TY - BOOK AU - Christian, David TI - ORIGIN STORY : Big History of Everything SN - 9780241338377 U1 - 909 PY - 2018////01/01 CY - UK PB - Allen Lane KW - History KW - Verdenshistorie KW - Civilisation KW - World history KW - Statistics --Human History KW - Civilization N1 - A Big History of Everything from the Big Bang * to the first Stars, to our Solar system, life on Earth, dinosaurs * Homo * Sapiens, * agriculture, * an ice age, empires, fossil fuels, * a Moon landing and mass globalization. * And What happens next...... 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. ; Contents Preface Introduction Timeline PART I : COSMOS Chapter 1 In the Beginning : Threshold 1 Chapter 2: Stars and Galaxies : Thresholds 2 and 3 Chapter 3 Molecules and Moons : Threshold 4 PART II BIOSPHER Chapter 4 Life : Threshold 5 Chapter 5 Little Life and the Biosphere Chapter 6. Big Life and the Biosphere PART III : US Chapter 7 : Humans : Threshold 6 Chapter 8 : Farming : Threshold 7 Chapter 9. Agrarian Civilizations Chapter 10. On the Verge of Todays World Chapter 11 The Anthropocene : Threshold 8 Part IV : The Future chapter 12 Where Is It all Going ? Acknowledgements Appendix : Statistics on Human History Glossary Further Reading Notes Index ER -