A small change this week, as I focus on a non-fiction book from a few years back. It’s A Short History of Nearly Everything from 2003, but as far as I know, not much has happened in the past six years. The news section focuses on Haruki Murakami’s new opus, as well as a novelist going overboard on twitter. Recommended Reading #3 Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everythingis this week’s recommended summer reading. Unlike the novels featured in the last two editions of this column, this book is one that should appeal to everyone, and one that everyone should read. It’s thoroughly enjoyable, and endlessly informative. Due to Bryson’s past as a travel writer, it is more a travelogue of scientific history rather than a heavy textbook that needs a glossary. The book is meticulously researched; Bryson consulted hundreds of science works, so you now never have to. He fills it … There’s more →