The Universe Within: Discovering The Common History Of Rocks, Planets, And People (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Everything was reeeeally small, then it grew. OK, that is oversimplification. But if you want to sit in on a fast-moving lecture of how the Big Bang begat the universe which begat elements which lead to the periodic table and water and us, or how the sun was at just the right size and place to form earth exactly as it is now and begat us, or how rocks regulate climate which regulates evolution which regulated the begatting of us, this is a singular book like no other. From US Navy ships during WW II to Cold War misadventures in Greenland, to how the Romans ran their empire via calendar-engineering; from how gravity affects humans, tossed frogs, and flies; from color-blindness to a Frenchman alone in a cave for two months to the inner ocean of the human womb to submerged forests in Antarctica; this is nothing if not a dense and ambitious weaving of facts as seen with the benefit of a common endpoint. Do not be frightened off by that: Shubin keeps things moving and approachable and in a scale that is at once broad and also easy to take on board. Our livers are perfect, when you look at what we are as a species and what we ask that organ to do for us, given our needs and our environment. Same with our eyes, our hearing, our joints and reproductive systems, our sense of time. This and 'Inner Fish' swim in the same waters of looking backward and seeing the past from where we are now, all the linkages, and both are gems. 'The Universe Within' is more inclusive re: the Whole Enchilada, less pure anatomy and more big-picture. Shubin offers so many little peeks down myriad alleyways that you can end up in awe, and you will see things anew when you put down the book and walk out in the rain, or have a salad, or look up at the stars. From the description, this seemed to be about connections between the composition and origin of the earth as reflected in human development. While there is some of that here, it's more a history of the planet and its life, as well as a history of people discovering the history of the planet and its life. While there was some interesting information, such as color vision possibly deriving from the isolation and icing of Antarctica and the separation of other continents (the new need to find protein-rich vegetation leading to color vision), but a lot of this I learned in various high school and college science classes, as well as from watching NOVA. I think the focus just wandered away from the topic, and tried to cover too much. It was written in a very understandable way, at least, with little to no jargon and clear explanations.
What do You think about The Universe Within: Discovering The Common History Of Rocks, Planets, And People (2013)?
The book is good but too much geology and too little biology. The title is misleading.
—caiticat1111
CHF's Book of the Day for Sept. 24, 2013
—monkeygeek25
