The View From the Center of the Universe Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos

by Joel R. Primack, Nancy Abrams

A world-renowned astrophysicist and a science philosopher present a new, scientifically supported understanding of the universe, one that will forever change our personal relationship with the cosmos.

For four hundred years, since early scientists discovered that the universe did not revolve around the earth, people have felt cut off-adrift in a meaningless cosmos. That is about to change.

In their groundbreaking new book, The View from the Center of the Universe, Joel R. Primack, Ph.D., one of the world's leading cosmologists, and Nancy Ellen Abrams, a philosopher and writer, use recent advances in astronomy,physics, and cosmology to frame a compelling new theory of how to understand the universe and our role in it.

While most of us think of the universe as empty space peppered with stars separated by vast distances, the truth, the authors argue, is far richer and more meaningful. For the first time in history, we know that the universe is more coherent and spiritually significant than anyone ever imagined and that our place in it is actually central to the expanding universe in important ways.

According to Primack and Abrams, this new cosmology clarifies how the universe operates, what it's made of, how it may have originated, and how it is evolving. Even more surprising, these startling ideas spring from both cutting-edge science and the metaphors of ancient symbols. The result is a very human book that satisfies our fundamental need for order and meaning in our world and in our lives.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Astronomy, History, Physics, Space

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Dr. Joel R. Primack specializes in the formation and evolution of galaxies and the nature of the dark matter that makes up most of the matter in the universe. After helping to create what is now called the "Standard Model" of particle physics, Primack began working in cosmology in the late 1970s, and he became a leader in the new field of particle astrophysics. His 1982 paper with Heinz Pagels was the first to propose that a natural candidate for the dark matter is the lightest supersymmetric particle. He is one of the principal originators and developers of the theory of Cold Dark Matter, which has become the basis for the standard modern picture of structure formation in the universe. With support from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Energy, he is currently using supercomputers to simulate and visualize the evolution of the universe and the formation of galaxies under various assumptions, and comparing the predictions of these theories to the latest observational data.

Primack shared the APS Forum on Physics and Society Award in 1977 with Frank von Hippel of Princeton for their book Advice and Dissent: Scientists in the Political Arena (Basic Books, 1974; New American Library, 1976). Primack was made a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 1988 "for pioneering contributions to gauge theory and cosmology." He was elected to the Executive Committee of the APS Division of Astrophysics 2001-2002. He was a member of the APS Panel on Public Affairs 2002-2004, and chaired the APS Forum on Physics and Society in 2005. In 2004 he chaired the APS committee on NASA funding for astronomy. He has served on numerous advisory panels to DOE, NASA, and NSF. In 2006-07 he served on the National Academy of Sciences Beyond Einstein study.

In 1995 Primack was made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), "for pioneering efforts in the establishment of the AAAS Congressional Science Fellows Program and for dedication to expanding the use of science in policymaking throughout government". He has served on the board of the Federation of American Scientists and was a founder of the Union of Concerned Scientists. His popular articles on efforts to protect the near-Earth space environment have appeared in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Science, Scientific American, and Technology Review. He was a member of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, and helped to establish the AAAS Science and Human Rights program. He also served as an adviser to and participant in the Science and the Spiritual Quest project, and as chairman of the advisory committee for the AAAS Program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion 2000-2002.

Primack was one of the main advisors for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's 1996 IMAX film Cosmic Voyage, and he is now working with leading planetariums to help make the invisible universe visible. In addition to more than 200 technical articles in professional journals, Primack has written a number of articles aimed at a more popular audience. These include articles in the World Book Encyclopedia and in publications such as Astronomy, Beam Line, California Wild, Sky and Telescope, and in the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and the Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics. With Nancy Abrams, he is the author of The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos (Riverhead/Penguin, 2006)and The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World (Yale University Press, 2011). "

Reviews

[Steven Coberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh. I SO wanted to like this book. I teach a science course in Cosmology. Along with teaching the science of the standard (big bang) model of cosmology, one of the themes I tease out is how one's story of cosmology affects their worldview. SO I was excited to read a book written by an actual scientist that explicitly tackled that idea. But I was so disappointed. As for the science, it's all accurate, of course, but presented in a cursory and rehashed way. So if you are interested in learning about the Big Bang, there are about a thousand other books out there better suited to the purpose. As far as the idea of tying the Big Bang to our worldview, it cam across as a trite and forced effort. Drawing an analogy between gravity and concentration of wealth in the course of a few sentences? Come on! Representing ideas by certain icons that are rarely (ever?) used again? Ineffective. My advice is to skip this book and get a book about the Big Bang model and then read or watch Carl Sagan's Cosmos.

[Nick Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

there are roughly 40,000 books which cover this material better, with less nonsense, fewer insipid metaphors, and no appeals to assumed judeo-christian sympathies.

[Risa 🍂🌾 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm probably not the target reader for this, so if you're new to cosmology you might want to pick this up anyway since the science parts were summed up in a way that was quite beginner friendly. It uses metaphors to explain some concepts which might suit the struggling reader.

However there are tons of other books that cover the same material in less pages and with less weird references to religion and mythology. This book assumes the reader is someone with religious sympathies and is struggling with the idea of no longer being God's special little creation put on earth for a specific purpose. This book uses cosmology to convince the reader that we are at the center of the universe in some way without explaining why this so important, except for stating that human centrality is essential in most religions and we should, for some reason, adapt that kind of strangely wishful mentality.

The chapter about aliens was pretty good, though. It explained why intelligent life like us are special and the specific conditions and turning points in our solar system that allowed us to evolve to our present state. I think that one chapter did a much better job at explaining why we're special and why we matter without sacrificing the humbling aspect of our tininess in the vast universe.

[J.Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well...I didn't like it, I liked it, I didn't like it. This book was in three distinct sections; the first and third didn't interest me. The middle section is the reason I read this book in the first place - for the astronomy, for the physics...the cool stuff! I felt the intro and conclusion were mind-numbingly boring and redundant. It seems the author(s) took four paragraphs to get one paragraph of substance on paper. However the problems I had with it were perhaps, as I admit, due to my particular interests rather than the scope of the writing itself.

[Cassie Sands · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me feel a lot of things. At first I loved it - there was great tie in from cosmology to older human iconography. The portion of much of the big bang and inflation theory were rushed and incomplete for those with little understanding of the topic, and attempting to be too comprehensive for those with a good understanding of the theory. That section could probably have been summarized in a much more concise way. The conclusion goes back to how we can reframe the way we think about ourselves and our scientific understanding, and creates potential symbols as part of that reframing.

This book was pretty ambitious and large in scope so I was pretty forgiving of some of the literary issues regarding the flow and presentation of subject matter. I love big ideas, and was very drawn to what this book was trying to accomplish. It is a good and unique read for people interested in both cosmology as well as some human ideological history, as well as a proposal for how we can view ourselves and our place in the cosmos moving forward. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. Clear and concise about a subject that is often too big (or small) for the mind to conceive.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable astronomy/cosmology.

Among other things, I learned you can drop a mouse down a 1000-foot mine shaft and if the floor is soft enough it'll walk away.

[Tyler Wanden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had been sitting on my shelf for years. Years and years. I think I had persuaded my mom to buy it for me one day at Barnes and Noble when I was feeling particularly adventurous with my literary pursuits, and as any book buying addict knows, it’s absolute FOLLY to simply buy a book and cast it aside. It’s because no matter how many times you tell yourself that you’ll forget about it, it somehow finds a way into the forefront of your conscious. I have a pile of books, nay, two or three piles (since combining them would create a pile of knowledge simply too great to sustain itself) sitting in my closet that I HAVE to read. I say HAVE because I’ve been stacking them to the point where if I don’t stop buying books and actually start reading them, I’m going to be cursed with a never-ending-to-do list (which is not the same as a TBR, but so closely resembles a TBR that it spells certain doom for any experienced reader).
More importantly though, I chose to pick up this book because I’ve been having a lot of philosophical questions. I figured, why not start with the cosmos? From that angle, this book did not disappoint. There were enough serious questions in here to set me off on entirely different pursuit, but I did my best to “think cosmically and act globally”. There was actually a very interesting section near the end that explained how hard it is for humans to maintain such a separation of thought, and that oftentimes it is our shortsightedness and focus on the immediate future that reflects negatively on our planet. This book challenges each and every one of us to think of our existence as belonging to a “new cosmology” that places our existence at the center of the universe (and not due to sheer ego). Although the book gets somewhat preachy toward the end, I say preach because I loved the message at the heart of this, and this book did give me some of the answers that I was looking for. It’s always interesting to consider new perspectives, and once you examine your existence from a cosmological view, nothing seems quite the same afterwards…
While I loved the philosophy aspect of this book, I wasn’t so keen on the science stuff. Granted, a part of me wanted to learn more about the nuts and bolts of our universe, but the other part just didn’t get it. There were a few sections of the book that I kind of slogged through, but I never gave up thanks to the eye opening intro and the promise for a payoff at the end (which there was, as I mentioned the book gets back to philosophy). My main criticism is that the science should have been explained a little better, or “dumbed down” I guess. That’s probably not fair of me to say though, because I’ve always been pretty bad in science class. Maybe sciency kids will read this and think that it’s too dumbed down. The point is, if you like science, then you’ll be interested in this book. If you don’t, there’s still a lot you can take from it. And it’s only like 300 pages of decent-sized font, diagrams included, so it really isn’t much of a slog. If you’ve ever asked yourself an existential question or wondered about humanity’s place in the universe, this book is for you. Oh, and look out for the section about aliens.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mehhhhhhhh. Big promises, big letdown.

Part of the issue with this book is one I knew going in: the science is almost two decades old, which given the speed at which the field changes is downright ancient. It certainly inspired me to make time to read up in more detail on where the science is currently pointing, so in that way it was a net good. Plus, some concepts about which I was vaguely aware were better explained in this text, and for that I’m grateful. The authors’ ability to help the reader conceptualize complex, abstract topics was hit or miss, but I think that says as much about me as it does about them; specific abstractions aren’t going to work for everyone.

But their overall attempt to provide a new mythological language through which modern people can understand our important place in our universe fell really, really flat for me. The book dragged on and on promising new ideas and metaphors through which to conceptualize essential cosmological truths and honestly, it was a waste of my time. The authors never got there, and the few attempts at delivering myth/personally-meaningful cosmology (as opposed to explaining that they eventually would, and why it was going to be valuable) were dull and uninspired. There were no ah-ha moments here. The profound majesty and wonder of the complexity of our cosmology only occasionally seeped through; more often than not it seemed occulted by the authors’ attempts to make it shine. The more they tried, the more they failed. I felt like they got in their own way. I trust that what they’re trying to convey has meaning and value, but it was executed too poorly for those things to come through.

Looking back, the only chapters that felt worth the read were 5, 6, and 7.

[Elizabeth Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel unworthy of reviewing this book! Sheer brilliance here. Primack and Abrams are consummate scientists with a reverence for humanity's need for meaning--as well as a breadth of knowledge about myths and religion. Over the last centuries, scientific understanding of the universe has outpaced our meaning-making vehicles, creating dissonance between reality as we currently know it and the mythology with which most modern people make sense of the world. Primack and Abrams work to bridge the chasm between science and religion by using ancient symbols to help ordinary folks like me conceptualize the immensity and majesty of our our universe. Theirs is critical work these days. I'll be returning to this book in hopes that their elegant translations might eventually stick to my bones.

"Our cosmic identity is a central theme of this book because consciousness is limited by identity, and identity is limited by ignorance. ... The wider our sense of identity, the more likely we will be able to experience our genuine connection to the universe." --119

"Living in the consciousness of planetary-scale time deepens our identity and, most importantly, reveals the opportunities of our time, which, if we rise to them and embrace them, can provide us with the kind of cosmic meaning that humans have sought for thousands of years." --130

[cassia · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF -- after nearly two years of not touching this I am accepting that it's time to remove this from my currently reading shelf. Way to atheist/euro-centric for my taste. Cultures that have some spiritual and/or "non-scientific" beliefs are patronized as ancient, "oh so long ago!", and mistaken. It's a bummer because the premise is exciting to me. One day I might come back and finish it and see if there is anything worth salvaging in there.

[Mark Binsted · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was great in the middle part. I liked reading the authors perspective on the science and using the symbols. I found that very original and unique. However the beginning part was terrible. I almost stopped reading as I felt I was getting a recruiting sales pitch to some cheesy religion. The end part was even worse. It was full of over used rhetorical crap. I really dont need to be told to buy an electric car and lets all work together.....blah blah blah blah.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely worded an carefully explained perspective on the latest cosmological discoveries and the importance of humans in the center of observation.

[Mrsculpepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

the kind of science writing that doesn't try to pretend we're not spiritual beings

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book left me completely baffled as to how I should feel about it. The explanations of dense topics like dark matter and neutrinos were accessible and comprehensive. At some points, there were even real instances of profundity which made me want to root for the book. Unfortunately, those were undermined by the frequent interpolation of tenuous "arguments" for anthropocentrism. Alas, these speculations are the whole foundation of the book.

While the authors show great knowledge in cosmological studies, they seem to arbitrarily apply those bits of knowledge as evidence of human centrality. Noticeably absent in their speculations of human centrality is any reason why literal centrality determines one's importance. This concept is applied selectively, yet certainly often enough to justify a note as to why being in the center of something or somewhere elevates importance?

In the last third of the book, all of the information comes to a halt and we enter the realm of conjecture. While I completely support many of the ideas that the authors espouse (environmental awareness, transcendence, making the shift to sustainable prosperity, etc.), the authors come to these conclusion in an extremely convoluted manner, one which requires an intricate knowledge of the cosmos and acceptance of humankind's vast importance within it.

There were points of valuable insight in this book but they were ultimately eclipsed by the flimsy anthropocentrism and dubious parallels drawn in its support.

[Kasandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Largely, I think this was a waste of paper -- could have been written with a third of the pages and still said the same things. I started out enthusiastically, hoping to learn more about cosmology -- and then often fell asleep while reading this book because the scientific explanations were so hard to follow, and dry, and just.... boooooring. This from someone who aced and enjoyed college astronomy! Anyway, I kept slogging through it, and did enjoy discussions of past cultures' cosmology myths, but I didn't feel the authors really did a good job of presenting new material or a new viewpoint that supports their feeling that as a species, we have to wake up and adopt a new myth for our universe now. Of course we do, or the world is screwed... if it's not already too late. But this book didn't give me a feeling that I "belong" in the universe any more than I did before, nor did it help me understand anything about universal origins better than I had before. I did find a number of points mildly interesting, but overall, this was a waste of reading time. Those who want to change the world and feel it can and must be done won't need or want to read it unless they're into cosmology, and those into cosmology will probably feel that it's too basic and broad. ds

[Matt Kenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I was genuinely sorry to see finish. I never read more than 20 or so pages in a sitting, but each pause would be thought provoking. The authors are the real deal and have a significant capacity to explain HUGE ideas.

Other reviews I have read warned against the final chapters. If reading is ultimately an act of surrendering to the author's vision, I have to congratulate the authors for prosecuting their argument so well, using a quite detailed explanation of the unique circumstances that allowed our planet to nurture life. I'm still mulling over their intention to draw a line of distinction between existential nihilism and something more positive, a universe with meaning for us specifically, as humans. But if we are to have the fortitude required to save this planet for our children, there are several scientific facts that we need to understand and communicate better to ourselves as a global community. THe negativity within an existential mind predisposes itself toward fatalism, and that isn't going to help.

The read is highly recommended.

[Willa · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book, you'll never look at the Cosmos or yourself in the same way. It fundamentally changed my awareness of the entire Cosmos as well as my place in it as a human being. This is a book of the future - you have to be very open to really let in the picture. It does away with the linear thinking that has been at the basis of our scientific worldview.
It also is a very clearly explained history of cosmology which I loved - so many things about science and astronomy that I have never understood before. The writers have an amazing talent of explaining complex issues very simply, and the key is that they have a deep and radically new understanding of Evolution and our place in the universe.

[Ata A · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was legit. The best chapter was Human Is a Big Identity. The work is littered with profound and meaningful quotes from poets authors scientists etc, like from Dh Lawrence

"Some of the great images of the apocalypse nice us to strange depths, and to a strange wild fluttering of freedom: of true freedom, really, an escape to somewhere, not an escape to nowhere. An escape from the tight little cage of our universe; tight, in spite of all the astronomist's vast and unthinkable stretches of space; tight, because it is only a continuous extension, a dreary on and on, without any meaning..." (286)

Interesting read and sometimes beautiful imagery but still lacking in something...

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-intensioned attempt to use the images and archetypal stories from world mythology to express current scientific concepts in a way accessable to ordinary people, and so construct a modern scientific mythology that impacted people's consciousness the way older religion/mythology did. However, I found it too wedded to current scientific models as "true" rather than as provisional theories (which to me is the beauty and truth of science). Give me my science "straight," not as a mythologized worldview.

[Karen Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprise. I was blown away by the first two parts; thoughtful and very interesting explanation of the current scientific thoughts on the universe and how it all started. Deep, you had to pause frequently to absorb the information, but still it read like a great sci-fi story. The third section seemed to be written by a totally different author? Supposedly it was about how humans fit into the story of the universe. It just doesn't work and I wish I had totally skipped this section.

[Laura Toerner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I quit reading this book about 200 pages into it, and I only made it that far because I skipped the first 50 or so. Most of the time I spent reading, I asked myself, "What is the point of this fact, paragraph, tangent, CHAPTER, BOOK!" Another reviewer summed it up better than I in calling it "largely a waste of paper." I wish I would have read that BEFORE I started reading. Maybe I didn't give it much of a chance, but if I'm not interested 200 pages in, I'm not going to keep reading.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a number of science and philosophy books and this is one of the very few that dares to tie the two together. It can get a little new-agey but always remains science-based and never wanders into the unsubstantiated. I preferred their 2nd book "The New Universe and the Human Future" as it had links to videos on their website, better iconography and writing to explain their cosmology, but this book is worth reading to. Highly recommended.

[Arthur dos Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have chosen to read this book because it seemed to me that this text was intended to balance ideas from science and religion, but instead this book gives us an alternate point of view of the modern cosmology. The book starts very well, with stories of ancient cosmology, and it evolves nicely to modern cosmology, but it gets somehow boring at the end, when the authors tried to make a point by creating a alternative phylosophy to see the future of the human kind and the universe.

[Teddy Barker · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many existential crises. Hated this book passionately start to finish. Primack and Abrams really thought they ate. Initial concept was interesting, but they failed to capture my interest in this book. I did find the idea that we are attracted to intelligence interesting. Two stars for some good points and the writing wasn’t terrible. Maybe I would’ve liked it more if I wasn’t forced to read it.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a physisist writing about the evolving universe and particle physics, he is excellent, makes it very understandable. And, writing about the mythology which our knowledge has outgrown, they are inciteful; but, when they try to develop a modern mythology/cosmology for our time, it just doesn't cut it.

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little bogged down and intimidated with all the astrophysics at the beginning, but this is one of those books that changed my view of the world and my role within it. It was excellent, even though there were sections I couldn't sort out in a meaningful way. I plan to reread this at some point.

[Megs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book cover doesn't lie when is says that everyone should read this book. No matter where you are in life, or what your cosmological lens is, you can certainly appreciate where this booking is coming from. It's well written and packs a serious intellectual punch!

[C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book. The authors pull together arguments from across history and disciplines. It is helpful that the book is written by a husband and wife team as having both perspectives helps to explain some of the points more clearly.

[Mathieu Thogerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few books I will ever give five stars to. Beautifully written and overall elegant; a great introduction to astronomy as well as an excellent window on what it means to be human in the universe--without the use of a "God".