Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity Audible Logo Audible Audiobook – Original recording
David Christian (Narrator, Author), The Great Courses (Author, Publisher)
4.2 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
How is it possible for the disciplines of cosmology, geology, anthropology, biology, and history to fit together? These 48 lectures answer that question by weaving a single story from accounts of the past developed by a variety of scholarly disciplines. The result is a story stretching from the origins of the universe to the present day and beyond, in which human history is seen as part of the history of our Earth and biosphere, and the Earth's history, in turn, is seen as part of the history of the universe.
Like traditional creation stories told by the world's great religions and mythologies, this lecture series provides a map of our place in space and time. But it does so using the insights and knowledge of modern science, as synthesized by a renowned historian. While you may have heard parts of this story before in courses on geology, history, anthropology, biology, cosmology, and other scholarly disciplines, Professor Christian provides more than just a recap of those disciplines. "Because of the scale on which we look at the past, you should not expect to find in it many of the familiar details, names, and personalities that you'll find in other types of historical teaching and writing," he explains. "For example, the French Revolution and the Renaissance will barely get a mention. They'll zoom past in a blur. You'll barely see them. Instead, what we're going to see are some less familiar aspects of the past. We'll be looking, above all, for the very large patterns, the shape of the past.
"Prepare yourself for a journey through time and across space, from the first moments of existence to the distant reaches of the far future."
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Product details
Listening Length 24 hours and 26 minutes
Author David Christian, The Great Courses
Narrator David Christian
Audible.com Release Date July 08, 2013
Publisher The Great Courses
Program Type Audiobook
Version Original recording
Language English
ASIN B00DTNW86O
Best Sellers Rank #11,788 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#136 in Biological Sciences (Audible Books & Originals)
#828 in Biological Sciences (Books)
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rikitikitavi
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Seller who gives a Complete and Accurate description of what he sells. I like that:)
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2021
Verified Purchase
I Love my “Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth”
the Complete Great Learning Compact Disc Set. Neatly packed and Quickly shipped. I’m a very Happy customer who’s always willing to spend a bit more for a complete and accurate description of the product sold:) Again, very Happy with my buy!
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S. Aldrich
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and profound.
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2016
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Wonderful lectures.
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Becky
4.0 out of 5 stars Big History - Properly named Perfect for retirement folks to enjoy.
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
Plan on listening to it throughout the winter months. We're looking forward to it. The set was in perfect condition. .
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Kristi R.
5.0 out of 5 stars "To understand ourselves," says Professor Christian, "we need to know the very large story, the largest story of all."
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2017
Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth and the Rise of Humanity
By Professor David Christian
"To understand ourselves," says Professor Christian, "we need to know the very large story, the largest story of all."
48 lectures | 30 minutes each
1 What Is Big History?
2 Moving across Multiple Scales
3 Simplicity and Complexity
4 Evidence and the Nature of Science
5 Threshold 1—Origins of Big Bang Cosmology
6 How Did Everything Begin?
7 Threshold 2—The First Stars and Galaxies
8 Threshold 3—Making Chemical Elements
9 Threshold 4—The Earth and the Solar System
10 The Early Earth—A Short History
11 Plate Tectonics and the Earth's Geography
12 Threshold 5—Life
13 Darwin and Natural Selection
14 The Evidence for Natural Selection
15 The Origins of Life
16 Life on Earth—Single-celled Organisms
17 Life on Earth—Multi-celled Organisms
18 Hominines
19 Evidence on Hominine Evolution
20 Threshold 6—What Makes Humans Different?
21 Homo sapiens—The First Humans
22 Paleolithic Lifeways
23 Change in the Paleolithic Era
24 Threshold 7—Agriculture
25 The Origins of Agriculture
26 The First Agrarian Societies
27 Power and Its Origins
28 Early Power Structures
29 From Villages to Cities
30 Sumer—The First Agrarian Civilization
31 Agrarian Civilizations in Other Regions
32 The World That Agrarian Civilizations Made
33 Long Trends—Expansion and State Power
34 Long Trends—Rates of Innovation
35 Long Trends—Disease and Malthusian Cycles
36 Comparing the World Zones
37 The Americas in the Later Agrarian Era
38 Threshold 8—The Modern Revolution
39 The Medieval Malthusian Cycle, 500–1350
40 The Early Modern Cycle, 1350–1700
41 Breakthrough—The Industrial Revolution
42 Spread of the Industrial Revolution to 1900
43 The 20th Century
44 The World That the Modern Revolution Made
45 Human History and the Biosphere
46 The Next 100 Years
47 The Next Millennium and the Remote Future
48 Big History—Humans in the Cosmos
This was such an all compassing history of the world combining history, science, physics, biology and statistics into a huge epic of how we got to where we are now and where are we going from here.
Professor Christian taught at San Diego State University and now in Sydney, Australia. He is clear and concise on his explanations and there is so much to cover in this course that I know I will have to listen to it repeatedly.
I thoroughly enjoyed the big picture of the science of the creation of the universe and the beginnings of man in such a short time. There were many questions that were answered and many questions that we need to study more. We have so much more to learn about where we came from and where we are going.
I highly recommend this lecture series, I certainly learned from it.
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4 people found this helpful
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2015
This is the History of Everything from the beginning of the universe to the present day, organized around 8 threshold events-starting with the beginning of the universe, moving through the formation of the stars and galaxies, the formation of chemical elements, planets and solar systems (with special emphasis on our solar system and Earth), the beginning of life, the appearance of Homo sapiens, the development of agriculture (symbiosis between man and domesticates on a massive scale) and ending with The Modern Revolution. Each threshold event involves its own particular discipline from Cosmology, to Geology, Biology and Anthropology. Professor Christian provides background information from each discipline which he gathered from years coordinating Big History courses where lecturers from each of the disciplines taught segments of the class. The result is a cohesive narrative and foundation for understanding the past 13.6 billion years. I feel as if four years of inchoate 1980's undergrad education has been sorted and ordered in a few weeks.
5 people found this helpful
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Camber
5.0 out of 5 stars This Course is Mandatory for All Adults
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2013
Christian was a pioneer of big history, and is still a leader in the field, if not THE leader. TTC and its customers are therefore incredibly fortunate to have gotten Christian to develop this course.
The scope of the course is very sweeping and comprehensive. Christian literally presents a history of the universe, both natural and human, from the big bang right up to present, and even ends with potential scenarios for the future. In the process, the student is exposed not only to history on the grandest possible scale (which is the scale at which everyone should first be exposed to history), but he also imparts basic knowledge in areas such as cosmology, physics, chemistry, biology, human evolution and anthropology, technology, etc.
As a lecturer, suffice it say that Christian is superb, and 48 lectures is perhaps a perfect length for this material - long enough to synthesize a vast amount of material, without tiring the student too much by the end of the course.
It would be a gross understatement to say that I highly recommend this course. Rather, this course is absolutely mandatory for anyone who aspires to consider themself an educated adult in the world today. The framework this course provides is essential for the putting the modern world in perspective and making wise decisions for the future.
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9 people found this helpful
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