‘Rather like the Big Bang, the book is awe-inspiring … Superb’ The Times. How did a universe that began 13.8 billion years ago give rise to seven billion interconnected humans with the power to transform an entire planet — while our closest primate relatives edge towards extinction? These are the questions at the heart of David Christian’s sweeping cosmological detective story, told on the grandest scale imaginable. Christian is the creator of Big History, described by Bill Gates as ‘my favourite course of all time’, and in Origin Story he traces eight key thresholds at which precisely the right conditions allowed stunning new forms of complexity to emerge: from stars and galaxies, to Earth and homo sapiens, to agriculture and the fossil fuels that delivered an energy bonanza with consequences we are only beginning to reckon with. ‘Nails home the point: Life is a miracle … A compelling history of everything’ Washington Post. ‘Spectacular’ Carlo Rovelli. ‘With fascinating ideas on every page and the page-turning energy of a good thriller, this is a landmark work’ Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element
ISBN 13: 9780141983028
Author: David Christian
