I have a bit of a nerd crush on Shubin, having now read both of his books this year. What I like about his writing, is that it is as smart and informative as it is accessible. I don't know about your average Joe, but I do not have a degree in evolutionary biology, astronomy, or tectonics, so it was sure nice to find an author who can really explain the tricky details.
I've read explanations of Carbon 14 dating of fossils in both this book and Nick Lane's Oxygen, and I only really got Shubin. Lan I have a bit of a nerd crush on Shubin, having now read both of his books this year. Lane went right over my head, like a supersonic jet. Sometimes Shubin steps aside to weave in relevant stories of great scientists, and it takes a page or two to connect the dots, but the desirable "a-ha" moment never seems to miss the reader.
The first few chapters that deal with formation of our planet and life in general, as well as chapter nine that talked about human evolution were of the most interest to me. There are a few theories and topics that I would love to expand my knowledge on a little further: Thankfully, the book also contains a fascinating and very extensive section with notes and further reading suggestions, with the help of which I have already added several other scientific works to my shelves. I cannot wait to see what else Mr.
Apr 23, Tanja Berg rated it really liked it Shelves: Fascinating content, well-written, personal and easily digested. Popular science at its best! There is something almost magical to the notion that our bodies, minds, and ideas have roots in the crust of Earth, water of the oceans, and atoms in celestial bodies. The stars in the sky and the fossils in the ground are enduring beacons that signal, though the pace of human change is ever accelerating, we are but a recent link in a network of connections as old as the heavens.
One of the chapters deals with continental drift. I've read the story many times before but I still find it highly amusing and a bit distressing that what any child given a map of the world can see was considered a heretical idea as little as 50 years ago. The importance of continental drift?
It created an enormous amount of new coast line, susceptible to erosion and dumping sediments into the sea, thus burying the mud consisting of rotting single celled organisms. All in all, this book is immensely readable and highly recommended for anyone curious about the history of our world and its creatures. Not perfect, but pretty darn good. Rounded up to a full 5 stars because it was so full of memorable tidbits.
Shubin may be a paleontologist, but you'll learn about astronomy, physics, microbiology, social sciences And so many things in between. Accessible science writing that offers a solid starting point to many additional disciplines. Dec 02, Rhys rated it liked it. In the great Goodreads competition of books named The Universe Within , the results just in, we have to say that this was the more enjoyable one to read. I was hoping to feel more connected to rocks after this book - not that I have anything against rocks, mind you - but they just didn't come to life for me.
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Jun 15, Susan rated it liked it. Some aspects of this book were entertaining and the science seems very up-to-date. But overall it was too disjointed. I think the best part of this book is going to be the suggestions for further reading, because there is such a wide range of topics he touched on.
The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People
This was very entertaining, but I couldn't help but feel by the end that is was a bit lacking in substance. Maybe it is just because I came off a monster of an 19hours audiobook, but by the time we got to the end, it felt like it was just starting to get going. I kinda wanted it to go into further detail about a lot of this stuff.
It was very easy to listen to, though, so I have to give it points for readability. I don't understand how this book gets its name. This chapter includes a nice write up of how scientist estimate the age of the universe and the odd fact that all of the stars are red-shifted indicating they are moving away and why that radio telescope in New Jersey was important. This chapter includes an explanation of how scientists date the earth and why those comet rocks were important, but not the only way they did it they also used some very old rocks in Australia.
Reading this book and watching that Bill Nye debate brings up some issues between science and religion. Science shows the universe is unimaginably old with billions of stars at vast distances. The religion teaches that God only took the same time to create all of that as he did on the oceans. One view encourages a view of man as a humbly small part of a huge universe, the other as something special. Science shows that all life is related. We share DNA with even the humblest jelly fish.
Religion teaches that man is a special creation of God and can therefore do what he pleases to the earth and all other life forms on it. Science shows the earth has gone through several biological apocalypses where almost every species on earth has gone extinct. Religion claims the earth is only years old and the species on it are immutable.
We can do whatever we want to the planet and not worry. I think I am buying the science. That does not eliminate a belief in God, it just eliminates a belief in most religions. In this lively book, Neil Shubin noted author of Your Inner Fish , makes paleontology, carbon chemistry, and climate science all come together in explaining our lives and the world around us.
Drawing on the deep connectivity between our chemical composition and the natural processes in our universe, Shubin makes an immediate case of how dependent we are on almost everything around us. He explains how the state of the planet is greatly dependent on its carbon balance, a process maintained and go In this lively book, Neil Shubin noted author of Your Inner Fish , makes paleontology, carbon chemistry, and climate science all come together in explaining our lives and the world around us. He explains how the state of the planet is greatly dependent on its carbon balance, a process maintained and governed by seemingly discrete earth processes.
Volcanoes spew carbon into the air, which then settles in rocks via acid rain. This flows into the ocean by way of erosion due to rivers and glaciers. The ocean floor has rifts that create new ocean floor, while at another end, older sea floor gets buried into the earth's internal core at subduction fault zones, thus feeding the volcanic activity. In typical flowing writing style, Shubin identifies how the collision of India into the Tibetan landmass led to the formation of the Himalayan range, an activity so profound in its absorption of carbon from the air, that it led to steady declines in the world's temperature, thus leading to the Ice Ages.
This book nicely pulls together facts available from other sources - but it excels in its ability to intertwine all these discrete facts into a yarn that clearly and compellingly demonstrates our intimate connection to the universe around us. Besides, there is the passion of interbeing here, as Shubin succintly summarizes his story in ten quick chapters, accompanied by an exhaustive list of references for the more serious reader. As the universe changes, so do we. Sometimes these changes are catastrophic, as when the landmass pulled away from Antartica, transforming it very quickly into a teeming landscape of frozen ice instead of the greenery it once nurtured.
In other cases, the changes are more gradual, but still going on. It gives special relevance to the Upanishadic quip: It is a discussion of how astronomical events that took place billions of years ago have led to the human species as we know it today. As I was reading I kept coming across pieces of information that seemed completely new to me, or that I might have forgotten.
The Universe Within is more ambitious: This should surprise no one.
We evolved, so we evolved from the materials available. Even if we were created, we were fashioned — it quite bluntly says so in the Book of Genesis — from common clay: That said, this is a daring book: Primate evolution is an exciting story with missing chapters, but we have no real idea why one species can ask abstract questions, compose poems and write books about the history of the universe. But even though the direct connections between the wider cosmos and the details of physiology are sometimes difficult to make, this book offers a new, fresh way of telling the story of life, the universe and everything.
There are delights in every chapter. At the beginning of the 20th century the exasperated director of the Harvard College Observatory told his staff that he could hire his maid to do their work at half the cost. These distances turned out to be breathtaking.
This is not a bad book but I feel that if suffers from trying to cover too broad an area in too few pages. It reminds me of when my supervisor was going to give a talk about "cognition and evolution", which he felt was already stretching what you could cram into one talk.
The arrangers however felt that this was too modest, can't we change the title to cogntion, evolution, and the cosmos to raise interest? I don't know how that episode ended but I can imagine that, like this book, the result would lack focus. Professor Shubin the author of the best-selling " Your Inner Fish " provides readers with a wonderful and accessible book that connects the dots to our human origins.
Using his background in paleontology and the converging knowledge from biology and physics; we end up with an enjoyable instructive book that is perfect for the layperson. This page book is composed of the following ten chapters: Rocking Our World, 2. Blasts from the Past, 3. The Ascent of Big, 6. Connecting the Dots, 7.
The Universe Within by Neil Shubin – review | Books | The Guardian
Kings of the Hill, 8. Fever and Chills, 9. Cold Facts, and Professor Shubin is an excellent author who is able to convey the main points to a general audience. Well-researched and engaging book. This book covers many areas of science with ease, from the big bang until the present. Professor Shubin shares his firsthand adventures with readers which make for an enjoyable read.
Great use of illustrations, maps and photos that add value to book. The main idea of this book, made plainly clear, "All the galaxies in the cosmos, like every creature on the planet, and every atom, molecule, and body on Earth are deeply connected. That connection begins at a single point Good explanation of how rocks tie us to the past. Many great stories of scientists behind important discoveries. The importance of properties of light. A little astronomy for good measure and how it relates to humans.
A lot of amazing tidbits interspersed throughout the narrative. In the process, Earth will almost certainly lose its water". How to determine time Fossils and rock layers. The fascinating balance of oxygen between the forces that produce it and those that consume it. The scientists and observations that led to plate tectonics. The discovery of extinctions. The evolution of our planet. The impact of carbon dioxide. The cycle of carbon. The "cold" hard facts. The ice age theory. The regular intervals that they occur. Over , years Earth's orbit goes from the shape of an oval to a more circular pattern.
During 41, years Earth rocks back and forth about 2 degrees. And in the course of 19, years Earth's tilt wobbles like a top". The ice ages are correlated to the changing orbit, tilt, and gyration of Earth Did not take advantage of links in the Kindle version.
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As wonderful as this book is it really is intended for the layperson and as a result lacks depth. The book is heavily weighted in favor of geology.
In summary, this was a fun book to read. Professor Shubin is an engaging author who does a wonderful job of conveying his main ideas to the public. The book is about the thrill of the scientific hunt. In this case, it was about the hunt for discoveries that link humans to our cosmos. As wonderful as this book is, it's not in the same league as his masterpiece, "Your Inner Fish"; be that as it may, it's a solid, accessible book.