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Comment by dmd | Hacker News Reader

I really, really, really loathe Bill Bryson, because every time he touches on something I actually know about, there are invariably glaring, awful mistakes, including repetitions of urban legends and just the sort of 'facts' you'd expect to find on a "AMAZING TRUE FACTS" diner placemat.

And so I'm real reluctant to read what he has to say about other fields, because I've got to assume it's all that bad.

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You've got to understand the purpose of those books.

You, dmd, are not going to do anything with the knowledge gleaned from those books, except possibly one of two things: Peruse further study, or inspire others (usually children) to be interested in the field. The book opens up the field, the basic concepts of the field, and a bit of history of the field to you. You now have the tools to go off and either learn more or inspire others. You can even get into conversations and debates with those well-versed in the field.

The book is a gateway into a field, not a path to follow in the field.

Can you list some examples (or are examples collected somewhere?)

Many of the errors were corrected in later editions (it's been in print for 14 years!).

You can see the original errata here:

http://errata.wikidot.com/0767908171

I leave it to your judgement whether this makes you "really, really, really loathe" the author :-) Note the book had 20 pages of just bibliography.

You know this is a problem for the layman like me. I need to get educated on the general aspects of so many things in life. But with science and knowledge always progressing at a fast pace, the "truth" is always evolving. And this makes it a problem because I cannot be 24/7 invested in every single area of my interest, which are many. So I appreciate Jared Diamond and Bill Bryson because they make available to me (random person with a lot of interests but limited time) a quick overview of things, which I gladly accept at a high enough accuracy. It's sort of like Wikipedia, yes not the be-all-end-all reference but gets you started.

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