Origin Story

Origin Story PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
ISBN: 0316392022
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This New York Times bestseller "elegantly weaves evidence and insights . . . into a single, accessible historical narrative" (Bill Gates) and presents a captivating history of the universe -- from the Big Bang to dinosaurs to mass globalization and beyond. Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day -- and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence? These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of "Big History," the most exciting new approach to understanding where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. In Origin Story, Christian takes readers on a wild ride through the entire 13.8 billion years we've come to know as "history." By focusing on defining events (thresholds), major trends, and profound questions about our origins, Christian exposes the hidden threads that tie everything together -- from the creation of the planet to the advent of agriculture, nuclear war, and beyond. With stunning insights into the origin of the universe, the beginning of life, the emergence of humans, and what the future might bring, Origin Story boldly reframes our place in the cosmos.

Origin Story

Origin Story PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
ISBN: 0316392022
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This New York Times bestseller "elegantly weaves evidence and insights . . . into a single, accessible historical narrative" (Bill Gates) and presents a captivating history of the universe -- from the Big Bang to dinosaurs to mass globalization and beyond. Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day -- and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence? These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of "Big History," the most exciting new approach to understanding where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. In Origin Story, Christian takes readers on a wild ride through the entire 13.8 billion years we've come to know as "history." By focusing on defining events (thresholds), major trends, and profound questions about our origins, Christian exposes the hidden threads that tie everything together -- from the creation of the planet to the advent of agriculture, nuclear war, and beyond. With stunning insights into the origin of the universe, the beginning of life, the emergence of humans, and what the future might bring, Origin Story boldly reframes our place in the cosmos.

Origin Story

Origin Story PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241254698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
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.

Maps of Time

Maps of Time PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520271440
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
Presents a new perspective for looking at history from the origins of the universe to present day.

Big History

Big History PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
ISBN: 0078116074
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Big History: Between Nothing and Everything surveys the past not just of humanity, or even of planet Earth, but of the entire universe. In reading this book instructors and students will retrace a voyage that began 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang and the appearance of the universe. Big history incorporates findings from cosmology, earth and life sciences, and human history, and assembles them into a single, universal historical narrative of our universe and of our place within it.ËË The first edition of Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, is written by the pioneers of the field, and presents a framework for learning about anything and everything. It encourages students to think critically about our cumulative history and the future of the world through a variety of lenses.

Future Stories

Future Stories PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
ISBN: 9780316497466
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The New York Times bestselling author of Origin Story, who Bill Gates has "long been a fan of," turns his attention to the future of humanity -- and how we think about it -- in this ambitious book. The future is uncertain, a bit spooky, possibly dangerous, maybe wonderful. We cope with this never-ending uncertainty by telling stories about the future, future stories. How do we construct those stories? Where is the future, the place where we set those stories? Can we trust our future stories? And what sort of futures do they show us? This book is about future stories and future thinking, about how we prepare for the future. Think of it as a sort of User's Guide to the Future. We all need such a guide because the future is where we will spend the rest of our lives. David Christian, historian and author of Origin Story, is renowned for pioneering the emerging discipline of Big History, which surveys the whole of the past. But with Future Stories, he casts his sharp analytical eye forward, offering an introduction to the strange world of the future, and a guide to what we think we know about it at all scales, from the individual to the cosmological. Christian consults theologians, philosophers, scientists, statisticians, and scholars from a huge range of places and times as he explores how we prepare for uncertain futures, including the future of human evolution, artificial intelligence, interstellar travel, and more. By linking the study of the past much more closely to the study of the future, we can begin to imagine what the world will look like in a hundred years and consider solutions to the biggest challenges facing us all.

Origin Story by David Christian (Summary)

Origin Story by David Christian (Summary) PDF Author: QuickRead
Publisher: QuickRead.com
ISBN:
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Do you want more free book summaries like this? Download our app for free at https://www.QuickRead.com/App and get access to hundreds of free book and audiobook summaries. A Big History of Everything. Throughout history, historians have studied to make sense of the world. Most historians, however, typically focus on a small sliver of time, highlighting specific dates, individuals, and events. But what might it look like to study the entire history of the universe? What if we looked at everything from the big bang to our future? What might it be like if we could look at the full span of our history? Well, perhaps our entire perception of our existence would change. Author David Christian sets out to answer the questions surrounding the universes’ entire 13.8 billion years, focusing on defining events, major trends, and questions about our origins. Additionally, Christian discusses the maps of the universe and the hidden threads that tie everything together. As you read, you’ll learn how the birth and death of stars influenced our existence, how humans became more social beings, and why our human-dominated world has led to some serious threats to our planet.

Origins

Origins PDF Author: Lewis Dartnell
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 1541617894
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A New York Times-bestselling author explains how the physical world shaped the history of our species When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the south-east United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea. Everywhere is the deep imprint of the planetary on the human. From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the breathtaking impact of the earth beneath our feet on the shape of our human civilizations.

This Fleeting World

This Fleeting World PDF Author: David Christian
Publisher: Berkshire Publishing Group
ISBN: 1614728356
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
This Fleeting World is the smallest book of big history, telling the story of the universe and history of humanity in less than one hundred pages. Prize-winning historian David Christian covers it all in this compact, accessible, and inspiring guide to the history of everything, from stars and empires to cities, the World Wide Web, capitalism, and globalization. David Christian's approach to human history and big history is a call to action, based on a profound and fresh understanding of our place in the universe. This book is essential reading for our time. David Christian asks big questions. Will contemporary challenges will lead to the emergence of a new global system capable of ecological, economic, and political stability? Or is the accelerating pace of change a prelude to a sudden, sharp collapse that will drive many parts of the world back to the productivity levels of the early agrarian era? He presents our origin story and the history of women and men across the entire world, within the framework of the universe explaining, for example, that the chemicals we are made of come from supernovae. He tells the human story as a story of changes: changes in the ways we produce and distribute food, move from place to place, organize ourselves into communities, explore and populate our environment, and both create and respond to crises. He gives us maps of time, history on different temporal-spatial scales, and even offers paths to locate evidence that might challenge his big story. Big history leads to strategies for building a more sustainable world, and Berkshire Publishing is proud to offer this new edition of a big history for our common future. The 2018 edition has been expanded and updated for the general reader; there is also an earlier edition designed for use with AP World History and other courses, which included a teachers' guide.

Patterns in History

Patterns in History PDF Author: David Bebbington
Publisher: Regent College Publishing
ISBN: 9781573831536
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description


A History of the Christian Church

A History of the Christian Church PDF Author: Williston Walker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church history
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description