The Universe Within
By Neil Shubin
The Universe Within by Neil Shubin is a wonderfully written book. Our bodies store within them the entirety of cosmic history, and Shubin’s book weaves with great authority and accuracy a grand story that incorporates forefront research in astronomy, geology, paleontology, and genetics. With this research, Shubin demonstrates how the evolution of life on earth is inscribed in the human body. The Universe Within tells the story of everything that ever was, starting with the first trillionth of a second of creation, the making of hydrogen, helium, and lithium, and ending with continents and people.
The book is arranged chronologically. It began with the Big Bang which occurred 13.7 billion years ago. Then Neil Shubin began to introduce the importance of heavier atoms. He explained that humans are truly made out of star dust because the biochemistry of Earth’s organisms were formed in fusion reactions deep within the heart of stars. Shubin then goes on to talk about the importance of climatic changes and continental drift.
Neil Shubin takes us through an expansive journey to understand our own bodies and evolution. Starting with fossils, he soared into the sky. The middle of his journey was in the stars, then brought it to explain what is in ourselves and what’s contained in our human bodies. Ending his exploration he came to talk about how our molecular composition explains almost all 14 billion years of the universe’s history.
When we read about how the light of a distant star is direct evidence of conditions billions of years in the past, we were all amazed. Shubin explained how the human body was like a time capsule- containing clues to the distant past. We thought that the book was very informative and deepened our understanding of evolution. Going into the book we were expecting it to be very factual, and therefore not too interesting, but the author made the book fun!
This book was a very good overview of how the Earth and life on earth came to its current state. The Universe Within was very well-researched and engaging as well; as the reader, you became much more familiar with the process of evolution. This book was very informative, and since Neil Shubin had an interesting and engaging writing style, it was enjoyable as well. It was also written so that a broad audience could understand (it wasn’t directed towards just scientists).
By Neil Shubin
The Universe Within by Neil Shubin is a wonderfully written book. Our bodies store within them the entirety of cosmic history, and Shubin’s book weaves with great authority and accuracy a grand story that incorporates forefront research in astronomy, geology, paleontology, and genetics. With this research, Shubin demonstrates how the evolution of life on earth is inscribed in the human body. The Universe Within tells the story of everything that ever was, starting with the first trillionth of a second of creation, the making of hydrogen, helium, and lithium, and ending with continents and people.
The book is arranged chronologically. It began with the Big Bang which occurred 13.7 billion years ago. Then Neil Shubin began to introduce the importance of heavier atoms. He explained that humans are truly made out of star dust because the biochemistry of Earth’s organisms were formed in fusion reactions deep within the heart of stars. Shubin then goes on to talk about the importance of climatic changes and continental drift.
Neil Shubin takes us through an expansive journey to understand our own bodies and evolution. Starting with fossils, he soared into the sky. The middle of his journey was in the stars, then brought it to explain what is in ourselves and what’s contained in our human bodies. Ending his exploration he came to talk about how our molecular composition explains almost all 14 billion years of the universe’s history.
When we read about how the light of a distant star is direct evidence of conditions billions of years in the past, we were all amazed. Shubin explained how the human body was like a time capsule- containing clues to the distant past. We thought that the book was very informative and deepened our understanding of evolution. Going into the book we were expecting it to be very factual, and therefore not too interesting, but the author made the book fun!
This book was a very good overview of how the Earth and life on earth came to its current state. The Universe Within was very well-researched and engaging as well; as the reader, you became much more familiar with the process of evolution. This book was very informative, and since Neil Shubin had an interesting and engaging writing style, it was enjoyable as well. It was also written so that a broad audience could understand (it wasn’t directed towards just scientists).