Big History: Before the Big Bang to Now

by Paul Singh

Big History traces the chronology of our universe from before the Big Bang to now. It raises the most important questions that concern us all and then provides answers from the naturalistic point of view. Paul Singh draws on the latest findings from the physical and biological sciences, astronomy and cosmology, geology and genetics, and pre-history and archeology in search of answers to these and many other questions. He lucidly and engagingly demonstrates; the answers science gives about ourselves and the universe in which we live are incomparably more surprising and interesting than any mythical tale of a creator ever devised by any human culture. Indeed, science’s proud journey of exploration and discovery is humanity’s finest narrative yet, about how we trusted our intelligence to find out what we really are and who we can be? intrepidly going wherever the evidence led. Even though science reveals that humanity may have no special place in the universe, humanity is truly special because of our ability to comprehend our universe to a large extent. Thus, this inspiring story of exploration and discovery is a celebration not only of science and its own journey but also of ourselves.

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2020

Reviews

[Sense of History]

There are 2 major problems with this book. For starters, the title definitely doesn't cover the content. This is not a Big History book, at least not in the way this approach was started by David Christian and Fred Spier, and has since been sponsored through the Gates Foundation as a teaching tool. The book does provide a good state of affairs in the scientific debate about the origin and evolution of the universe, the origin of life and of the modern human species. But just before halfway it becomes a tract in which the contribution of religions in human history is systematically downplayed and heavily criticized. The author certainly offers interesting reflections, but this is devaluated by the incessant ranting against everything related to religion, without the least of nuance. This clearly is a book with its own agenda, committed to scientific absolutism. And that detracts from the 'Big History'-focus of the first chapters.

The second problem is that the text of this book is literally identical to the publication “Discovering our world, Humanity's epic journey from myth to knowledge”, a book published by Paul Singh and John R. Shook in 2015. But in this book, Shook's name as well as that of the illustrator have been omitted; and neither the content nor the bibliography have been updated. Strange indeed.
(ARC copy received through Netgalley)

[Marc Lamot · Rating 1 out of 5]

To avoid. See my review in my History-account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

I really didn't enjoy this book, it's not what I was expecting it to be at all. The book is rather scattered and not laid out very well with information that I didn't enjoy reading.
I in general enjoy booksabout history but this book was half history and half science.

[Hirdesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review soon...

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big History by Paul Singh seemed like two different books to me. The first section mostly deals with scientific explanations of early cosmology (the Big Bang, galaxy creation, the expansion of the universe, inflation theory, multiverse, and so forth) and then moves into geologic history (age of the Earth, continental drift, plate tectonics, the various ages of the Earth), then biological history (rise of bacteria, photosynthesis, the Cambrian Explosion) and finally human history (rise of homo sapiens, development of language and tools). It’s all explained mostly clearly enough, though one or two metaphors I’m not so sure were the best choices for clarity. The presentation feels a bit scattered though, and the explanations are more broad than in-depth. It’s not a bad synopsis, but honestly, there are better choices out there for those looking for either more full explanations and more in-depth details or more engaging style (or both).

The second section veers into an exploration, though really a take-down, of religion. Singh wears his views on his sleeve and while parts of the discussion are interesting, mostly it seems pretty shallow (not in its insights but its details) and hit a lot of easy targets. I’m also not quite sure who this is for. Being an atheist, my own views align with Singh’s but even I was off put now and then by some what seemed to me unnecessarily insulting language. If one is even moderately religious, it’s hard for me to imagine them continuing reading this. If one is an atheist and interested in science, I’m not sure this is of much interest to them. Honestly, the second half left me more befuddled and disengaged than enlightened.

In the end, while there are some interesting points made and the early scientific discussion is relatively informative, there are better offerings to learn either the scientific or the religious elements.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really boring

Imagine the most boring history, astronomy, theology, biology, and religion classes you can think of. Now imagine the content being placed into a book without anything to keep your attention. The only deviation is the authors input on their personal thought and feelings about the various subjects. I tried to read this many times but it made me fall asleep each time I tried. After the first few sentences my brain shut off and I really didn’t retain anything I read.