'I have long been a fan of David Christian.

With stunning insights into the origin of the universe, the beginning of life, the emergence of humans, and what the future might bring, Origin Story boldly reframes our place in the cosmos. In Origin Story, Christian takes readers on a wild ride through the entire 13.8 billion years we’ve come to know as “history.” By focusing on defining events (thresholds), major trends, and profound questions about our origins, Christian exposes the hidden threads that tie everything together - from the creation of the planet to the advent of agriculture, nuclear war, and beyond. These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of “Big History,” the most exciting new approach to understanding where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day - and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence?

Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. into a single, accessible historical narrative” (Bill Gates) and presents a captivating history of the universe - from the Big Bang to dinosaurs to mass globalization and beyond. Mark Rubbo is the managing director of Readings.This New York Times bestseller “elegantly weaves evidence and insights. We can create a healthier, more equal, and happier world, or we can create world in which inequality and climate change destroy our complex civilisations. The final of his thresholds is Anthropocene our influence is now so profound that we affect the entire planet – we can do that in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way.

There are eight threshold events – such as the creation of chemical elements, the creation of life, and the explosion of technology and communication in the modern era – where the universe steps up to a new level of complexity. Origin Story expands on those ideas.Ĭhristian argues that now we have enough knowledge about our universe, about the evolution of the world, and how we came into being that we can tell the whole story. It’s an idea that caught Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ eye and together they established the Big History Project. David Christian coined the phrase ‘Big History’ in reference to a project that aims to tell the story of everything that’s happened from the beginning of the universe until now.

Origin Story by David Christian