About the book
David Christian, who created the field known as Big History, sets out to tell all of history, beginning at the big bang and running through the present into the remote future. Where most historians study thin slices of time, specific dates, individuals and documents, he covers all 13.8 billion years. The narrative focuses on thresholds, or defining events, along with major trends and questions about origins, and traces the threads that join everything, from how the planet formed to the rise of agriculture. Topics run from the beginning of the universe and of life to the emergence of humans, nuclear war and what the future may bring.
Bill Gates, who calls Christian's Big History his favorite course of all time, presented the book as a good introduction to that course or a refresher on it. Blogger Jason Kottke described it as one long history linking quarks, water, dinosaurs and humans.
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This book has 4 recommendations
Bill Gates (CEO/Microsoft)
David created my favorite course of all time, Big History. It tells the story of the universe from the big bang to today’s complex societies, weaving together insights and evidence from various disciplines into a single narrative. If you haven’t taken Big History yet, Origin Story is a great introduction. If you have, it’s a great refresher. Either way, the book will leave you with a greater appreciation of humanity’s place in the universe.
Recommended by Park Howell (Founder/The Business of Story)
Jason Kottke (Blogger & Designer)
This is a book based on Christian’s Big History concept, a story that weaves everything from quarks to water to dinosaurs to humans fighting entropy through greater energy & resource usage into one long history of the universe.
Corneliu Bodea (CEO / Adrem)
One of the books that had the biggest impact on me and my career.
The explanation about how complexity is related to entropy and the cost behind it gave me a “wow” moment of understanding.
Also, if we don’t understand the world we live in we will make no impact and progress.
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Bill Gates, Park Howell, Jason Kottke, Corneliu Bodea