Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity

By: David Christian, The Great Courses

Narrated by: David Christian

Length: 24 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

How is it possible for the disciplines of cosmology, geology, anthropology, biology, and history to fit together? These 48 lectures answer that question by weaving a single story from accounts of the past developed by a variety of scholarly disciplines. The result is a story stretching from the origins of the universe to the present day and beyond, in which human history is seen as part of the history of our Earth and biosphere, and the Earth's history, in turn, is seen as part of the history of the universe.

Like traditional creation stories told by the world's great religions and mythologies, this lecture series provides a map of our place in space and time. But it does so using the insights and knowledge of modern science, as synthesized by a renowned historian. While you may have heard parts of this story before in courses on geology, history, anthropology, biology, cosmology, and other scholarly disciplines, Professor Christian provides more than just a recap of those disciplines. "Because of the scale on which we look at the past, you should not expect to find in it many of the familiar details, names, and personalities that you'll find in other types of historical teaching and writing," he explains. "For example, the French Revolution and the Renaissance will barely get a mention. They'll zoom past in a blur. You'll barely see them. Instead, what we're going to see are some less familiar aspects of the past. We'll be looking, above all, for the very large patterns, the shape of the past.

"Prepare yourself for a journey through time and across space, from the first moments of existence to the distant reaches of the far future."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2008 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2008 The Great Courses

Brilliant, insightful

David Christian does an incredible job of weaving all the loose ends of our separate disciplines into a cohesive narrative of everything. I'll be revisiting thus book periodically.

David is one of those people I would just love to share a bottle of wine with and absorb his insights earned over a spectacularly wide spectrum of travels, learning and experience. Thank you sir for a great read!

This is a purely fictional story.

This book even claims that there is no supreme being. I believe that many,if not most,scientists use the fact that there is a Supreme Being to explain things that there is no other explanation for!

Fascinating but now dated

As this lecture series indicates how progress tends to accelerate, it falls victim to its own axiom. In the ~15 years since these lectures were recorded, the LHC has been completed and has uncovered cosmological and physical discoveries the professor could only speculate about.

I did learn a LOT I hadn't known before, but if I hadn't already listened to more recent lectures and books about the origins of the universe, quantum physics, and astrophysics, I wouldn't have recognized the places where new data has settled certain debates and suggested plausible explanations for subjects that were literally unknowable a decade and a half ago.

Worth the listen, but you'll want to continue with more recent information on these topics.

Excellent lecture series

A bit dated now in 2022 but enjoyable and fun. Learn how connected we all are to everything.

💣

Fucken amazing for a dumb monkey like myself. A roller coaster of emotions and tons left to think about.

Enlightening course

This course melds numerous sine things areas that tend to be taught in silos to find “big” insights about who and where we are in the universe. Enjoyable, as well as educational.

Fascinating Perspective

This should be the first history/science course you ever take. It seems kind of ridiculous to think about studying something like US history first.

Disappointing / Disingenuous

Christian cites as conclusive various scientists' estimates of a 13+ billion year old universe and other similar estimates and theories concerning key events, yet he wholly discounts the idea that God created the universe and the life on earth, claiming there is no evidence and it simply cannot be proven. He also states as fact that life evolved from simple early organisms, and that humans evolved from apes. However, he glosses over the fact that there is not a single confirmed piece of evidence showing evolution on a macro scale--from one species to another. He ignores the fact that no scientific theory (and no evidence) exists for what triggered the big bang. He's pursuing the typical narrative in disingenuous fashion, which is disappointing. I will not listen to an author who is intellectually dishonest.

Excellent road map to our history

This is the second time listening to this book. Vast amount of information but smartly sequenced and presented. Will probably listen to it again in few years. Great book.

Great except first 4 chapters

I love the concept of big history, and this was probably about as good of a lecture series on it as possible. The only criticism is that he overexplains some basic concepts like exponents, especially in the first four chapters. However, maybe people without any math or science background would benefit from this. It would probably be great for people who don't believe in science. Maybe they actually don't understand the basic concepts.