Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science cover art

Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science

By: Bill Bryson
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

About this listen

Sunday Times best-selling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson, teams up with The Science Museum to celebrate the ideas and inventions of the incurably curious.

Across this five-episode series, Bill Bryson, with the help of The Science Museum's curators, takes us object-by-object through some of the museum's lesser known inventions and discoveries - and the human stories behind them.

Discover how a teenage inventor, a pig's head, a lump of plywood and a famous British record label made medical history or how some inventions simply happen by accident. This 'museum for your ears' looks at how experimentation, competition, hard work and a desire to change our lives for the better have contributed to the progress of mankind.

This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 5 episodes to your Library now.

©2017 Audible, Ltd. (P)2017 Audible, Ltd. History & Culture Innovations
Episodes
  • Ep. 1: Mapping the Earth

    Ep. 1: Mapping the Earth
    Feb 27 2018

    An object that helped create the first map of Britain and one at the forefront of climate-change research. Bill tells the stories of the Great Theodolite that was used on the principle triangulation of Britain, and AATSR (Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer) that measures the temperature of the sea from space.

    Both objects tell a story about why collaboration is so important in the field of scientific discovery from the teams that put together the first maps to the international fight against climate change. He is joined in this episode by Alex Rose, curator of Earth Sciences at the Science Museum.

    Show More Show Less
    16 mins
    Try Premium Plus free
  • Ep. 2: The Pioneers of Radio

    Ep. 2: The Pioneers of Radio
    Feb 27 2018
    Bill tells the story of the Italian Navy Detector that was devised by a humble scientist, Jagadish Chandra Bose, who could be regarded as one of India's greatest minds. And the more famous, Guillermo Marconi, and his quest to invent the Marconi Short-Wave Beam Transmitter. He is joined by John Liffen, the Science Museum's Curator of Communications.
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
    Try Premium Plus free
  • Ep. 3: Life-Saving Clocks

    Ep. 3: Life-Saving Clocks
    Feb 27 2018
    Bill is joined by David Rooney, the Science Museum's Curator of Time, Navigation and Transport, who tells the story of the John Harrison Clock and the inventor's quest to solve the longitude problem.
    Show More Show Less
    14 mins
    Try Premium Plus free
All stars
Most relevant  
Micro biographies and fun-filled facts about scientific inventions with a human story - often featuring unintended discoveries by ordinary people. The curators are very good at visualising the artefacts and Bryson does what Bryson does best - be his inquisitive good self. My favourite description was "it looks like a toaster that swallowed a donut". You'll have to listen to discover what it was...

A museum for the ears

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I personally enjoyed it thoroughly, and it's whet my appetite to go visit the Science Museum once this pandemic clears up.

But the subjects scrutinised are a wide ranging, eclectic collection of gizmos. If that description doesn't already fall into your interests, I'm not sure if this collection is for you.

Other than that - I cannot fault the narration, nor the experts' input.

For those already interested in inventions

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
love Bill Bryson books... this one described interesting items with the usual humour that we have come to expect from his books.

nice sized bites of interesting information.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
an interesting short five chapters ,even though I didn't understand all of it I did see the relevance to our everyday lives

interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not much more to say than the title sorry, so sprouts, potatoes, carrots to fill the requiremt

Very interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
an intriguing review and history of some typically overlooked objects at a number of museums

a museum in your ears indeed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
a little bit of history and knowledge of a little bit of everything. right up my street.

interesting throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Similar in style to Neil MacGregor's History of the world in 100 objects, which examined artefacts in the British museum, this is equally entertaining. Led by the ever listenable Bill Bryson, these examine and explain objects in the Science museum. Shame there are currently only five episodes - more please audible!!

Good exploration of objects in the Science museum.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Some really interesting information in these episodes.
Although I must admit, I do find Bill Bryson's voice a little dull.

Very interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I know bill from his travelling books, but this was totally different. once I got used to the fact that he didnt sound the way I always imagined I thoroughly enjoyed it

fascinating stuff

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews