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Origin Story: A Big History of Everything

ISBN 
9780241338377
Format 
Trade Paperback
Recommended Price 
R380.00
Published 
July 2018
About the book: 

'I have long been a fan of David Christian. In  Origin Story, he elegantly weaves evidence and insights from many scientific and historical disciplines into a single, accessible historical narrative'  - Bill Gates

This is the epic story of the universe and our place in it, from 13.8 billion years ago to the remote future How did we get from the Big Bang to today's staggering complexity, in which seven billion humans are connected into networks powerful enough to transform the planet? And why, in comparison, are our closest primate relatives reduced to near-extinction? 

Big History creator David Christian gives the answers in a mind-expanding cosmological detective story told on the grandest possible scale. He traces how, during eight key thresholds, the right conditions have allowed new forms of complexity to arise, from stars to galaxies, Earth to homo sapiens, agriculture to fossil fuels. This last mega-innovation gave us an energy bonanza that brought huge benefits to mankind, yet also threatens to shake apart everything we have created.

This global origin story is one that we could only begin to tell recently, thanks to the underlying unity of modern knowledge. Panoramic in scope and thrillingly told, Origin Story  reveals what we learn about human existence when we consider it from a universal scale.

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