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How did everything around us -- the air,
the land, the sea, and the stars -- originate? What is the
source of order, form, and structure characterizing all
material things? These are just some of the grand scientific
questions Eric J. Chaisson, author of the classic work Cosmic
Dawn, explores in his enthralling and illuminating history
of the universe. Explaining new discoveries and a range
of cutting-edge ideas and theories, Chaisson provides a
creative and coherent synthesis of current scientific thinking
on the universe's beginnings. He takes us on a tour of the
seven ages of the cosmos, from the formless era of radiation
through the origins of human culture. Along the way he examines
the development of the most immense aspects of our universe
and the complex ways in which they interact.
Drawing on recent breakthroughs in astrophysics
and biochemistry, Chaisson discusses the contemporary scientific
view that all objects -- from quarks and quasars to microbes
and the human mind -- are interrelated. Researchers in all
the natural sciences are beginning to identify an underlying
pattern penetrating the fabric of existence -- a sweepingly
encompassing view of the formation, structure, and function
of all objects in our multitudinous universe. Moreover,
as Chaisson demonstrates, by deciphering the scenario of
cosmic evolution, scientists can also determine how living
organisms managed to inhabit the land, generate language,
and create culture.
Epic of Evolution offers a stunning
view of how various changes, operating across almost incomprehensible
domains of space and nearly inconceivable stretches of time
and through the evolutionary combination of necessity and
chance, have given rise to our galaxy, our star, our planet,
and ourselves.
Eric J. Chaisson holds research professorships
in the departments of physics, astronomy, and education
at Tufts University, where he directs the Wright Center
for Science Education. He is the author of Cosmic Dawn:
The Origins of Matter and Life; Cosmic Evolution:
The Rise of Complexity in Nature; and several other titles.
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