Reddit reviews A Short History of Nearly Everything

I don't think you could do better than A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

It's brilliantly readable. It is nothing less than the story of Bill Bryson suddenly realizing while on a plane crossing the ocean, that he didn't know a damn thing about the only planet he was ever going to live on.

So, he spent the next 3 years of his life harassing scientists and experts to find out how we know what we know. It's epic. I have no doubt that it will strain and crack your dad's ideas. It may not convert him right away, but it'll slowly destroy the foundations of his ignorance.

There's an audio book (actually 2 3 versions, the ones read by the author and the other by the British guy are utter garbage when compared to the one by William Roberts. Roberts doesn't narrate the book, he performs it. An absolute treat to listen to!)

Interested in the hard sciences but got very little mental oomph to understand it?

I am much like you. As such, could I be so forward as to suggest you get yourself a copy of Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything?"

Mr. Bryson's writing is immensely readable, understandable and delightfully anecdotal.

I have yet to read them all, but this one was the first and remains my current favourite:

A Short History of Nearly Everything

I also have a soft spot for "Notes on a Small Island" - for a solo traveler it makes for a wonderful companion.

they are literally discussing 'an' example
HERE

You can't beat Nightwatch imo.

I would also recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, it's not entirely astronomy - it goes into geology, biology and anthropology too for example - but it really gives a great overview of the basics of physics and our place and scale in the grand scheme of things. Plus it's fun.

I recommend you to read this book
I can't tell you the exact arguments, because I read it some years ago.
It doesn't dismiss the theory completely, but does put some questions, which doesn't makes the evolutionist theory wrong but incomplete.

For example:

• it seems that there is no continuous evolution, but in jumps.
  
• some traits might not be dictated by necessity only
  
  Also, I found a movie some time ago about the cell structure, where the problem was that some parts of the cell, like the sperm's flagella are very complex, that
  

1. it was an chicken-egg problem
   
2. the mechanism required several parts to work, and it was the minimum-workable mechanism. This means that if you take any part from it, it wouldn't work. The problem is that all these parts should have evolved all suddenly, it's not like you will have some rotor part, and the cell would say, now, hmmm, seems that I need some engine, and now, yeah, a propeller would be a good idea.
   I don't have a link, I've found it on a peer-to-peer network

I feel cold on the outside but good on the inside. Had another amazing plate of the Gordon Ramsey scrambled eggs for breaky and I'm currently enjoying a cup of tea.

This weekend my SO is working nights, so I imagine I'll do some catching up on some Netflix I've been neglecting, maybe pop over to see a friend who didn't see over the holidays, and I'm definitely going to be up to my elbows in books. I've got 2 books (Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything and Haruki Murakimi's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage) on the go. I want to finish them both this weekend so I can start another (Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential). PLUS I'm starting a course on Tuesday so I'm trying to get a head start on that reading.

Since the weather is COLD COLD COLD it should make for nice, toasty, relaxing weekend :)

Read: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, it shows how right you are. It's also fucking hilarious.