A Short History of Nearly Everything

I must say, never I have enjoyed a history book as this one. Bill Bryson explains the earth's history succinctly but at the same thoroughly. He has knack of storyteller and interweaves the stories of historian (which almost ends with historian dying unhappy life) that you feel like you are reading novel and not history (and in good sense). It covers everything from Big Bang, formation of environment, to evolution of life, the repeated cycle of evolution and extinction, purpose of life, from subjects ranging from (apart from history) geology, biology, palaeontology, to cosmology, anthropology and genetics etc.