While Bill Bryson's book "The History of Nearly Every Thing"is not about hiking it is none the less I think a good book to listen to on CD,and that's what I have done this week as walking is part of my training (so to speak)and listening to books on tape is a boon,for me.Many folks here at white Blaze seem to have and interest in the sciences,as do I.The book starts by describing our place in the Universe and heads right on down the road to touch on most of(a lot of)the hard sciences,with chapters such as microbiology,chemistry,quantum Physics and more.all are described in such a way as to lead into the next chapter.Good read,not to demanding as the writer describes these things very eloquently and then whisk the reader on to another topic...check it out