Book: A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

http://science-mattersblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/books-short-history-of-nearly.html

I've previously espoused my love for Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.  This, A Really Short History of Nearly Everything, is the kid-friendly version of that book. 


This version uses text from the original (which I really like about it) and it adds lots of illustrations, many of them humorous, which fits right in with Bryson's writing style.  Of course the text is abridged to student-friendly length and content.  Each topic is given a two page spread, and like the original, you can open the book to any page you wish and dive right in. 

I think I would stick with the original for reading aloud to students, as the text flows better and provides more information  than in the Really Short version.  The text in A Really Short History of Nearly Everything is fragmented and interspersed amongst the pictures, which makes it difficult to read aloud (unless you're looking to share a single fact), but it's wonderful for students to pick up and page through on their own.