Books › Big History
Big History
From the Big Bang to the Present
First published 2007 · 304 pages
A sweeping, interdisciplinary journey that shrinks the cosmos into an accessible mosaic of deep time and human ecology.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping back to view the entire tapestry of existence through a wide-angle lens. The pace is brisk and sweeping, carrying you from the microscopic birth of the universe through billions of years of deep time, landing squarely in the urgent complexities of the twenty-first century. The mood is expansive and awe-inspiring, yet grounded by an accessible, engaging prose style that seamlessly weaves together disparate disciplines into a single, cohesive mosaic. It moves from cosmic wonder to a contemplative, urgent look at humanity's accelerating impact on the planet. This is a read for those who crave grand perspectives, delighting anyone looking to understand human ecology and our fleeting, yet profound, place in the cosmos.
- Mood
- expansive
- awe-inspiring
- contemplative
- sweeping
- Tone
- engaging
- accessible
- grand
- urgent
- authoritative
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the scale of deep time · humanity's place in the cosmos · interconnectedness of knowledge · accelerating global change · legacy and the future
- The writing
- Engaging and accessible, weaving together multiple disciplines into a vast, cohesive historical mosaic.
- The arc
- Moves from a sense of cosmic awe at the vastness of deep time to an urgent contemplation of humanity's current impact and future legacy.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave grand, interdisciplinary perspectives on human ecology and our place in the universe.
Content notes
- existential themes
About the book
Extend the human story backward for the five thousand years of recorded history and it covers no more than a millionth of a lifetime of the Earth. Yet how do we humans take stock of the history of our planet, and our own place within it? A “vast historical mosaic” (Publishers Weekly) rendered engaging and accessible, Big History interweaves different disciplines of knowledge to offer an all-encompassing account of history on Earth. Since its publication, Cynthia Brown’s “world history on a grand scale” (Kirkus) has been translated into nine languages and has helped propel the “big history” concept to viral status. This new edition of Brown’s seminal work is more relevant today than ever before, as we increasingly must grapple with accelerating rates of change and, ultimately, the legacy we will bequeath to future generations. Here is a pathbreaking portrait of our world, from the birth of the universe from a single point the size of an atom to life on a twenty-first-century planet inhabited by 7 billion people.
Description from Open Library.
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