Journey of the Universe: Brian Thomas Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker: 9780300209433: Amazon.com: Books
Journey of the Universe Paperback – October 21, 2014
by Brian Thomas Swimme (Author), Mary Evelyn Tucker (Author)
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This volume tells the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"An expanded creation story of the cosmos but an expanded look into the evolution of our own consciousness. I cannot imagine a more urgent book to read as we enter this revolutionary moment on the planet. It is an illuminated manuscript, a prayer book of wonder and awe for our time." --Terry Tempest Williams, author of "Finding Beauty in a Broken World"--Terry Tempest Williams (02/24/2011)
"What's most striking about Swimme and Tucker's work is a simple but beautiful assumption: a cosmological orientation opens the human mind to wonder, gratitude, humility, and creativity."--Mitchell Thomashow, "Orion"--Mitchell Thomashow "Orion "
"Strikingly, . . . the co-authors managed to fit 14 billion years of grandeur along with humanity's most fundamental questions into small spaces. . . . Perfectly tailored for classroom use . . . offering a common ground for discussion among people of myriad points of view."--Julianne Lutz Warren, "Journal of Environmental Studies and Science"--Julianne Lutz Warren "Journal of Environmental Studies and Science "
"For those of us enmeshed in symbolic consciousness, this is just the story we need to hear, loud and clear. It helps us understand how we happened to be here, and, more important, why."--Bill McKibben, author of "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet" and "The End of Nature"
--Bill McKibben (09/16/2010)
About the Author
Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Mary Evelyn Tucker is senior lecturer and research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Yale Divinity School. She is co-founder and co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale.
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5.0 out of 5 starsSmall Book - Big Story - Even Bigger Message!
ByDon Smithon June 15, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Having just completed this wonderful short (117 pages) book, I am awestruck at the ability of the authors to tell "The Journey of the Universe" in so few pages and yet evoke a deep new awareness of what it means to be human within the Earth Community and Universe today.
I have read Swimme's previous books and much of Thomas Berry's writings and perhaps the best way to describe this book is as a distillation and re-focusing of the best of this previous work. Although not as involved as "The Universe Story" by Berry/Swimme, it brilliantly captures its essence and expounds insights without bogging down in detail. I was amazed at the writing style which is so concise and informative and packs deep and thought-provoking insights into every paragraph. Yet it is a joy to read and what I would call an "easy read" probably requiring not much more than 2-3 hours! The collaboration of Mary Evelyn Tucker (editor of Thomas Berry's later books of essays) and Brian Swimme has created a book which could (and should!) well become one of the most widely read in the English-speaking world.
Although the authors outline the cosmological history of our Universe it never bogs down in scientific jargon and always keeps the reader firmly focused on what this all means for us today. They do, however, paint an awe-inspiring picture of the Universe out of which we have emerged and the cosmological forces which have shaped this emergence.
The essential focus of the book is not at all scientific in nature - most of it is concerned with subtly raising our awareness of the human species' place or role within Earth Community now that we understand all that modern cosmology has revealed. Note that this is subtle. Nowhere do the authors present a dogmatic or ideological agenda for what humans should now do. The book is first and foremost an awareness-raising exercise using only the most established mainstream science and cultural history.
Yet, once you read the book, if you are like me, you will be stunned with the breadth and depth of what this awareness means for our personal, national and cultural lives. It is indeed quite brilliant that the authors leave so much to our own conscience and discernment without beating us over the head with their own conclusions. The wisdom contained in this book needs to be disseminated and discussed much like the sacred scriptures of the world's religions.
This book is written at a level which kids in their early teens could easily assimilate. It would be my hope the "Journey of the Universe" would become a standard part of school curriculum across the globe. Everyone should read this amazing book.
Highly recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 starsChris Uhl, Professor of Biology, Penn State University
ByChris Uhlon June 17, 2011
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
This is a stunning book. It is both prose and poetry. Reading it slowly, savoring it, I have the sense that every sentence has been crafted from the heart. There is not a word that is unnecessary. It is a labor of love, a truly sacred text. I offer my profound thanks to the authors.
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5.0 out of 5 starsWhat changes everything?
ByDavid from Ipswichon July 26, 2011
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
It was about 15 years ago that I discovered "The Universe Story" by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry. It was of those books that forever changed me, my perspective. Like the current book, "Journey of the Universe", it presented the story of the universe from inception to now in 300 pages. "Journey of the Universe" remarkably shrinks the presentation to 117 pages and gives the very essence of how we came into being and where we are in the great chain of being. It is a remarkable acomplishment both for its scope and its artistry. I would like to focus only on one point, but in my opinion, this point is at the heart of human transformation. It answers the question "what changes everything". And the "answer" is that you (and I and everything else) is in fact the universe manifesing in a particular form. The rose in the particular form of a flower, the golden retriever in the particur form of a dog and you (and I) in the particular form of a human. To fully penetrate this mystery does in fact change everything.
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5.0 out of 5 starsWe are Stardust
ByJonathan W. Gorhamon August 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover
This is a delightful, yet provocative book. Once you pick it up you, will not be able to put it down. It is jam packed with interesting facts about cosmic evolution, cell biology and patterns in the universe that seem to apply on both the micro and macro levels. The authors assert that humans have evolved with the unique gift of symbolic consciousness, a window on the universe that enables us to reflect upon the majesty of the world on both its scientifically knowable and spiritual dimensions. They pose the question: can we as a species collectively generate a new sense of awe and wonder in time to transform our technology driven, "growth at any cost" system when ecosystems are collapsing and species are going extinct all around us?
With the capacity of humans to experience "the depth of things" and to exhibit compassion and empathy for each other, and, hopefully, all species, do we have the creativity, tools and commitment to forge a planetary system that is sustainable? It is precisely this question that will challenge us over the next couple of decades as we reach seven billion people on the planet. Can we create a world that can flourish for all its inhabitants for generations to come?
The authors document that humans are an exploratory species, fascinated by the journey. Our stories of that journey sustain us, yet not all explorations result in positive outcomes. And few of us understand the scope of this journey over cosmic time and humankind's infinitesimal part in that play. The authors explain that there is a dynamic tension that drives the universe - galactic expansion-contraction, life-death explosions, evolutionary experimentation-adaption. Cataclysmic events have wiped out massive potions of life on earth before. Are we, Homo sapiens, the big-brained, bipedal, evolutionary experiment going to be the transformational player ushering in a new "sustainable planet" era, or, have we created economic and political systems so out of alignment with the patterns of the universe that our fate is sealed?
This small book's, exquisitely written, poetic chapters present our opportunities and choices in the context of a journey through cosmic evolution. A lyric from, Joni Mitchell comes to mind: "We are stardust. We are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden." This is a thought-provoking and inspirational book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsChanging Perspectives
ByMary Gorhamon August 5, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Some books help us shift perspective for an hour. Others for a day. And then there is Journey of the Universe. I finished reading this book several weeks ago, and keep catching myself at odd moments every day marveling at how I see ordinary events differently because of Swimme and Tucker's remarkable book. Not only have they masterfully described in layman's terms the grand history of the universe, but through their beautiful, non-didactic prose, they have raised questions and offered insights into what this extraordinary journey implies for our own human existence. For example, just as the universe has emerged through massive expansion and contraction, we too, continue that theme of expansion and contraction through our breathing, our heartbeats, our consciousness shifts, our birth, growth and death. And in so doing, we can think of our lives as not just the result of these enormous forces, but the continuation of them- the living of them- in the forms that we and all other life give them. (It's hard to eat a peanut butter sandwich quite the same way after considering what eating means from this vantage point, yes? :)
So too, as we are quickly causing polar ice caps to melt, species to go extinct, and our oceans, rivers, air, and soil to be profoundly degraded, Swimme and Tucker raise the question of where our conscious self-awareness will lead us next as the cataclysmic destruction we are causing (even if unintentially) brings our Holocene era to a close and a new Anthropocene era shaped primarily by humans begins. My sense is this inquiry and many others will continue to inform my and other readers' perspectives for a long time to come.
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5.0 out of 5 starsWhy This Book Matters Today
ByAnne Robertson July 27, 2011
Format: Hardcover
With the thought that I might encounter concepts that were laden with scientific complexities and/or concepts that would be too distant philosophically and spiritually I chose a warm afternoon, in the quiet, to open and begin Journey of the Universe while watering my garden. I decided, "I will try a chapter; Well, maybe the first few pages" which I was sure I would have to re-read several times. I ended up wrapping up the hose and grabbing a pencil to mark momentous "ah-ha" passages with exclamation points and spent the next few hours completely absorbed in the explanation of the unfolding of OUR journey, tingling from the revelatory information. The new insights and understandings gleaned over the last century of the burgeoning forth of galaxies and stars and life is laid out in a slow, delicate, comprehensive manner with images that resonate all the way down to the inner fibers of my being. I felt alive and inspired but more than that, I was left feeling a renewed connection to all things and awed by the marvelous sense of timing and purpose. It is quite remarkable that a book written by academics - a scientist and a historian of religions, is so readable to a lay person who is searching for understanding of our present day planetary dilemmas through a larger framework for this is not a story about something apart from me, it is book that puts forth a call to understand why this journey matters to me and everyone around me today.
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5.0 out of 5 starsYou ARE the universe reflecting on itself
ByTodd Duncanon August 18, 2011
Format: Hardcover
This wonderful little book is an invitation and a guide to a way of experiencing your self that is deeply connected to the rest of the cosmos. Don't just read the book. Experience it and integrate it into your everyday life. Read it while sitting under a tree or by campfire or flashlight sitting under the stars with friends. What our world needs perhaps most of all right now is space to really talk to each other (about what we believe, what we care about, what we are afraid of) from a non-threatening, big picture, cosmic perspective. This book provides the context for these much-needed conversations.
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5.0 out of 5 starsLet's discuss this one together!
ByCeleste Rossmilleron August 10, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Journey of the Universe helps to inspire a sense of the intimate human connection to the "deep time," slow emergence of the Universe. The book narrates the best current science in clear prose, in combination with philosophical-spiritual reflection. Swimme and Tucker not only ask splendid questions, but probe into current difficulties. Their insights on the mechanization of time in the last ~150 years, for example, helps clarify why we feel so pressurized as we are run by the machine-oriented society in which we participate. They then open possible doors--wonder, creativity, intimacy with the world around us--inviting us to step through to new territory.
I will use this book in my Intro to Religious Studies class at a public university, in the latter part of the course. Religions have always helped their adherents to answer such questions as, "Where did we come from and to whom are we related?" [the metaphysics] and "How ought we to live?" [the morality]. Journey of the Universe restores a "functional cosmology" for our times, and will, I suspect, provoke lively discussion of ways the eternal questions might orient humans in our still unfolding universe today.
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4.0 out of 5 starsOur place in this vast universe
ByW. Cheungon March 31, 2012
Format: Hardcover
At only just over 100 small pages, do not expect a very comprehensive description of the entire history of the universe. That's not the intention of the authors. Rather, the underlying theme is to suggest that there are some unifying threads that link its myriad processes together. Key concepts include "creativity", "cooperation", and "disequilibrium". The story of the universe from its very beginning to the appearance of human consciousness is a seamless one. It appears that we represent the way the universe marvels at and reflects upon itself, and yet we may never know our exact role as the future is yet to unfold.
You don't have to totally agree with the authors' perspectives (I don't) to enjoy the elegance and poetry of their frequently inspiring writing. A small but quite profound gem.
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5.0 out of 5 starsI finally found my creation story
ByPaul Waldauon June 7, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Among the three or four most moving books I have ever read. My students also have raved about the multiple ways this book, the movie and the impressive supporting lectures in the DVD series prompt one to engage personal meaning and one's own life choices. Personally, I thought all three (book, movie, DVD) essential to the broad vision available through these materials. Different parts of this trio combined to increase my awareness of many other lives and patterns near me, even in me. I noticed that these materials again and again increased my everyday awareness of the simplest and most complex processes around me, such that I thought "I now have a creation story." What is remarkable is that this creation is realistic, scientific, spiritual and ethical all at once, especially because this creation story keeps me squarely in this world. The upshot is that exploring this world has become all the more real, meaningful, and communal.
