Origin Story: A Big History of Everything

by David Christian

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316392020
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	05/22/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	360,407
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

David Christian is a Distinguished Professor of History at Macquarie University and director of Macquarie University's Big History Institute. He cofounded the Big History Project with Bill Gates, his Coursera MOOCs are popular around the world, and he is cocreator of the Macquarie University Big History School. He has delivered keynotes at conferences around the world, including the Davos World Economic Forum, and his TED Talk has been viewed more than seven million times. He is the author of numerous books and articles.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 3

Timeline 13

Part I Cosmos

Chapter 1 In the Beginning: Threshold 1 17

Chapter 2 Stars and Galaxies: Thresholds 2 and 3 39

Chapter 3 Molecules and Moons: Threshold 4 56

Part II Biosphere

Chapter 4 Life: Threshold 5 75

Chapter 5 Little Life and the Biosphere 99

Chapter 6 Big Life and the Biosphere 125

Part III Us

Chapter 7 Humans: Threshold 6 157

Chapter 8 Farming: Threshold 7 188

Chapter 9 Agrarian Civilizations 210

Chapter 10 On the Verge of Today's World 236

Chapter 11 The Anthropocene: Threshold 8 259

Part IV The Future

Chapter 12 Where Is It All Going? 287

Acknowledgments 307

Appendix: Statistics on Human History 311

Glossary 313

Further Reading 325

Notes 327

Index 341

What People are Saying About This

Bill Gates

"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.”

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2018
Christian (history, Macquarie Univ.) delivers a surprisingly compact and accessible history of the universe that captures the complexity of our origins as both living organisms and modern humans. The first challenge, that of covering 13.8 billion years of history, is primarily accomplished in the book's first three parts, which divide history into a series of eight "thresholds," or key transition points that run from the Big Bang to the "Great Acceleration" of human invention in the late 20th century. The second challenge, of uniting these thresholds and justifying the "origin" project, is accomplished subtly throughout, but especially in the work's future-looking final part, which asks how we might come together to tackle foreseeable challenges to our species and planet. Christian suggests that will be the next chapter in the fascinating history of our modern origins. VERDICT An invigorating romp through time and space that brings fresh perspective to the science of human history. Highly recommended for general fans of science writing, human history, and of Christian's previous work with the Big History Project or the TED organization.—Robin Chin Roemer, Univ. of Washington Lib., Seattle

Library Journal

"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

"In Origin Story, David Christian has found a spectacular way to use history to put order in the entire set of our knowledge about the world. This is a wonderful achievement."
—Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time

"A remarkable book that puts us self-important humans in our proper place in the cosmos, yet also explains why the story of human culture and knowledge — what Christian calls collective learning — matters for understanding our present world and shaping its future."—Merry Wiesner-Hanks, President of the World History Association

"David Christian is not one for half measures. Origin Story is a majestic distillation of our current understanding of the birth and development of the universe, of the solar system, of the oceans, of mountains and minerals, of all life on earth and of the driving dynamics of human culture and achievement. All of this in just over 300 pages of captivating prose that weaves together innumerable insights from dozens of disciplines in the sciences, arts and humanities. With fascinating ideas on every page and the page turning energy of a good thriller, this is a landmark work that comes at a time when it has never been more important for humanity as a whole to have a clearer, more informed understanding of our place on earth and of the earth's place in the cosmos."—Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element

"Mr. Christian tells this story very well, providing, in effect, a short course in modern science. This is a brief history of the universe, and an excellent one."—The Wall St. Journal

"The most powerful example of interdisciplinary scholarship that I know of."—- Fareed Zakaria, CNN

From the Publisher