Overview

Big Ideas: A Guide to the History of Everything narrates the history of the universe, Earth, life, and humanity while analyzing how grand stories about the past, present, and future are crafted and framed.In Big Ideas, authors Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop create a novel framework for thinking about the history and future of everything. They grapple throughout the book with issues at the intersection of the natural sciences, history, literature, philosophy, religion, and the humanities. In nine elegantly written chapters, they attempt to make a reasoned analysis of worldviews that underlie historical writing across many fields. Throughout the course of their broad and deep explorations, the authors bring a wide range of voices to bear on fascinating questions of where everything--from the universe as a whole to any particular thing within it--came from, how it got to be the way it is today, and where things might be headed in the future.Big Ideas invites readers to think about genuinely big questions carefully and rigorously, separating received narratives about the ""history of everything"" from the basic facts discovered by scientific and historical study. The book treats scientific explanation and humanistic interpretation as partners: inviting those with primarily scientific interests into a humanistic discussion about science and history, and encouraging those with core interests in the humanities into a discussion of how humanities-based ways of thinking might connect with and apply to the natural sciences. This engagement helps readers learn a basic narrative of the ""history of everything"" while constantly provoking thought about big questions and the field of Big History.

Full Product Details

Author:   Cameron Gibelyou (Faculty Member, Faculty Member, University of Michigan) ,  Douglas Northrop (Professor of History and Middle east Studies, Professor of History and Middle east Studies, University of Michigan)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.10cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 15.50cm
Weight:   0.748kg
ISBN:  

9780190201210

ISBN 10:   0190201215
Pages:   464
Publication Date:   22 September 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

"Acknowledgments Preface About the Authors Chapter 1. Introduction Overview A Brief History of Histories of Everything Information and Interpretation Themes Organization and Layout Points and Purposes Creation A Quick Tour of Ideas About Creation Creation Myths and Universal Histories Discipline The Challenges of Integrating Different Disciplines Example: What Counts as an Explanation? Simplicity vs. Complexity Integrating the Humanities and Sciences: The Interpretive Level Scale Side note: Powers of Ten Space and Time Tell a Story Side note: We Are Intermediate-Scaled Value, Significance, and Scale: Small Matters Too Chapter 2. Universe Universe The Size of the Universe The Centrality of the Earth The Moral Meaning of the Universe Defining the Universe Big Bang The Story The Evidence Side note: The Lithium Problem Levels of Confidence Gravity Gravity in the History of the Universe: Galaxies, Stars, Elements, Planets Ideas About Gravity Observational Challenges: Dark Matter and Dark Energy Side note: Unseen Matter and Gravity Gravity as a Metaphor Entropy What Is Entropy? Entropy, Order, and Complexity Entropy in an Expanding Universe, Past and Future Mathematics Laws of Physics Limitations of Laws Laws and Discipline Why the Unreasonable Effectiveness? Physical Laws and the Nature of Explanations in Physics Fine-Tuning Chapter 3. Earth Earth Forming the Earth Earth as a Planet Earth as a Set of Systems Earth as Alive Plate Tectonics The Idea and the Evidence Plate Tectonics and the Earth's Interior Side note: Does Plate Tectonics Itself Have a History? Shifting the Conceptual Ground To Ponder: Plate Tectonics as a Metaphor Deep Time A Brief History of Earth How Do We Know? Side note: How Did the Moon Form? Telling the Story of Deep Time To Ponder: The Anthropocene Ordering by Separating Accretion and Differentiation Sedimentation and Isotope Fractionation Ordering by Separating, Past and Present Reductionism What Is Reductionism? Scale and (Anti-)Reductionism in Universal Histories Contextual Emergence To Ponder: Wholes and Parts Discipline, Reductionism, and the Overall Shape of Knowledge Chapter 4. Life Life Life and Levels of Biological Organization Life: Discipline and Reductionism Side note: Scales of Life Side note: The Same Entity Can Be Treated at Multiple Levels Evolution The History of Evolution: Darwin's Time and Before Natural Selection Modern Evolutionary Synthesis Extended side note: Evidence for Evolution Evolution as Information, Evolution as Interpretation Evolution, Progress, and the Value of Animals Evolution, Progress, and the Value of Human Beings Survival, Struggle, and the Nature of Nature Evolution: Interpret With Care Biosphere The Beginnings of the Biosphere: 3+ Billion Years Ago A World of Microbes: 3 to 1.5 Billion Years Ago A World of Microbes . . . Plus Other Stuff: 1.5 Billion Years Ago to the Present How Historians Can Help Scientists Side note: Stromatolites and Hunter-Gatherers The Place of Humans in Life's History Biochemistry The Beginnings of Life: How, Where, Why? Life's History--A Biochemical Story? What Is Life? Science Science Is Philosophical Side note: How the Philosophy of Statistics Influences Cosmology Science Is Social To Ponder: Crackpots Science Has Limits Chapter 5. Humanity Humanity Human Ancestry The Search for Human Origins and the Anthropologist's Proxies for Humanity To Ponder: What Does It Mean to Be Human? Culture Biology and Culture Side note: Cultural Evolution Biology and Culture as Interpretive Framing Technology Stone Tools Hunting and Extinction of the Megafauna Agriculture Progress Narratives and the Interpretation of Prehistoric Technologies Language Some Basic Properties of Language Origins of Language: When, How, Why? Side note: Language and Thinking Mind Mind, Consciousness, Physicalism Extended sidebar: Other Minds Side note: Other Minds Integrating the Human Sciences: Human Beings and Being Human Chapter 6. History History Universal Histories in the Context of History-Writing To Ponder: A History of You Evidence, Deep Time, and World History To Ponder: Southeast Asian Inscriptions Information and Interpretation in World History Side note: Following Up on ""A History of You"" Large Scales and the Individual Contingency Contingency in History Contingency in the History of Life Chance, Laws, and Contingency in Historical Explanation Side note: Counterfactuals Context A Brief History of the World in Three Parts Side note: Evolutionary Psychology Side note: Social Constructs The Multiple Contexts of Universal Histories Population Population Dynamics in the Era of Foragers, the Agrarian Era, and the Modern Era Malthusian Thinking About Population Dynamics Side note: State Formation in Sumer Extended side note: Easter Island Biological Reductionism in Universal Histories To Ponder: Population and Culture in Other Animals Causation Multicausal History Determinisms, Free Will, and the Writing of History Relationships Between Causation, Context, and Contingency Chapter 7. Modernity Modernity Modern Changes: As Seen From the Informational Level Side note: Sociology Modernity as Interpretation and Storytelling Connection Connection Goes Far Back Global Connections The Limitations of Connection Systems The Idea of a System, and How It Structures Universal Histories Advantages and Limitations of ""Systems Thinking"" Statistics Statistics, the Social Sciences, and Modern Concepts Side note: Eugenics and Theoretical Statistics Projecting Numerical Information Wherever We Look Purpose Side note: Philosophy in Modernity A Brief History of Purpose in (Western) Philosophy Purpose in Biology The Advantages and Disadvantages of Including Purpose Purpose, the Universe, and Emergence Chapter 8. Future Future What Makes Something Predictable? Side note: Futurologists Causality and Scale An Example of Short-Term Prediction: Climate Change Medium-Term Futures Long-Term Futures Wildcards and Interactions Between Trends Interpreting the Future Progress Problems With Progress The Future as a Site for Discussing Present Moral Standards Sustainability Universal History as Context for the Anthropocene Sustainability in the Anthropocene Environmental Sustainability as a Matter of Social Organization and Infrastructure Side note: The Aral Sea Environmental Tradeoffs and the Future Transhumanism Technology and the Future of Human Evolution Technologies and Technical Limits of Human Modification Universal Histories and Transhumanism Criticisms of Transhumanism Time To Ponder: To Experience a Radically Extended Life Span Philosophy, Physics, and Time Time in Other Disciplines Chapter 9. Interpretation Interpretation What Is Interpretation? Interpretation and the Integration of Disciplines, Worldviews, and People Interpretation and Universal Histories Complexity Measuring Complexity Complexity in the Physical, Biological, and Social Worlds Evaluating Complexity Religion Naturalism as One Worldview Among Several Religious Worldviews and the Foundations of Universal History The Reasonability of Religious Worldviews Incorporating Religion in Universal History Narrative The Atheist and the Orthodox Jew: Visions of Reality Metanarrative A Many-Branched Stream Appendix Index"

Reviews

How do you write histories of all of time? How do you handle Time itself, or the moment of Creation? Or Evolution, or Causation and Contingency, or the spooky power of mathematical reasoning? And what is Entropy? In nine beautifully written chapters, Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop explore the perils and delights of writing, reading, and interpreting Big History. --David Christian, author of Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History Racing from the Big Bang to the present can make for a jarring ride, rocketing readers across enormous differences of evidence and idiom. But Northrop and Gibelyou positively delight in these disciplinary leaps. Rather than smoothing over the gaps, Big Ideas makes them integral to the story, exploring how each jump in scale plunges us into a new scholarly community with its own history and habits. In the process, the authors shed as much light on the evolution of the university as of the universe--and turn Big History into a lively forum for integrating cross-disciplinary knowledge. A game-changing contribution. --Karen Wigen, Stanford University This is an important book that should be read by people in every discipline. It is a thoughtful and insightful examination about our ideas of how we originated, where we come from, how we got here, what our conditions mean now, and where we may be headed. Written by a historian and an astrophysicist, it integrates ideas about the sciences and the humanities and seeks the unity that universities should be seeking. From physics to philosophy and from chemistry to cultural studies, this book contributes significantly to our ideas about what it means to be an educated person in our time. --Lowell Gustafson, Villanova University In this important book, Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop offer a conversation among different approaches to understanding the major ideas that we use or take for granted in everyday life and in scholarly fields. In both big and little ways, they examine knowledge from across different disciplines, answering questions and raising new ones. In each chapter, they invite readers to look behind the curtains and to join in the discussion. --Bob Bain, University of Michigan

"""How do you write histories of all of time? How do you handle Time itself, or the moment of Creation? Or Evolution, or Causation and Contingency, or the spooky power of mathematical reasoning? And what is Entropy? In nine beautifully written chapters, Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop explore the perils and delights of writing, reading, and interpreting Big History.""--David Christian, author of Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History ""Racing from the Big Bang to the present can make for a jarring ride, rocketing readers across enormous differences of evidence and idiom. But Northrop and Gibelyou positively delight in these disciplinary leaps. Rather than smoothing over the gaps, Big Ideas makes them integral to the story, exploring how each jump in scale plunges us into a new scholarly community with its own history and habits. In the process, the authors shed as much light on the evolution of the university as of the universe--and turn Big History into a lively forum for integrating cross-disciplinary knowledge. A game-changing contribution.""--Kären Wigen, Stanford University ""This is an important book that should be read by people in every discipline. It is a thoughtful and insightful examination about our ideas of how we originated, where we come from, how we got here, what our conditions mean now, and where we may be headed. Written by a historian and an astrophysicist, it integrates ideas about the sciences and the humanities and seeks the unity that universities should be seeking. From physics to philosophy and from chemistry to cultural studies, this book contributes significantly to our ideas about what it means to be an educated person in our time.""--Lowell Gustafson, Villanova University ""In this important book, Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop offer a conversation among different approaches to understanding the major ideas that we use or take for granted in everyday life and in scholarly fields. In both big and little ways, they examine knowledge from across different disciplines, answering questions and raising new ones. In each chapter, they invite readers to look behind the curtains and to join in the discussion.""--Bob Bain, University of Michigan"

In this important book, Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop offer a conversation among different ways or approaches to understanding the major ideas that we use or take for granted in everyday life and in scholarly fields. In both big and little ways, they examine knowledge from across different disciplines, answering questions and raising new ones. In each chapter, they invite readers to look behind the curtains and to join in the discussion. * Bob Bain, University of Michigan * This is an important book that should be read by people in every discipline. It is a thoughtful and insightful examination about our ideas of how we originated, where we come from, how we got here, what our conditions mean now, and where we may be headed. Written by a historian and an astrophysicist, it integrates ideas about the sciences and the humanities and seeks the unity that universities should be seeking. From physics to philosophy and from chemistry to cultural studies, this book contributes significantly to our ideas about what it means to be an educated person in our time. * Lowell Gustafson, Villanova University * Racing from the Big Bang to the present can make for a jarring ride, rocketing readers across enormous differences of evidence and idiom. But Northrop and Gibelyou positively delight in these disciplinary leaps. Rather than smoothing over the gaps, Big Ideas makes them integral to the story, exploring how each jump in scale plunges us into a new scholarly community with its own history and habits. In the process, the authors shed as much light on the evolution of the university as of the universe * and turn Big History into a lively forum for integrating cross-disciplinary knowledge. A game-changing contribution. * How do you write histories of all of time? How do you handle Time itself, or the moment of Creation? Or Evolution, or Causation and Contingency, or the spooky power of mathematical reasoning? And what is Entropy? In nine beautifully written chapters, Cameron Gibelyou and Douglas Northrop explore the perils and delights of writing, reading, and interpreting Big History. * David Christian, author of Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History *

Author Information

Cameron Gibelyou is a faculty member at the University of Michigan, where he develops and teaches original, innovative multidisciplinary courses, including ""Popular Science,"" ""Predicting the Future,"" and ""Tours of the Past."" He has taught Big History at both the high-school and college levels and serves as science advisor and teacher consultant for the Big History Project. His PhD is in physics, with a specialization in astrophysics and cosmology. Douglas Northrop is Professor of History and Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan, where he teaches world/global and Big History, Central Asian studies, and the history of empire, environment, and culture. His other books include An Imperial World: Empires and Colonies Since 1750 (2013), A Companion to World History (2012), and the prize-winning Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia (2004). He is now working on a study of natural disasters along the Eurasian frontier.

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