This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

What on earth is Bill Bryson doing writing a book of popular science--A Short History of Almost Everything? Largely, it appears, because this inquisitive, much-travelled writer realised, while flying over the Pacific, that he was entirely ignorant of the processes that created, populated and continue to maintain the vast body of water beneath him.

In fact, it dawned on him that "I didn't know the first thing about the only planet I was ever going to live on". The questions multiplied: What is a quark? How can anybody know how much the Earth weighs? How can astrophysicists (or whoever) claim to describe what happened in the first gazillionth of a nanosecond after the Big Bang? Why can't earthquakes be predicted? What makes evolution more plausible than any other theory? In the end, all these boiled down to a single question--how do scientists do science? To this subject Bryson devoted three years of his life, reading books and journals and pestering the people who know (or at least argue about it); and we non-scientists should be pretty grateful to him for passing his findings on to us.

Broadly, his investigations deal with seven topics, all of enormous interest and significance: the origins of the universe; the gradual historical discovery of the size and age of the earth (and the beginnings of the awesome notion of deep time); relativity and quantum theory; the present and future threats to life and the planet; the origins and history of life (dinosaurs, mass extinctions and all); and the evolution of man. Within each of these, he looks at the history of the subject, its development into a modern discipline and the frameworks of theory that now support it. This is a pretty broad brief (life, the universe and everything, in fact), and it's a mark of Bryson's skill that he is able to carve a clear path through the thickets of theory and controversy that infest all these disciplines, all the while maintaining a cracking pace and a fairly judicious tone without obvious longueurs or signs of haste. Even readers fairly familiar with some or all of these areas of discourse are likely to learn from A Short History. If not, they will at least be amused--the tone throughout is agreeable, mingling genuine awe with a mild facetiousness that often rises to wit.

One compelling theme that appears again and again is the utter unpredictability of the universe, despite all that we think we know about it. Nervous page-turners may care to omit the sensational chapters on the possible ways in which it all might end in disaster--Bryson enumerates with cheerful relish the kind of event that makes you want to climb under the bedclothes: undetectable asteroid colliding with the earth; superheated magma chamber erupting in your back garden; ebola carrier getting off a plane in London or New York; the HIV virus mutating to prevent its destruction in the mosquito's digestive system. Indeed, the chief theme of this sprightly book is the miraculous unlikeliness, in a universe ruled by randomness, of stability and equilibrium--of which one result is ourselves and the complex, fragile planet we inhabit. --Robin Davidson

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

A fascinating and exciting insight into our exsistence., 05 Oct 2008
Well I love a good Bill Bryson book and this is surely the best. As a travel writer he has kept me interested and amused with many an exciting journey but this rates as the best journey he has ever written. A journey that takes the layman on a travel experience spanning billions of years including an insight into all the sciences and ologies one can imagine. If only I had been able to read science at school like this...I might well have found an interest.

Overrated, 23 Sep 2008
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding! All too often they think they understand something when they simply don't.

I really can't fathom that in a long book which is supposed to be a "all you need to know" about the science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science and differentiates between science and pseudo-science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating the reliability between the big bang theory and crystal healers.

Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.

He does make reasonable attempts at describing many of the Scientific theories, but there are times when his understanding is just way off.

For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method. Both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity. It's just asinine. Perhaps Bryson should think about that the next time he gets on a plane.

His poor understanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He sounds like a scientifically illiterate ignoramus who has just sifted their way through some intelligent design propaganda.

Why doesn't he point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? Why doesn't he go through the simple mathematics in DNA which have confirmed evolution an infinite amount of times and provide even stronger evidence than fossils?

If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very area broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.

Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.

If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivia; dates and names rather than any real understanding, yes sadly this book could be a runner.


Essential introduction to science!, 23 Sep 2008
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.

Not for me, 25 Aug 2008
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.

Everyone should read this, 20 Aug 2008
This is a great book that everyone should read, Bill Bryon has written this brilliantly with some amusing sections. It really shows the reader why science is so interesting and how various people (with intriguing characters) in history have worked towards some great discoveries including some of those who missed out on grabbing the credit for it.

I really enjoyed reading this.. if only science was taught like this when I was at school!

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

A fascinating and exciting insight into our exsistence., 05 Oct 2008
Well I love a good Bill Bryson book and this is surely the best. As a travel writer he has kept me interested and amused with many an exciting journey but this rates as the best journey he has ever written. A journey that takes the layman on a travel experience spanning billions of years including an insight into all the sciences and ologies one can imagine. If only I had been able to read science at school like this...I might well have found an interest.

Overrated, 23 Sep 2008
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding! All too often they think they understand something when they simply don't.

I really can't fathom that in a long book which is supposed to be a "all you need to know" about the science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science and differentiates between science and pseudo-science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating the reliability between the big bang theory and crystal healers.

Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.

He does make reasonable attempts at describing many of the Scientific theories, but there are times when his understanding is just way off.

For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method. Both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity. It's just asinine. Perhaps Bryson should think about that the next time he gets on a plane.

His poor understanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He sounds like a scientifically illiterate ignoramus who has just sifted their way through some intelligent design propaganda.

Why doesn't he point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? Why doesn't he go through the simple mathematics in DNA which have confirmed evolution an infinite amount of times and provide even stronger evidence than fossils?

If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very area broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.

Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.

If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivia; dates and names rather than any real understanding, yes sadly this book could be a runner.


Essential introduction to science!, 23 Sep 2008
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.

Not for me, 25 Aug 2008
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.

Everyone should read this, 20 Aug 2008
This is a great book that everyone should read, Bill Bryon has written this brilliantly with some amusing sections. It really shows the reader why science is so interesting and how various people (with intriguing characters) in history have worked towards some great discoveries including some of those who missed out on grabbing the credit for it.

I really enjoyed reading this.. if only science was taught like this when I was at school!

The Wit of Cricket., 07 Dec 2007
An Audio Book which I have enjoyed listening to over and over again. Makes the day a whole lot better. Not offensive in the slightest way.

Bowled over !!, 08 Oct 2007
This audio collection has had an entire car full of people roaring with laughter.It crosses all genders and age groups (youngest 9, eldest 68) and leaves everyone feeling much happier with life than before without offending anybody. I have already pre-ordered the "Wit of cricket 2". Excellent fayre!!

Wit in a plenty, 16 Jan 2006
Absolutely brilliant. I have listened to this 3 times now in the space of 2 days and am still laughing at some of the stories.

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

A fascinating and exciting insight into our exsistence., 05 Oct 2008
Well I love a good Bill Bryson book and this is surely the best. As a travel writer he has kept me interested and amused with many an exciting journey but this rates as the best journey he has ever written. A journey that takes the layman on a travel experience spanning billions of years including an insight into all the sciences and ologies one can imagine. If only I had been able to read science at school like this...I might well have found an interest.

Overrated, 23 Sep 2008
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding! All too often they think they understand something when they simply don't.

I really can't fathom that in a long book which is supposed to be a "all you need to know" about the science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science and differentiates between science and pseudo-science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating the reliability between the big bang theory and crystal healers.

Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.

He does make reasonable attempts at describing many of the Scientific theories, but there are times when his understanding is just way off.

For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method. Both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity. It's just asinine. Perhaps Bryson should think about that the next time he gets on a plane.

His poor understanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He sounds like a scientifically illiterate ignoramus who has just sifted their way through some intelligent design propaganda.

Why doesn't he point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? Why doesn't he go through the simple mathematics in DNA which have confirmed evolution an infinite amount of times and provide even stronger evidence than fossils?

If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very area broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.

Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.

If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivia; dates and names rather than any real understanding, yes sadly this book could be a runner.


Essential introduction to science!, 23 Sep 2008
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.

Not for me, 25 Aug 2008
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.

Everyone should read this, 20 Aug 2008
This is a great book that everyone should read, Bill Bryon has written this brilliantly with some amusing sections. It really shows the reader why science is so interesting and how various people (with intriguing characters) in history have worked towards some great discoveries including some of those who missed out on grabbing the credit for it.

I really enjoyed reading this.. if only science was taught like this when I was at school!

The Wit of Cricket., 07 Dec 2007
An Audio Book which I have enjoyed listening to over and over again. Makes the day a whole lot better. Not offensive in the slightest way.

Bowled over !!, 08 Oct 2007
This audio collection has had an entire car full of people roaring with laughter.It crosses all genders and age groups (youngest 9, eldest 68) and leaves everyone feeling much happier with life than before without offending anybody. I have already pre-ordered the "Wit of cricket 2". Excellent fayre!!

Wit in a plenty, 16 Jan 2006
Absolutely brilliant. I have listened to this 3 times now in the space of 2 days and am still laughing at some of the stories.

Entertainment 5, Practicality 0, 04 Oct 2008
There is no doubt that Stephen Fry is entirely the MOST suitable person for the job of reading ANY story for an audio book. His voice is perfectly suited to story telling and he is able to define and animate the characters in his own colourful way. It's a good audio book and this is very much attributed to the talented Mr Fry.

I am disappointed however, that the indexing for the CDs are in such a pickle! Whilst I understand that copying CDs and music is frowned upon, is it not feasible that a person can listen to this audio book on their MP3 player? Attempting to transfer this into a more mobile format is something of a mission. The CDs chapters and files are not labelled properly, so if you want to put this into MP3 format you will find you have a jumbled mess! This audio book was bought to provide some entertainment on a long plane journey. Sorting it into order has taken almost as long as the trip itself! If you want to listen to this on your ipod - GOOD LUCK!

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

A fascinating and exciting insight into our exsistence., 05 Oct 2008
Well I love a good Bill Bryson book and this is surely the best. As a travel writer he has kept me interested and amused with many an exciting journey but this rates as the best journey he has ever written. A journey that takes the layman on a travel experience spanning billions of years including an insight into all the sciences and ologies one can imagine. If only I had been able to read science at school like this...I might well have found an interest.

Overrated, 23 Sep 2008
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding! All too often they think they understand something when they simply don't.

I really can't fathom that in a long book which is supposed to be a "all you need to know" about the science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science and differentiates between science and pseudo-science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating the reliability between the big bang theory and crystal healers.

Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.

He does make reasonable attempts at describing many of the Scientific theories, but there are times when his understanding is just way off.

For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method. Both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity. It's just asinine. Perhaps Bryson should think about that the next time he gets on a plane.

His poor understanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He sounds like a scientifically illiterate ignoramus who has just sifted their way through some intelligent design propaganda.

Why doesn't he point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? Why doesn't he go through the simple mathematics in DNA which have confirmed evolution an infinite amount of times and provide even stronger evidence than fossils?

If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very area broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.

Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.

If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivia; dates and names rather than any real understanding, yes sadly this book could be a runner.


Essential introduction to science!, 23 Sep 2008
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.

Not for me, 25 Aug 2008
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.

Everyone should read this, 20 Aug 2008
This is a great book that everyone should read, Bill Bryon has written this brilliantly with some amusing sections. It really shows the reader why science is so interesting and how various people (with intriguing characters) in history have worked towards some great discoveries including some of those who missed out on grabbing the credit for it.

I really enjoyed reading this.. if only science was taught like this when I was at school!

The Wit of Cricket., 07 Dec 2007
An Audio Book which I have enjoyed listening to over and over again. Makes the day a whole lot better. Not offensive in the slightest way.

Bowled over !!, 08 Oct 2007
This audio collection has had an entire car full of people roaring with laughter.It crosses all genders and age groups (youngest 9, eldest 68) and leaves everyone feeling much happier with life than before without offending anybody. I have already pre-ordered the "Wit of cricket 2". Excellent fayre!!

Wit in a plenty, 16 Jan 2006
Absolutely brilliant. I have listened to this 3 times now in the space of 2 days and am still laughing at some of the stories.

Entertainment 5, Practicality 0, 04 Oct 2008
There is no doubt that Stephen Fry is entirely the MOST suitable person for the job of reading ANY story for an audio book. His voice is perfectly suited to story telling and he is able to define and animate the characters in his own colourful way. It's a good audio book and this is very much attributed to the talented Mr Fry.

I am disappointed however, that the indexing for the CDs are in such a pickle! Whilst I understand that copying CDs and music is frowned upon, is it not feasible that a person can listen to this audio book on their MP3 player? Attempting to transfer this into a more mobile format is something of a mission. The CDs chapters and files are not labelled properly, so if you want to put this into MP3 format you will find you have a jumbled mess! This audio book was bought to provide some entertainment on a long plane journey. Sorting it into order has taken almost as long as the trip itself! If you want to listen to this on your ipod - GOOD LUCK!

It's business time!, 22 Aug 2008
What a little gem this is. I can't believe this passed me by (well it was on the radio so that's probably why). This is probably better than anything I have seen on TV for the last couple of years. I must admit that I haven't seen the HBO TV series and I'm not sure if I really want to because this is so good that I don't want to be disappointed.

For those of you who don't know, Flight of the Conchords are a real band, they even have an album out on the sub pop label. Though this radio series is a fictitious account of their attempt to break into the UK scene. They are described as a novelty band and indeed their songs are very funny but the music is still good as well. The only thing I can compare them to are Tenacious D but then they aren't really like that. They are less blue and their style is less rock more pop and hip hop, and their lyrics are also a lot more clever. The actual style of the radio show is a bit like the Office US, with a lot of the comedy coming from Brian the band's manager and his unsuccessful attempts at everything.

I have to disagree with the reviewer who said that the performance of the British comedians in this show was poor. Daniel Kitson (Phoenix Nights) puts in a great performance in the York episode and there is also a good cameo from Andy Parsons (Mock the Week) as a music venue owner. Though to be honest these parts are quite small and most of the air time is dedicated to the Conchords and their manager. Rob Brydon is also fantastic as the narrator, which is something that the HBO series won't have. Some episodes are funnier than others though and that's why I haven't given this five stars. The York episode and the Pie episode though are probably two of my favorite comedy episodes of all time. You really do have to hear this

very disappointing, the songs get short shrift, 04 Dec 2007
Although this is worth a listen for diehard Conchord fans, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. A big part of the appeal of their HBO show, as well as the concert clips I've seen, is the contrast between Bret and Jemaine's dead-pan "normal" personalities, and their exuberant and fanciful songs. Since a radio show obviously has no visual component, you'd at least expect performances of the songs to be front and center, but it's not the case. The songs are rarely if ever presented complete and uninterrupted, often stepped on by Rob Brydon's otherwise decent narration, or faded out and talked over by other characters, or cut such that the entire song never appears in the show. Contrived as it was, I much prefer the way the HBO show built the plot around the songs. Even the short clips of their live show on YouTube are better than this.

With the exception of the excellent Rhys Darby as proto-Murray manager Brian Nesbitt, and, to a lesser extent, Neil Finn as Brian's unwitting rock-and-roll mentor, the supporting players range from forgettable to really annoying (especially Greg Proops).

So, hardcore fans, check it out for Bret, Jemaine, and Rhys Darby. Everyone else, I'd recommend the HBO series DVD and YouTube.


Laugh So Hard I Cried, 29 Nov 2007
I laughed so hard I cried. I am just learning about Flight of the Conchords. I heard them on XM radio, imediatly bought their CD and DVD. I have laughed so hard I've cried. It's really quite rare that something can come along like this and make me laugh this hard. God I love these guys.

Conchords got it goin' on!, 03 Sep 2007
If you want proof that Flight of the Conchords are not only the current kings of character comedy but true genii, watch their new HBO sitcom. Don't be put off by the Guardian calling them the funnest thing ever, these guys are one of the only comedy teams to try out an idea on the radio then IMPROVE it for TV (for proof of how rare this is listen to the Mighty Boosh, Little Britian, every other radio to TV comedy transfer since Tony Hancock).

This mockumentary radio series established most of the themes of the TV series (innocents abroad, the manager, stalker fans, the Yoko experience, etc) and features most of the Conchords best songs. It's not as sharp as the TV show, and there are a lot less gags per episode but that Conchord magic is still there through out. New Zealand stand up Rhys Darby's performance as their manager is a joy to hear and worth the asking price alone. Crowded House front man Neil Finn features in every episode and he's a surprisingly effective straight man. Quite possibly the best in the whole wide room. Credit should also go to Rob Brydon for the brilliant dead pan delivery of his linking voice over, the man was clearly wearing his business socks during the recording.

So why only 4 stars?
Well.....
....(with the noted acception of Mr Brydon) all of the british comedy actors are awful. Most of the series was apparently improvised. When the Kiwi comedians are in full flow it's hilarious. But the brits sound like public school kids making things up on the spot. Honestly, you will not believe how weak some of their lines are.

In an effort to be more constructive with my feed back I have thought for far to long about why this is and here is my conclusion: the brits didn't get what the show is about.
Most of the comedy comes from the gentle naivety of the Kiwi characters. When ever they speak the Conchords sound innocent, restrained and a little shy whilst their songs give them permission to express themselves (however inappropriately).
The brits clearly didn't get it and just overact.

So bascially the TV show is better because Jimmy Carr isn't in it. Unless you are a die hard Conchords fan, buy that instead. But if you absolutely must have an audio Conchords fix there is plenty here to recommend.

FOLK YEAH!!, 23 Sep 2005
I've been listening to these guys on their radio 2 show,and they have made another fan.This will be the cd of that show, which i will definitley be buying. If you like rob brydon,john shuttleworth and tenacious d you will love this!...........

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

A fascinating and exciting insight into our exsistence., 05 Oct 2008
Well I love a good Bill Bryson book and this is surely the best. As a travel writer he has kept me interested and amused with many an exciting journey but this rates as the best journey he has ever written. A journey that takes the layman on a travel experience spanning billions of years including an insight into all the sciences and ologies one can imagine. If only I had been able to read science at school like this...I might well have found an interest.

Overrated, 23 Sep 2008
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding! All too often they think they understand something when they simply don't.

I really can't fathom that in a long book which is supposed to be a "all you need to know" about the science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science and differentiates between science and pseudo-science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating the reliability between the big bang theory and crystal healers.

Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.

He does make reasonable attempts at describing many of the Scientific theories, but there are times when his understanding is just way off.

For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method. Both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity. It's just asinine. Perhaps Bryson should think about that the next time he gets on a plane.

His poor understanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He sounds like a scientifically illiterate ignoramus who has just sifted their way through some intelligent design propaganda.

Why doesn't he point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? Why doesn't he go through the simple mathematics in DNA which have confirmed evolution an infinite amount of times and provide even stronger evidence than fossils?

If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very area broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.

Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.

If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivia; dates and names rather than any real understanding, yes sadly this book could be a runner.


Essential introduction to science!, 23 Sep 2008
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.

Not for me, 25 Aug 2008
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.

Everyone should read this, 20 Aug 2008
This is a great book that everyone should read, Bill Bryon has written this brilliantly with some amusing sections. It really shows the reader why science is so interesting and how various people (with intriguing characters) in history have worked towards some great discoveries including some of those who missed out on grabbing the credit for it.

I really enjoyed reading this.. if only science was taught like this when I was at school!

The Wit of Cricket., 07 Dec 2007
An Audio Book which I have enjoyed listening to over and over again. Makes the day a whole lot better. Not offensive in the slightest way.

Bowled over !!, 08 Oct 2007
This audio collection has had an entire car full of people roaring with laughter.It crosses all genders and age groups (youngest 9, eldest 68) and leaves everyone feeling much happier with life than before without offending anybody. I have already pre-ordered the "Wit of cricket 2". Excellent fayre!!

Wit in a plenty, 16 Jan 2006
Absolutely brilliant. I have listened to this 3 times now in the space of 2 days and am still laughing at some of the stories.

Entertainment 5, Practicality 0, 04 Oct 2008
There is no doubt that Stephen Fry is entirely the MOST suitable person for the job of reading ANY story for an audio book. His voice is perfectly suited to story telling and he is able to define and animate the characters in his own colourful way. It's a good audio book and this is very much attributed to the talented Mr Fry.

I am disappointed however, that the indexing for the CDs are in such a pickle! Whilst I understand that copying CDs and music is frowned upon, is it not feasible that a person can listen to this audio book on their MP3 player? Attempting to transfer this into a more mobile format is something of a mission. The CDs chapters and files are not labelled properly, so if you want to put this into MP3 format you will find you have a jumbled mess! This audio book was bought to provide some entertainment on a long plane journey. Sorting it into order has taken almost as long as the trip itself! If you want to listen to this on your ipod - GOOD LUCK!

It's business time!, 22 Aug 2008
What a little gem this is. I can't believe this passed me by (well it was on the radio so that's probably why). This is probably better than anything I have seen on TV for the last couple of years. I must admit that I haven't seen the HBO TV series and I'm not sure if I really want to because this is so good that I don't want to be disappointed.

For those of you who don't know, Flight of the Conchords are a real band, they even have an album out on the sub pop label. Though this radio series is a fictitious account of their attempt to break into the UK scene. They are described as a novelty band and indeed their songs are very funny but the music is still good as well. The only thing I can compare them to are Tenacious D but then they aren't really like that. They are less blue and their style is less rock more pop and hip hop, and their lyrics are also a lot more clever. The actual style of the radio show is a bit like the Office US, with a lot of the comedy coming from Brian the band's manager and his unsuccessful attempts at everything.

I have to disagree with the reviewer who said that the performance of the British comedians in this show was poor. Daniel Kitson (Phoenix Nights) puts in a great performance in the York episode and there is also a good cameo from Andy Parsons (Mock the Week) as a music venue owner. Though to be honest these parts are quite small and most of the air time is dedicated to the Conchords and their manager. Rob Brydon is also fantastic as the narrator, which is something that the HBO series won't have. Some episodes are funnier than others though and that's why I haven't given this five stars. The York episode and the Pie episode though are probably two of my favorite comedy episodes of all time. You really do have to hear this

very disappointing, the songs get short shrift, 04 Dec 2007
Although this is worth a listen for diehard Conchord fans, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. A big part of the appeal of their HBO show, as well as the concert clips I've seen, is the contrast between Bret and Jemaine's dead-pan "normal" personalities, and their exuberant and fanciful songs. Since a radio show obviously has no visual component, you'd at least expect performances of the songs to be front and center, but it's not the case. The songs are rarely if ever presented complete and uninterrupted, often stepped on by Rob Brydon's otherwise decent narration, or faded out and talked over by other characters, or cut such that the entire song never appears in the show. Contrived as it was, I much prefer the way the HBO show built the plot around the songs. Even the short clips of their live show on YouTube are better than this.

With the exception of the excellent Rhys Darby as proto-Murray manager Brian Nesbitt, and, to a lesser extent, Neil Finn as Brian's unwitting rock-and-roll mentor, the supporting players range from forgettable to really annoying (especially Greg Proops).

So, hardcore fans, check it out for Bret, Jemaine, and Rhys Darby. Everyone else, I'd recommend the HBO series DVD and YouTube.


Laugh So Hard I Cried, 29 Nov 2007
I laughed so hard I cried. I am just learning about Flight of the Conchords. I heard them on XM radio, imediatly bought their CD and DVD. I have laughed so hard I've cried. It's really quite rare that something can come along like this and make me laugh this hard. God I love these guys.

Conchords got it goin' on!, 03 Sep 2007
If you want proof that Flight of the Conchords are not only the current kings of character comedy but true genii, watch their new HBO sitcom. Don't be put off by the Guardian calling them the funnest thing ever, these guys are one of the only comedy teams to try out an idea on the radio then IMPROVE it for TV (for proof of how rare this is listen to the Mighty Boosh, Little Britian, every other radio to TV comedy transfer since Tony Hancock).

This mockumentary radio series established most of the themes of the TV series (innocents abroad, the manager, stalker fans, the Yoko experience, etc) and features most of the Conchords best songs. It's not as sharp as the TV show, and there are a lot less gags per episode but that Conchord magic is still there through out. New Zealand stand up Rhys Darby's performance as their manager is a joy to hear and worth the asking price alone. Crowded House front man Neil Finn features in every episode and he's a surprisingly effective straight man. Quite possibly the best in the whole wide room. Credit should also go to Rob Brydon for the brilliant dead pan delivery of his linking voice over, the man was clearly wearing his business socks during the recording.

So why only 4 stars?
Well.....
....(with the noted acception of Mr Brydon) all of the british comedy actors are awful. Most of the series was apparently improvised. When the Kiwi comedians are in full flow it's hilarious. But the brits sound like public school kids making things up on the spot. Honestly, you will not believe how weak some of their lines are.

In an effort to be more constructive with my feed back I have thought for far to long about why this is and here is my conclusion: the brits didn't get what the show is about.
Most of the comedy comes from the gentle naivety of the Kiwi characters. When ever they speak the Conchords sound innocent, restrained and a little shy whilst their songs give them permission to express themselves (however inappropriately).
The brits clearly didn't get it and just overact.

So bascially the TV show is better because Jimmy Carr isn't in it. Unless you are a die hard Conchords fan, buy that instead. But if you absolutely must have an audio Conchords fix there is plenty here to recommend.

FOLK YEAH!!, 23 Sep 2005
I've been listening to these guys on their radio 2 show,and they have made another fan.This will be the cd of that show, which i will definitley be buying. If you like rob brydon,john shuttleworth and tenacious d you will love this!...........

I'm sorry I can't recommend it enough, 26 Aug 2008
Believe me you will not regret buying this.
The show starts off fairly slow in the first series but it really comes into its own in the more recent series.
The show works very well with incredibly funny contestants such as Graeme Gardener, Tim Brooke Taylor and Barry Cryer. You cannot forget to mention the superb Humphrey Lyttelton and his dead pan delivery. The show is now and the refreshed by some new faces appearing for a few shows, these include people such as Stephen Fry and Paul Merton.

This is radio comedy at its best ; a British institution, 14 Sep 2006
I'm probably preaching to the converted, but ISIHAC is intelligent, naughty, fantastic, foolish, sarcastic, and more.

iPod users beware - you simply cannot stop yourself laughing to this.

The radio in my car died and so I dug these out of my cupboard. Haven't enjoyed the commute so much for ages.

Don't miss out.

ISIHAC, 02 Nov 2004
I bought this CD to play in the car. I laughed so much that I missed my turn off.

Never sorry about this., 02 Dec 2003
I loved this. I was stuck in a traffic jam, and have rarely enjoyed an hour-long journey to work so much.

Too young (just!) to have listened to the programme from the start, it was good to hear how it evolved. From the very first episode you can spot all the familiar games, and you cannot imagine anyone other than Humph being allowed to chair it. Oh, and the points system used to work too, although nobody cared!

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island is also a gem: there I was, listening to the great and good and Neil Kinnock describing their favourite rounds, nodding my head in agreement.

The show has survived the loss of the incredibly funny Willie Rushton. Stephen Fry, Sandy Toksvig and Paul Merton have fitted in well but, for me, Jeremy Hardy will always take a lot of beating, particularly in the music rounds. I do worry for the future though - could they ever manage without Humph? Certainly Samantha would find it tough, sitting on someone else's right hand.

Put this in a box and throw sugar at it if you like. Or better still, buy it and play it again and again until it wears out.

The only trouble with Clue is that now and again you find yourself unable to hum the original words to the original tune. Love me Tender can really only be sung properly to the tune of the Archers...

booooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!!!, 05 Sep 2008
if you are a booshist you'll love this, pure cretive genius. this is similar in places to the first tv series interms of plot and there are a fair few bits that are identical, but it's still a joy to sit and listen to the boosh. just buy it.

Completely Hilarious, 15 May 2008
I got this to keep myself entertained while walking home from work. It's also become a favourite when doing the dishes. It's as good or maybe better as the first TV series and like the TV series is set in the Zoo. I love it because I've listened to it a couple of times in quick succession and there was stuff in the second listening that I'd missed in the first. Would unreservedly recommend.

Pure class, 09 Feb 2008
This is genius from start from to finish. It made me laugh out loud so often I got strange looks from people around me!

Do yourself a favour and get it.

Off my face with happiness.., 06 Feb 2008
This is definatley the best investment i have ever made. I read a few reviews and thought it'd be a sure thing...and you know what it friggin well is!

Most of my working life has been dull and relentless quickly remedied when i return home to get my fill of the Boosh (the DVDs have been in circulation of my DVD player for the past year and half), until i bought this masterpiece.

Now, i sit in work a changed person, quite, focussed (on what im listening too) and chuckling to myself non stop. I love it...in fact it would probably be likely that a few hard core Boosh fans will elect to marry the blinking thing.....so with that i am not going to recommend that you buy it...Im will force you to buy it...or saboo will send you to the crunch!

JUST BRILLIANT, 09 Jan 2008
I've just recently become a fan of The Mighty Boosh and i think its the best, even better than The League of Gentlemen. Just watching Julian and Noel talk about hair and jazz is great but my favourite is the moon, don't be surprised if you start thinking your the moon or that everything is an "outrage". I just love it.

A fascinating and exciting insight into our exsistence., 05 Oct 2008
Well I love a good Bill Bryson book and this is surely the best. As a travel writer he has kept me interested and amused with many an exciting journey but this rates as the best journey he has ever written. A journey that takes the layman on a travel experience spanning billions of years including an insight into all the sciences and ologies one can imagine. If only I had been able to read science at school like this...I might well have found an interest.

Overrated, 23 Sep 2008
I am skeptical of journalists or writers who think they can write a book about anything. Yeah sure they've a great gift for writing but that doesn't mean they have a great gift for understanding! All too often they think they understand something when they simply don't.

I really can't fathom that in a long book which is supposed to be a "all you need to know" about the science, the scientific method itself isn't even explained. This means the mechanism which establishes science as most objective and reliable paradigm we have for establishing objective truth about the universe is omitted. Now, there's a countless amount of facts, dates, figures and 'imagine this' type stuff all there with the assumed intent of making a reader go wow. All very well, some of it will fuse the imagination, but let's not forget that the scientific method is what defines science and differentiates between science and pseudo-science. Without it, we have no way of differentiating the reliability between the big bang theory and crystal healers.

Too many times, instead of explaining principles and concepts, Bryson opts for facts about dates. It really doesn't matter if it was 1915, 1916, or 1917 when Einstein published his theory on general relativity what matters is what it is saying, the concepts that underpin it and why we can be confident it's correct. In this regard, Byrson comes up well short. Someone like Simon Singh, Stephen Hawking, just about anyone with scientific training does a much better job.

He does make reasonable attempts at describing many of the Scientific theories, but there are times when his understanding is just way off.

For example, when he discusses the theory of evolution which is just as sound as the theory of gravity in terms of the scientific method. Both are testifiable, falsifiable, have huge amounts of evidence (one billion+ fossils and infinite amount of DNA evidence), been through the same peer reviewing processes etc. So, in scientific terms doubting evolution is like doubting gravity. It's just asinine. Perhaps Bryson should think about that the next time he gets on a plane.

His poor understanding insinutates that the lack of fossils found in human evolution may cast doubt on the theory. He sounds like a scientifically illiterate ignoramus who has just sifted their way through some intelligent design propaganda.

Why doesn't he point out the probability of fossilation is only about 1 / million and the probability of finding one about the same, which by simple mathematics make every fossil find of our ancestors species a miracle in statistical terms? Why doesn't he go through the simple mathematics in DNA which have confirmed evolution an infinite amount of times and provide even stronger evidence than fossils?

If you want a pop Science book so that you can understand science just skip this book. Science is a very area broad area now. Experts in Physics are not experts in Biology. Experts in Biology are not experts in Physics. A writer with no scientific expertise is certainly not an expert in anything scientific. If you really want to understand science, pick a branch of science and then pick the appropriate expert. Someone like Feymen for Physics, Dawkins for Biology or Hawking for the Universe.

Before you do any of that, make sure you understand the scientific method as described by Karl Popper. This is the framework that underpins all science and what makes science an exceptionally reliable paradigm. It's why planes fly and why we know the origins of all species on our planet.

If you couldn't give a monkeys about understanding and just want lots of scientific trivia; dates and names rather than any real understanding, yes sadly this book could be a runner.


Essential introduction to science!, 23 Sep 2008
This book is not only highy educational, but very entertaining, and Bryson's writting style makes it fun, and it keeps you craving for more.
If would be a good idea to make this read a compulsory High School one, to excite the curiosity and the thirst for knowledge of our students, considering the fact that the more we know, the more we love.
It is a nearly complete and thorough overview on the main principles of science. Wery well informed with plenty of historical anecdotes and curiosities. I have learned and laughed so much!!!
A genius's work.

Not for me, 25 Aug 2008
I started out with enthusiasm with this book but should have read the title a little more carefully. A short 'history'of nearly everything with the emphasis on HISTORY. This book goes into great detail on how and when each new bit of information was discovered with biographies of the scientists involved. This was not really what I wanted to read about as would prefer just to know the latest most up to date information and there are plenty much more interesting books on these topics, I have been browsing the Lonely Planet version on space and science which is illustrated and topical. Dont wish to offend fans of Bill Bryson, it is probably my mistake.

Everyone should read this, 20 Aug 2008
This is a great book that everyone should read, Bill Bryon has written this brilliantly with some amusing sections. It really shows the reader why science is so interesting and how various people (with intriguing characters) in history have worked towards some great discoveries including some of those who missed out on grabbing the credit for it.

I really enjoyed reading this.. if only science was taught like this when I was at school!

The Wit of Cricket., 07 Dec 2007
An Audio Book which I have enjoyed listening to over and over again. Makes the day a whole lot better. Not offensive in the slightest way.