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Quote by Bill Bryson

“You know, the most amazing thing happened to me tonight," he would say. “I saw a car with the license plate ARW 357. Can you imagine? Of all the millions of license plates in the state, what was the chance that I would see that particular one tonight? Amazing!”His point, of course, was that it is easy to make any banal situation seem extraordinary if you treat it as fateful. So it is possible that the events and conditions that led to the rise of life on Earth are not quite as extraordinary as we like to think. Still, they were extraordinary enough, and one thing is certain: they will have to do until we find some better.”

Book:A Short History of Nearly Everything

Work

A Short History of Nearly Everything

This book offers a wide-ranging exploration of the cosmos, delving into the fundamental questions of existence, the development of the universe, and the role of humans in the grand scheme of things. It covers scientific discoveries and theories across various fields, including physics, chemistry, and biology, providing a narrative that intertwines the story of science with the story of humanity. more

Author

Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, born on December 8, 1951, is a British author known for his humorous and knowledgeable writing. His works span across various fields, including travel literature, natural history, and science popularization. more

“There was a sociologist who had written a paper for us all to read—something he had written ahead of time. I started to read the damn thing, and my eyes were coming out: I couldn’t make head nor tail of it! I figured it was because I hadn’t read any of the books on that list. I had this uneasy feeling of “I’m not adequate,” until finally I said to myself, “I’m gonna stop, and read one sentence slowly, so I can figure out what the hell it means.” So I stopped—at random—and read the next sentence very carefully. I can’t remember it precisely, but it was very close to this: “The individual member of the social community often receives his information via visual, symbolic channels.” I went back and forth over it, and translated. You know what it means? “People read.” Then I went over the next sentence, and I realized that I could translate that one also. Then it became a kind of empty business: “Sometimes people read; sometimes people listen to the radio,” and so on, but written in such a fancy way that I couldn’t understand it at first, and when I finally deciphered it, there was nothing to it.”

Plain Language Richard Feynman

Book:"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

Source: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

“There was only one thing that happened at that meeting that was pleasant or amusing. At this conference, every word that every guy said at the plenary session was so important that they had a stenotypist there, typing every goddamn thing. Somewhere on the second day the stenotypist came up to me and said, “What profession are you? Surely not a professor.” “I am a professor,” I said. “Of what?” “Of physics—science.” “Oh! That must be the reason,” he said. “Reason for what?” He said, “You see, I’m a stenotypist, and I type everything that is said here. Now, when the other fellas talk, I type what they say, but I don’t understand what they’re saying. But every time you get up to ask a question or to say something, I understand exactly what you mean—what the question is, and what you’re saying—so I thought you can’t be a professor!”

Plain Language Richard Feynman

Book:"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

Source: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

“Richard is made in the image of a physicist dead since the previous century.”

Richard Feynman

Book:Scardown

Source: Scardown