Bill Bryson explores the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer and attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization.;Lost in the cosmos: How to build a universe ; Welcome to the solar system ; Reverend Evans's universe -- Size of the earth: Measure of things ; Stone-breakers ; Science red in tooth and claw ; Elemental matters -- New age dawns: Einstein's universe ; Mighty atom ; Getting the lead out ; Muster Mark's quarks ; Earth moves -- Dangerous planet: Bang! ; Fire below ; Dangerous beauty -- Life itself: Lonely planet ; Into the troposphere ; Bounding main ; Rise of life ; Small world ; Life goes on ; Good-bye to all that ; Richness of being ; Cells; Darwin's singular notion ; The stuff of life -- Road to us: Ice time ; Mysterious biped ; Restless ape ; Good-bye.