Just started reading A Short History of Nearly Everything

 by Bill Bryson and even though I’ve just started chapter three, I’m very much enthralled with it. Currently I’m exploring the cosmos, and the creation of the universe is simply stupifying to me, and mostly beyond my comprehension. How something so incredibly vast as the universe can have suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) come into existance is a serious mind bender.

Bryson is a good writer. He articulates some pretty complex points, writes with a good sense of humour, and without any sense of condescension. I left off last night reading about the scale of our current solar system. I can’t remember the exact facts, but something that struck me as amazing was that Pluto has only been seen a few times in the known history of man. It took seven years from the first sighting for an independant source to also spot it and verify it’s existance. It’s probably not helped that Pluto is very small by planet standards (it would fit in the lower 48 United States), has the color and reflectiveness of charcoal, and is so freaking far away.

Anyhow, Carrie got me the book, and I think she might be regretting it because my mind is filling up with trivia bits that I pester her with. She surpised me when getting it, and even kept it a secret. At one point we were travelling up a moving staircase in a tube station, and I made a remark when I saw a poster for it, suggesting that it looked like something I might like. She’s a good woman.