Human Universe

Human Universe by Professor Brian Cox“Human Universe" is a very good complementary book to the BBC documentary series of the same name. Professor Brian Cox takes the reader on an uplifting journey of the big questions that has taken humanity from ape-man to space-man. This entertaining 256-page book is broken out by the following five sections: 1. Where are We?, 2. Are We Alone?, 3. Who are We?, 4. Why are We Here?, and 5. What is Our Future?Positives:1. Innate ability to make science accessible and fun for the masses.2. An excellent topic, answering big philosophical questions based on the best of our current knowledge. “This book asks questions about our origins, our destiny, and our place in the universe.”3. Cox is a gifted author and educator; his books are fun and educational. His passion for science and love of humanity is exuded throughout the book.4. Great use of charts and illustrations to assist the reader.5. Excellent, easy-to-follow format. Each section begins with a big philosophical question followed up by bite-size supporting topics.6. As you would expect, the book is full of interesting factoids. “The Sun is one star amongst 400 billion in the Milky Way Galaxy, itself just one galaxy amongst 350 billion in the observable universe.”7. The impact of the grand theory of General Relativity. “Many physicists regard General Relativity as the most beautiful piece of physics yet devised by the human mind.”8. Great examples where science clashed with religion, handled with the utmost respect and care. “Catholic dogma asserted that the Moon and the other heavenly bodies were perfect, unblemished spheres. Previous astronomers who had viewed the Moon, either with the naked eye or through telescopes, had drawn a two-dimensional blotchy surface, but Galileo saw the patterns of light and dark differently. His training in chiaroscuro revealed to him an alien lunar landscape of mountain ranges and craters.”9. The beauty of science at work, evidence for the Big Bang Theory. “It is sufficient to say that the discovery that the universe is still glowing at a temperature of 2.7 degrees above absolute zero was the final evidence that convinced even the most sceptical scientists that the Big Bang theory was the most compelling model for the evolution of the universe.”10. The science method applied. “It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible.”11. A fascinating discussion on the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. The Drake equation. “If there are any civilisations making a serious attempt to contact us with technology at least as advanced as our own within a thousand light years, the Allen Array will hear them.”12. The recipe for life discussed. A look at alien worlds and what’s considered the habitable zone.13. A brief history of life on Earth. “We are mammals, which first appeared 225 million years ago in the Triassic era.”14. A look at space exploration.15. Human evolution. “It is believed that around 7 or 8 million years ago we split from the chimpanzees and the process of evolution into bipedal Homo sapiens began as these monkeys started to spend more time on the ground than in the trees.”16. A brief explanation on how the laws of nature allow for human beings to exist. “The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory that explains the interactions between subatomic particles in the form of the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces.” “General Relativity and the Standard Model are the rules of the game. They contain all our knowledge of the way that nature behaves at the most fundamental level.”17. An amusing look at the snowflake.18. Was the universe made for us? An excellent response worth repeating, “Our universe appears to be made for us. We live on a perfect planet, orbiting around a perfect star. This is of course content-free whimsy. The argument is backwards. We have to be a perfect fit for the planet because we evolved on it.”19. A great case for science. “Science and reason make the darkness visible. I worry that lack of investment in science and a retreat from reason may prevent us from seeing further, or delay our reaction to what we see, making a meaningful response impossible.”20. A picture section included.Negatives:1. Solid effort but not quite to the standards of previous outstanding books.2. The book is quite ambitious and loses focus.3. Let’s face it some topics even at its simplest (quantum mechanics) are a challenge to follow.4. No formal bibliography or book recommendations.In summary, this is an inspirational and fun book to read. Brian Cox is one of my favorite science personalities and his books reflect his warm, engaging personality. However, this is not his best effort. This book though very good does not live to the standards of some of his previous outstanding books like Wonders of the Universe. That aside, this is an excellent complementary piece to the documentary series of the same name and is worth your time. I recommend it.Further recommendations: “The Quantum Universe”, “Wonders of the Universe”, “Wonders of Life” by the same author, “Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution” by Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Faith vs. Fact” by Jerry A. Coyne, “The Vital Question” by Nick Lane, “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari, “The Big Questions” by New Scientist Collection, “To Explain the World” by Steven Weinberg, “The Universe” edited by John Brockman, “A Universe From Nothing” by Lawrence Krauss, “The Upright Thinkers” by Leonard Mlodinow, “The Neanderthals Rediscovered” by Papagianni and Morse, and the Grand Design by Stephen Hawking.

Knowledge, well written and easy to understand.

A great and refreshing reminder of why life is so precious ! A call to end pettiness and leave a legacy of progress in an ever improving world

I bought my husband tickets to see Brian Cox, but I wanted something to wrap them in so I wasn’t just handing him some pieces of paper. I quickly got on Amazon and picked out a book written by Brian Cox. I didn’t even read the reviews. I saw that it was one we didn’t have and immediately purchased it. I also didn’t look at it in depth when it arrived because I was trying to be sneaky. It didn’t really need to be good since it was just a vehicle for his real present. After my husband stopped hugging me and waving the tickets in the air, he started reading the book. He asked me if I’d read any of it. I told him I’d only looked at the photos. He said it’s an amazing book. Score two points for two awesome presents! It really does look like a very good book, and maybe I’ll get to read it someday. If he ever stops carrying it around everywhere.

I've read and number of books on cosmology, trying to understand and grasp where we started, how "it" all began. This was one of the best, I understand inflation theory much better than before as well as the concept of multiple universes. But Cox also does, in my opinion, a masterful job of weaving the relevance to humanity. After all, what gives meaning to a stars twinkle is our observation. There are a couple of places where I can disagree. I think we can all agree that there is "climate change." But the climate has always changed, how much is the result of man's burning of fossil fuels and other actions, is, I believe, up for debate. I want to leave the world better and cleaner than I found it, but I do not want to embark on government imposed laws and refulations that choke the economy based on faulty data or assumptions. He also argues for massive government programs such as the Apollo program. The libertarian in me believes that few goverment programs create more than they destroy. But I would recommend this book to any who might be interested in cosmology and mankind 's place in the universe.

I am delighted by Professor Cox's introductory comment that "Two million years ago we were apemen. Now we are spacemen. That has happened, as far as we know, nowhere else. That is worth celebrating."It is time for us to seriously face the possibility that We (Humans on Earth) may be the only intelligent life forms in the universe. Professor Cox seems to be dancing around that possibility in this book. If we are unique in the universe, we have a magnificent role to play in preserving, protecting, and spreading intelligent life across the universe. Otherwise, maybe not.It's the old binary rule, either we are unique, or we aren't. If we are unique, our importance in the role of the universe cannot be overstated. If we aren't unique, we can all breathe a big sigh of relief and go back to our petty human concerns.

A very well written adventure in astrophysics, cosmology and the human experience, all rolled into one. Do not be afraid to read this book. It is written for anyone who wants to understand our place in the universe, studied or not. The hard cover book and TV series is the twenty-first century version of Cosmos. This version is for E-reader and an upcoming paperback version...fewer pictures and more of a book to read from chapter to chapter. The advantage to that is that this reads more as a book than as a re-presentation of a TV series (without the motion picture ability).

Professor Brian Cox talking about the Universe and our place in it. If you like him on the telly, you will like the book, although it doesn't have the visuals, not on Kindle at least.Basically he does a hop skip and a jump through the history of physics, looking at what people have thought about the universe and what we think nowadays. But he also has a go at Biology and Palaeontology - because he's interested in human beings as well as stars. And he is an enthusiast, for sure - I imagine him standing in the middle of a field and staring up at the stars, going "Oooh!"Plus of course we might think something entirely different in a hundred years time - which is why he doesn't sneer at Aristotle for getting it wrong about the earth-centred universe, for fear that some as yet unborn physicist from Aldebaran will laugh at this idiot talking about the search for extra terrestrial intelligence.The book suffers a bit from that hop skip and jump thing. Because he knows the physics stuff, Cox doesn't feel he needs to explain it very much. Unlike Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time, Cox jumps from topic to topic, and perhaps assumes too much. Hawking takes you through it slowly, so that for about an hour after I finished reading I felt I understood the universe. That feeling went away, of course, but that wasn't the professor's fault.

I am a former MBA Professor who was made redundant in 2016 and is now a Secondary Science and A Level Physics Teacher (Polymath). This excellent book, is integrated into my teaching. It offers an excellent platform to explain the extraordinary story of humanity from African Human Ape species (Modern Day Ethiopia), to the dominate species across the Earth and beyond. It is a story, that is likely to continue towards the spread of Humanity across our Milky Way Galaxy? If we can realise, that we are all one large family called Humanity? We live on a Planet, that needs to be respected, so that it can continue, being our base for life. Diversity of species, is what has allowed life to spread across our planet. From the deepest depths in our Oceans, to inter planetary travel. With Wisdom, we will come to succeed across our own Galaxy. At the heart of this Wisdom, is a love of all humanity and that includes true equality.

Simply brilliant. This is typical well written book by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen is easy to read and a great insight into the world and universe we all live. If we really want to change how live and how we treat each other this book and all of Professor Cox's books are essential reading. This book answers all the 'Big questions' you need to ask; like Where are we? who are we? Are we alone? and What is our future?. Indeed the government should be promoting science in schools and investing in scientific research at much greater degree than it does. Do yourself a favor buy this book today and I promise you will look at the world you live and interact in a totally different light and appreciate all the great scientist who have brought such great understanding to what we now know and all the future scientist to discover what we have yet to know.

I ordered several of the Brian Cox hardback covers at the same time from this seller and apart from one book the other 3 were in excellent condition and arrived in good time. Brian Cox exudes enthusiasm and passion for the universe we live in which always makes it a real joy to read his books. 3 generations shall enjoy these books. Would definitely buy from this seller again. 5*

I was given a paperback copy and after reading it bought the hardback version and immediately re-read it. As with those of Sagan, Leakey, Hawking and Attenborough it’s the sort of book that fits a niche very well. It invites you back to re-read parts that stretch the mind in the need to understand of our being and place in the Cosmos. Thoroughly enjoyable update to current thinking about our existence in the immensity.