The Shortest History Of Our Universe

A journey across 13.8 billion years that distills a complete history of the universe--from the mysterious and sudden birth of the cosmos to the rise of modern humans, and everything in between--in an ultra-accessible, uncommonly illuminating, and thrillingly fast-paced chronicle of key events

"‘This writing is brilliant’ JOHN GREEN ‘A captivating exploration – through life, the universe and everything’ PS News ‘It’s quite a feat to fit this Big History into a “shortest history”’ Insights Magazine ‘Inspires people to look more deeply at the world around them’ Eastern Riverina Chronicle ‘An interesting journey’ The Area News WHERE DID WE COME FROM AND WHERE ARE WE GOING? How did time begin? When was the Earth born? What conditions led to the evolution of humans? Will we survive the Anthropocene? Is it really true that we’re all made from stars? In this fascinating work, science writer David Baker traces the continuum of historical change in the cosmos – from the first atoms to the first life and then to humans and the things we have created. The Shortest History of the Universe compels us to look beyond the chaos of worldly affairs and points at what might come next in the story of the universe. Weaving together knowledge from chemistry, biology and physics with insights from the social sciences, this shortest Big History takes a bird’s eye view of 13.8 billion years."

A complete history of the universe, spanning 13.8 billion years in an ultra-accessible, uncommonly illuminating, exhilarating chronicle of key events “Baker introduces us not only to the history of our species and our planet, but the history of our vast universe.”—from the foreword by John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and The Fault in Our Stars In this thrilling history, David Baker captures the longest-possible time span—from the Big Bang to the present day—in an astonishingly concise retelling. His impressive timeline includes the “rise of complexity” in the cosmos and the creation of the first atoms; the origin of all galaxies, stars, and our solar system; and the evolution of life on Earth, from tiny single-celled organisms to human beings. Weaving together insights across the sciences—including chemistry, physics, biology, archaeology, and anthropology—Baker answers the fundamental questions: How did time begin? Why does matter exist? What made life on Earth the way it is? He also argues that never before has life on Earth been forced to adjust to a changing climate so rapidly, nor has one species ever been responsible for such sudden change. Baker’s grand view offers the clearest picture of what may come next—and the role we can still play in our planet’s fate.

Surveys our current understanding of the creation of the universe, traces the history of the development of the Big Bang theory, and discusses recent discoveries in cosmology

How has the universe evolved? Astronomer and physicist Joseph Silk explores this and other questions of cosmology in this updated, paperback edition of his acclaimed A Short History of the Universe. Silk shows how cosmologists study cosmic relics and construct theories of the universe's inception, its evolution, and its plausible future. He describes how physicists apply their theories of subatomic particles to re-create the first moments of the big bang and how astronomers map huge reaches of the universe to understand the later creation of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. He also reports on one of science's most dramatic detective stories: the search for the missing matter that will determine the ultimate fate of the universe.

From the Big Bang to the future of our planet, The Little Book of Big History divides history into manageable but comprehensive time frames, encompassing the cosmos, the stars, life and everything in between. Big History is the attempt to understand and condense the entire story of the cosmos, from the Big Bang to the current day. Combining methods from history, astronomy, physics and biology to draw together the big story arcs of how the universe was created, why planets formed and how life developed, this creates a unique perspective from which to understand the place of mankind in the universe. Excited by the alternative 'framework for all knowledge' that is offered by this approach, Bill Gates is funding the Big History Project, which aims to bring the subject to a wider audience around the world. The Little Book of Big History breaks down the main themes of Big History into highly informative and accessible parts for all readers to enjoy. By giving a truly complete timeline of world events, this book shines a whole different light on history as we learned it and makes us think of our history - and our future - in a very different way.

Since the dawn of humanity, men have attempted to divine the nature of the heavens. The first astronomers mapped the movement of the seasons and used the positions of the constellations for augurs and astrology. Today, the search goes ever deeper into the nature of reality and life itself. In this accessible overview, astrophysicist J.P. McEvoy tells the story of how our knowledge of the cosmos has developed. He puts in context many of the greatest discoveries of all time and many of the dominant personalities: Aristotle, Copernicus, and Isaac Newton, and as we approach the modern era, Einstein, Eddington, and Hawking.

This book gives an accessible account of the history of the Universe; not only what happened, but why it happened. An author of textbooks on the early Universe and inflation, David Lyth now explains both cosmology and the underlying physics to the general reader. The book includes a detailed account of the almost imperceptible structure in the early Universe, and its probable origin as a quantum fluctuation during an early epoch known as the epoch of inflation. It also explains how that early structure is visible now in the cosmic microwave radiation which is our main source of information about the early Universe, and how it gave rise to galaxies and stars. The main text of the book assumes no knowledge of mathematics or physics so that it is accessible to everybody, while an appendix contains more advanced material. As a result the book will be useful for a wide spectrum of readers, including high-school students, undergraduates, postgraduates and professional physicists working in areas other than cosmology. It will also serve as “additional reading” for university courses in general astronomy, astrophysics or cosmology itself.