Without a doubt this is the best, easiest, most informative book I have ever read. From the first whisper of something out there in the big black nothing, to the big bang, to gasses, to their expansion, to their solidification, to the atom, to the lava, to the water, and to the things that crawled out of it - on and on: the history of the universe, everything in it, of it, right through to you and me, and to the billions and trillions of tiny little bits and pieces that make us up and keep us on the go.

Bill Bryson writes in such an illustrative way that one gets the feeling of having understood, at long last, what is going on around us and how it actually works.

Brim-full with anecdotes not only about everything from molecules to mountains but also about the evidence-finding, the difficulties of research, the back-biting and the rivalry of the researchers, and the casual stumbling upon immense truths that have changed entire concepts within physics and the history of evolution. And everything written in language which is accessible, totally devoid of pomposity – destined to be understood by everyone, even by those who still shudder at the idea of yet another lesson in the lab.

The beautiful thing is that Bryson doesn’t take or aim to take the wonder out of everything – he just lets his reader fully appreciate just how awe-inspiring – and even how extraordinary in the fullest sense of the word – everything is.

This is a book which can be read beginning to end, can be dipped into for a quick pick-me-up for the brain, and can then be re-read again and again with non-diminished pleasure.

If you want to know how important you are and how lucky it is that you ever got here, this is a must read of the first order. You cannot do without.