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Origins: The Scientific Story of Creation, by Jim Baggott
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What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know?
There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and travelling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Chapter by chapter, it sets out the current state of scientific knowledge: the origins of space and time; energy, mass, and light; galaxies, stars, and our sun; the habitable earth, and complex life itself. Drawing together the physical and biological sciences, Baggott recounts what we currently know of our history, highlighting the questions science has yet to answer.
- Sales Rank: #428698 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.20" h x 1.00" w x 9.40" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
Review
"The collective mind of humanity has made extraordinary progress in its quest to understand how the current richness of the physical world has emerged, and Baggott with his characteristic lucidity and erudition, has provided an enthralling account of this wonderful and still unfolding intellectual journey." --Peter Atkins, Fellow of Lincoln College, University of Oxford
"Jim Baggott's Origins... recount[s] the greatest story ever told: the evolution of the Universe since the Big Bang. This rich crossdisciplinary tale reminds us that astronomy, physics, chemistry, geoscience, biology and neuro science are interconnected. Baggott takes the reader on a linear, 13.8-billion-year journey. His ... treatment abounds with excellent visuals. At its best, Origins reminds me of Richard Holmes's marvellous The Age of Wonder ... Sweeping scope and detailed description ... [Baggott] reminds us that big questions remain in this most wonderful scientific adventure." --Michael S. Turner, Nature
"Baggott's style of writing, with comments interspersed, makes reading a pleasure, even for difficult material." --CHOICE
About the Author
Jim Baggott is a freelance science writer. He was a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Reading but left to work with Shell International Petroleum Company and then as an independent business consultant and trainer. His many books include Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the 'God Particle' (OUP, 2012), A Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments (OUP, 2011) and A Beginner's Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005).
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
A good look at Big History but not as good as “Journey to civilization"
By Steve G
I picked up this book because I had enjoyed one of Jim Baggott’s previous efforts “Farewell to reality” where he discusses physics. “Origins”, about big history (big bang to the present) did not disappoint. Once again Baggott’s sense of humor shows through (even in the footnotes). I continue to admire Baggott’s ability to clearly specify what is an opinion versus what has been shown. And as in “Farewell to reality” I found some parts too technical, especially the earlier parts of the book explaining the big bang theory. This could be a result of my own bias, as I like biology more than I like physics or chemistry. Nonetheless I like Baggott’s writing style which I generally find conversational and friendly. This is the second big history book I’ve read, the first being Roger P. Briggs’s “Journey to civilization” which I enjoyed more because it is less detailed and easier to read. I recommend “Origins” for readers who prefer a more technical book and “Journey to civilization” for this who prefer a less technical book. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
Disclosure: I received this book for free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
A Book of Uneven Quality
By Brian Hunt
In the preface and in the book, Dr. Baggott emphasizes that his intent is to write a rigorous scientific account of human origins (a goal that I find very appealing). For the first seven chapters, which cover the origin and evolution of the universe and the solar system, he does an excellent job towards meeting his goal. The writing is clear and interesting, and the content is detailed and authoritative. His accounts of the interstellar molecular material and the evolution of the solar system are the best that I have read; indeed, it is rare to find any coverage of interstellar molecules in other books. These seven chapters are of five star quality.
Unfortunately the remaining five chapters on the evolution of life are of a lower standard. They are, in general, much less detailed, patchy, and give the impression that the author is in a hurry. More troubling, Dr. Baggott sometimes indulges in speculative stories that fall short of scientific rigor. An early example is his notion of how the first living cells might have arisen in alkaline hydrothermal vents. The book ends with a lengthy chapter on human consciousness which is part philosophical and part speculative. Dr. Baggott believes that human consciousness, language, and artistic sensibility evolved 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, some 150,000 years after the appearance of our species, Homo sapiens. He does not explain how this happened. Although this hypothesis has not been shown to be incorrect, recent evidence from multiple sources has generally favored a much earlier development of consciousness and language. These sources include new sites of early representational art, indications of self-consciousness in non-human species, the discovery of the same FOXP2 allele in both the Homo sapiens and Neanderthal genomes, and recognition of artistic sensibility in incredibly beautiful hand axes which date back almost half a million years. Dr. Baggott’s emphasis on the sudden and recent emergence of consciousness ignores the alternative evidence.
As an account of human origins, this book is incomplete, in my opinion. The hugely important migrations of Homo sapiens from Africa to all corners of the world are confined to three pages despite the large amount of detailed evidence that has been obtained from archaeological, genetic, and linguistic studies. The next important event in shaping who we are is the adoption of agriculture which in turn led to sedentary ways of life and the creation of ever larger societies, from villages to today’s near-global societies. These in turn were the incubators and users of new technologies that have had such an enormous impact on the human way of life and on the world in which we live. None of this is included in "Origins".
In an endnote to the Epilogue, Dr. Baggott refers to books on Big History including David Christian’s pioneering book "Maps of Time", he claims that their coverage is less scientific than his. This is perhaps true. On the other hand, Dr. Baggott’s treatment of our origins is less complete: I suggest that you read both books!
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Life, the universe and everything
By David Wineberg
It is only in the last hundred years that we have been able to discuss the origins of the universe with any kind of evidence. All previous discussion came out of myth, philosophy and religion. Even though our understanding is still piecemeal, Jim Baggott has assembled what is fairly certain, into an extraordinary story. There is still a lot of “We just don’t know”, but Baggott’s earned reputation is that he disallows the baseless (See my review of his Farewell to Reality . This is a great relief for those of us who are not astrophysicists and microbiologists.
There’s a lot of physics and chemistry to understand as he tackles the universe. Most of it is subatomic, which is a bit ironic, considering the massive clouds and galaxies we can barely perceive. Nearly halfway through the book, he gets to our solar system.
His explanation of the formation of the solar system is too complicated and unsatisfying, a patchwork of kludges. There is a far simpler, more elegant explanation from astrophysicist Marvin Herndon, who is not referenced at all (though his mentor, Harold Urey, is referenced numerous times). Herndon says that all planets form, not from “accretion” (which Baggott also has trouble with), but from the gas cloud that Baggott calls Neith, which rained-in its elements by force of gravity. This why we keep finding that planets, comets and moons are made of the same materials. The sun, being 99% of the mass of the solar system, had critical mass, and didn’t just shine, it ignited. The planets, all of which were gas giants like Jupiter, reacted according to their distance from the sun. The inner planets got their gas cover blown off, leaving rocky cores, which continue to relax and expand. In the ignition, Mercury also lost a seventh of its mass, which ended up in pieces just beyond the range of the sun’s blast, in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Herndon manages to answer the questions with elegant solutions, while ironically, Baggott relies on standard theory, with its ifs, ands, buts and we-don’t-knows. He says it is “reasonable” to assume that an iron core somehow produces a wandering magnetic field. Unfortunately, the Earth’s core is not iron. He ducks the exciting issue of the planetary cores, which Herndon describes in detail. (For a quick summary of Herndon’s theory, see my review of Maverick's Earth and Universe)
Baggott is on firmer ground when he examines biological history, where things are clearer. From all the evidence, it would have been a miracle if life did not take shape on Earth. The combination of oceans, warmth, light, magma, vents, electrical storms and crashing comets make the chemical interactions that led to life almost a certainty. And it keeps coming back, in radically different shapes and sizes, every time it gets wiped out. Earth is a universe-class incubator.
This telling of Creation is not ironclad, but as usual, Baggott is clear and helpful, and refreshingly doubting where necessary.
David Wineberg
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