive eggs. Will the representatives of two so different nations cooperate peacefully to save their skins?

What I liked:

This is a novel which seems to return to the wonderland of Jules Verne but with 20th century history instead of the fin de siecle world of Verne's 1900 France. In a digitalized reality of 21 century, where most children, let alone adults, have long lost the sense of wonder, it is a pleasure to read about awe-inspiring science without computers, light sabers, holodecks, spacecraft or green aliens.

The plot is full of action - you will be glued to the book till the very end. It presents a very interesting historical twist and mentions some complex problems as well: for example in Leviathan the mystery of DNA has been manipulated to create a huge, living dirigible or airship. However there are some countries and even a lot of people in the Great Britain itself (called Monkey Luddites) , who oppose the very idea of artificial life creation. It promises a lot of conflict and I hope it will be explored further in the next books of the series.

Last but not least: Wildcount Volger is a really great fictional character (although secondary) and I am looking forward to reading more about him!

What I didn’t like:

While I don't deny that I was completely fascinated with the fast-paced plot and the whole world-building, I found the characterization of main teenage characters a little flat. It is just the first part so I expect more character development and emotional depth in next books – there’s certainly a lot of potential for it. I fully know, however, that it is a YA book and the author's intended target audience may disagree with that criticism.

The final verdict:

It's a fun, fresh and decidedly unique tale. If you like steampunk and adventure don't miss this one. Buy the second book and even pre-order the third. I certainly will.

Riders on the Storm

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Into this house we're born

Into this world we're thrown

Like a dog without a bone

An actor out alone

Riders on the storm

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet family will die
Killer on the road, yeah.
(The Doors)

It will be the final installment of an accidental trilogy, which

Franz Ferdinand with his wife Sophie and their children via Wikipedia

was started by the sad life and mysterious death of Ludwig II of Bavaria and progressed through the fates of his relatives – the  mysterious suicide of the Crown Prince Rudolf and the assassination of his mother, the Empress Elizabeth of Austria also known as Sissi. I call it “accidental” because I didn’t plan a trilogy; to tell you the truth after I started I simply couldn’t resist the temptation to write some more about the fortunes of this particular royal house. After all, you get everything here: a Cinderella-like princess whose life was rather far from a fairy tale, a young Emperor who falls in love with a younger sister when he is supposed to marry the older one, a king suspected of madness, illicit affairs with men and women, , strange, phoney suicides, a hint of ugly Bismarck’s realpolitik and coercive diplomacy, various shadowy international plots and organizations, young and deluded terrorists…really more than enough to tempt anybody who loves history. Taking also into account the fact that lately I started reading “Leviathan” by Scott Westerfeld and one of its main characters is a boy called Aleksandar who is the Prince of Hohenberg and the only son of Franz Ferdinand you must admit I had no choice.

In 1889, after the sudden death of Rudolf which was officially declared a suicide, the Austro-Hungarian empire was in dire need for an heir. The elderly Franz Joseph designated for that role his only living younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. However Karl renounced the succession rights a few days after the Crown Prince’s death. Why? You must admit that being a Habsburg prince those days was a very high occupational hazard; being additionally an heir was simply too dangerous and too uncomfortable a position for a middle-aged man. He decided to let younger people show their mettle and so his child, young Franz Ferdinand, born in 1863, had to shoulder that dubious favour. He seemed to be the right man for the job - let me present him more closely now.

He was born in Graz, Austria, the oldest son in the family. When Franz was only twelve, his cousin Duke Francis V of Modena died, naming the boy his heir on condition that he add the name Este to his own. Franz Ferdinand thus became one of the wealthiest men in Austria. After being named the Crown Prince, young Franz still managed to find time for travel and personal pursuits – among other things he spent hunting kangaroos and emus in Australia in 1893, and the return voyage to Austria took him across the Pacific on the RMS Empress of China from Yokohama to Vancouver. Quite a trip. Apart from traveling, Franz Ferdinand had a great fondness for trophy hunting. In his diaries he kept track of an estimated 300,000 game kills, 5,000 of which were deer. A small fraction of the trophies were on exhibit at his Bohemian castle at Konopiště which he also stuffed with various antiquities, his other great collection passion.



Politically Franz Ferdinand, not unlike poor Rudolf, his predecessor and cousin, was a proponent of granting greater autonomy to all ethnic groups in the Empire and of addressing their grievances, especially the Czechs in Bohemia and the Yugoslavic peoples in Croatia and Bosnia. He also advocated a careful approach towards Serbia warning that harsh treatment of that country would bring Austria-Hungary into open conflict with Russia, to the ruin of both Empires. He was of course right but nobody knew to what extend. In short Franz Ferdinand didn’t appreciate his Germanic subjects as much as the Iron Chancellor, von Bismarck, would like him to - he was in for a rather interesting but not particularly safe life.


The German historian Michael Freund described Franz Ferdinand as "a man of uninspired energy, dark in appearance and emotion, who radiated an aura of strangeness and cast a shadow of violence and recklessness ... a true personality amidst the amiable inanity that characterized Austrian society at this time." His other admirer, Karl Kraus, put it this way: "he was not one who would greet you ... he felt no compulsion to reach out for the unexplored region which the Viennese call their heart." His relations with Emperor Franz Joseph were tense; the emperor's personal servant recalled in his memoirs that "thunder and lightning always raged when they had their discussions." The commentaries and orders which the heir to the throne wrote as margin notes to the documents of the Imperial central commission for architectural conservation (where he was Protector) reveal what can be described as "choleric conservativism." Soon enough old Franz Joseph was given another reason to get stormy with his heir and nephew –  young Ferdinand fell in love.


In 1895 he met Countess Sophie Chotek at a ball in Prague. Sophie was a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. Franz Ferdinand began to visit Archduke Friedrich's villa in Pressburg (now Bratislava) and plenty of people though he was interested in his eldest daughter, Marie Christine. Sophie kept their relationship a secret for more than two years – although she made an indelible impression on him and both were determined to marry each other there was just a little snag. To be an eligible marriage partner for a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg, you had to be a member of one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. The Choteks were not one of these families, although they did include among their ancestors, in the female line, princes of Baden, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, and Liechtenstein. One of Sophie's direct ancestors was Albert IV, Count of Habsburg; he was descended from Elisabeth of Habsburg, a sister of King Rudolph I of Germany. It was still not enough. When their mutual attachment became official a public scandal erupted.

Sophie - image via Wikipedia

Franz Ferdinand, contrary to the meek Rudolf, refused to marry anyone else. Perhaps the fact that he was deeply in love gave him the strength to defy the old Emperor, perhaps the times have changed. He also gathered some important allies to support his cause. Pope Leo XIII, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and the German Emperor Wilhelm II all made representations on his behalf to Emperor Franz Joseph , arguing that the disagreement between the Emperor and his heir was undermining the stability of the monarchy.

Finally, in 1899, Emperor  agreed to permit Franz Ferdinand to marry Sophie, on condition that the marriage would be morganatic. It was really a huge fly in the ointment. Practically it meant that their descendants would not have succession rights to the throne and Sophie would not share her husband's rank, title, precedence, or privileges; as such, she would not normally appear in public beside him. She would not be allowed to ride in the royal carriage or sit in the royal box. Apparently it was all they could get and they accepted it, promising themselves quietly that as soon as the old man died they would change these harsh conditions immediately.

The wedding took place on 1 July 1900, at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia; enraged Franz Joseph did not attend the ceremony and neither did so any other archduke, including Franz Ferdinand's brothers. Allegedly they were ordered not to. The only members of the imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand's stepmother, Princess Maria Theresa of Braganza, and her two daughters. Upon the marriage, Sophie was given the title "Princess of Hohenberg" (Fürstin von Hohenberg) with the style "Her Serene Highness" (Ihre Durchlaucht). In 1909, she was given the more senior title "Duchess of Hohenberg" (Herzogin von Hohenberg) with the style "Her Highness" (Ihre Hoheit). This raised her status considerably, but she still yielded precedence at court to all the archduchesses. Whenever a function required the couple to gather with the other members of royalty, Sophie was forced to stand far down the line of importance, separated from her husband. Franz Ferdinand felt it keenly but all he could to was to grind his teeth and persevere.

The couple had four children: Princess Sophie von Hohenberg (1901–1990), Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902–1962), Prince Ernst von Hohenberg (1904–1954), and a stillborn son (1908). It seems they were a very happy family. Unfortunately the time left to them to enjoy their happiness was short.

In 1914, General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina, invited Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie to watch his troops on maneuvers. Franz Ferdinand knew that the visit would be dangerous. A large number of people living in Bosnia-Herzegovina were unhappy with Austrian rule and favoured union with Serbia.


Sophie was usually not allowed to accompany her husband on official visits, but on this occasion Franz Ferdinand arranged for her to come as an anniversary gift. She was ecstatic. The visit took place at the end of June and proved to be one big safety nightmare. Already the first day, when the procession passed (oh irony) the central police station, Nedjelko Cabrinovic hurled a hand grenade at the archduke's car. The driver accelerated when he saw the object flying towards the car and the grenade exploded under the wheel of the next car. Two of the occupants were seriously wounded. Fourteen spectators were also hit by bomb splinters. The visit should have been aborted at that stage but it wasn’t. Franz Ferdinand allegedly shouted in anger to local officials: “So you welcome your guests with bombs”. 

After attending the official reception at the City Hall, Franz Ferdinand asked about the members of his party that had been wounded by the bomb. When the archduke was told they were badly injured in hospital, he insisted on being taken to see them. A member of the archduke's staff, Baron Morsey, suggested this might be dangerous, but Oskar Potiorek, who was responsible for the safety of the royal party, replied, "Do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins?" However, Potiorek did accept it would be better if Sophie remained behind in the City Hall. When Baron Morsey told Sophie about the revised plans, she refused to stay, arguing: "As long as the Archduke shows himself in public today I will not leave him."
On Sunday, 28 June 1914, the royal couple insisted on seeing all those injured at the hospital. After travelling there, Franz and Sophie decided to go to the palace, but their driver took a wrong turn onto a side street, where Gavrilo Princip,19 at the time and a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized by the Black Hand spotted them. As the car was backing up, Princip approached and shot Sophie in the abdomen and Franz Ferdinand in the jugular. 

A detailed account of the shooting can be found in Sarajevo by Joachim Remak:

As the car was reversing (to go back to the Governor's residence because the entourage thought the Imperial couple were unhurt) a thin streak of blood shot from the Archduke's mouth onto Count Harrach's right cheek (he was standing on the car's running board). Harrach drew out a handkerchief to still the gushing blood. The Duchess, seeing this, called: "For Heaven's sake! What happened to you?" and sank from her seat, her face falling between her husband's knees.

Harrach and Potoriek ... thought she had fainted ... only her husband seemed to have an instinct for what was happening. Turning to his wife despite the bullet in his neck, Franz Ferdinand pleaded: "Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinder! - Sophie dear! Don't die! Stay alive for our children!". Having said this, he seemed to sag down himself. His plumed hat ... fell off; many of its green feathers were found all over the car floor. Count Harrach seized the Archduke by the uniform collar to hold him up. He asked "Leiden Eure Kaiserliche Hoheit sehr? - Is Your Imperial Highness suffering very badly?" "Es ist nichts - It is nothing" said the Archduke in a weak but audible voice. He seemed to be losing consciousness during his last few minutes, but, his voice growing steadily weaker, he repeated the phrase perhaps six or seven times more.

A rattle began to issue from his throat, which subsided as the car drew in front of the Konak bersibin (Town Hall). Despite several doctors' efforts, the Archduke died shortly after being carried into the building while his beloved wife was almost certainly dead from internal bleeding before the motorcade reached the Konak.

They were both dead within an hour. The storm began.

Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir, who was not greatly beloved either by the Emperor, Franz Josef, or his government, was three weeks in coming.  Arguing that the Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand (whether it was or not the truth remains unclear, but it appears unlikely), the Austro-Hungarians opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans
The 'Great War', which began on 28 July 1914 with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war with Serbia, was the first truly global war – although it began in Europe but quickly spread throughout the world.  Many countries became embroiled within the war's first month; others joined in the ensuing four years.
What was intended as a strictly limited war - a brief war - between accuser and accused, Austria-Hungary and Serbia, rapidly escalated into something that was beyond the expectations of even the most warlike ministers in Berlin. 

The First World War has sometimes been labeled, with reason, "a family affair".  This is derived from the reality that many of the European monarchies - many of which fell during the war (including those of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary) – were closely inter-related. The British monarch George V's predecessor, Edward VII, was the German Kaiser's uncle and, via his wife's sister, uncle of the Russian Tsar as well.  His niece, Alexandra, was the last Romanoff Tsar's wife.  Edward's daughter, Maud, was the Norwegian Queen, and his niece, Ena, Queen of Spain; Marie, a further niece, was to become Queen of Romania.

Despite these familial relations European politics at that time was all about power,  influence, 'protection' and encirclement. The World War I also proved to be very cruel. Family ah family...

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie,_Duchess_of_Hohenberg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/declarationsofwar.htm

Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Volume 27, Funk & Wagnall, 1983

The black hole has caught something for you ...

Finally I found a good use for my black hole section. That place will be  simply perfect  for book spoilers and some of my rabid theories - such theories which are out on a very shaky limb, not supported by a shred of evidence - in short just wild flashes of imagination. I didn't want to include them in my essays but I knew sooner or later I would be forced to present them. They are like acid, corroding my brain - better out than inside.

I published my first theory today, concerning the mysterious Mayerling Incident - the death of the Crown Prince Rudolf from my latest essay. The theory will float around for a week or so, then it will disappear from the event horizon for good. If you want to find out how I "solved" the mystery of Rudolf's "suicide" and that of his lover, Mary Vetsera, follow this link or go straight to the "Black hole" page right below the title of the blog, on the right. You can only comment here, though (I am not sure if it is possible to include/switch on the comment section in a black hole). All opinions will be appreciated (even those not very favourable).

Have fun!!!

Image via Wikipedia

Review: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Cover of A Short History of Nearly Everything

Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (May 6, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0767908171

genre: non-fiction, popular science 

Synopsis:

A Short History of Nearly Everything tries to present the history of our material world and life from primordial nothingness before the Big Bang to this very moment. A really daunting task but also a very exciting one. The author uses hundred of available sources covering roughly the same material as every science book, summarizing not only what we know, but also how we know it and how long we’ve been known it. The organization of the book is partly chronological, partly thematic - each chapter is devoted to a topic like the age of our planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped into larger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself." The latter half of the book deals primarily with the life sciences - biology, botany, ecology, zoology, oceanography, organic chemistry etc.

What I liked:

The book, although quite bulky, is very readable, you can almost forget you are reading about science and other heavy topics. As it was written by Tim Flannery in “The Times Literary Supplement”: "It represents a wonderful education, and all schools would be better places if it were the core science reader on the curriculum.” I might only add that this position can be treated as a kind of litmus paper - if you, after reading it, still say that you don’t want to have anything in common with any science you might be right after all (and the same can be true if this book is read by your kids).

For me the best part of the book was that it relates how little we actually do know about our world, its history, atomic structure, and really practically every scientific field. After reading it you will think differently about the challenges before an average scientist. "The facts we know tell us how much we don't know" – such a saying can summarize our knowledge pretty well.

What I didn’t like:

As usually with such ambitious undertakings the devil is in the details. I am not a scientist myself but I do like checking this and that independently. Let me just say the author not always presents the facts correctly. For example he makes several glaring errors in his discussion of physics, suggesting that particles with "spin" are actually spinning about an axis (which they are not) and presents entanglement as a violation of relativity (which it is not). These two were suggested to me by my physicist friend after just a superficial skimming of the text. Further on the author implies that the Hawaiian islands are part of the mid oceanic ridge system (p226) when clearly they are not - the archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.. What a pity no trained scientist was hired to edit this book – after all the author interviewed some of them so he could have asked them to have a look at this or that.

In my humble opinion Bryson wastes far too much ink relating strange facts picked up in the course of his research, from William Buckland's dining habits to Gideon Mantell's twisted spine. They might enliven the narration at first but after a while you get tired of them and you start asking yourself what this book is really about.

Finally Bryson often just quotes results and conclusions without further explanation. Generally the text is permeated by a very conservative, and often, contradictory bias – you can easily say which theories/beliefs appeal to the author and which are written off by him as wacky. I suppose if you deal with science you should be a tad more objective yourself.

The final verdict:

The book, despite its flaws, is still a worthwhile read, particularly suited for average, non-scientific people (which were, in fact, its main target audience). However more incisive readers or those of a higher technical level might be disappointed.