You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe - Hardcover

Potter, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0676978622 ISBN 13: 9780676978629

Publisher: Random House of Canada Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

A thrilling biography of the universe, as seen through the lens of today’s most cutting-edge scientific thinking. Here’s the book that explains the universe.

You Are Here is an exhilarating journey that shows the cosmos as it has never been seen before. From the smallest parts of matter to the largest structures in the universe, Christopher Potter traces the life of the universe from theories of its conception to theories of its eventual fate. Along this heart-stopping voyage from quarks to galaxies, he writes entertainingly about the history and philosophy of science. With wisdom and wonder, Potter traverses the cosmos from its formation to its eventual end – while exploring everything in between.

Some questions You Are Here sets out to answer:
· What is this ‘everything’ that has evolved from nothing? And what do we mean by everything?
· What stuff is ‘nothing’ made out of?
· If the universe contains everything there is then what is it contained in?
· Where are we in the universe?
· Is there room for God in a material universe?
· How scared should we be?
· What fate awaits the universe?

Science actually has answers to these questions, and in You Are Here, Potter will explain them to you.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

You Are Here is a dazzling exploration of the universe and our relationship to it, as seen through the lens of today's most cutting-edge scientific thinking. Christopher Potter brilliantly parses the meaning of what we call the universe. He tells the story of how something evolved from nothing and how something became everything. What does a material description of everything and nothing look like? What is it that science does when it describes a reality that is made out of something? In between nothing and everything is where we live.

Here, for the first time in a single span, is the life of the universe, from quarks to galaxy superclusters and from slime to Homo sapiens. The universe was once a moment of perfect symmetry and is now 13.7 billion years of history. Clouds of gas were woven into whatever complexity we find in the universe today: the hierarchies of stars or the brains of mammals. Potter writes entertainingly about the history and philosophy of science, and he shows that science advances by continually removing humankind from a position of primacy in the universe, but the universe responds by placing us back there again.

With wisdom and wonder, Potter traverses the cosmos from its conception to its eventual end--while exploring everything in between.

About the Author:

Christopher Potter is the former publisher and managing director of 4th Estate. He has a Masters in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of London, and has written for the Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Standard. He lives in London and New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House of Canada Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0676978622
• ISBN 13: 9780676978629
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 294