Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History New Ed Edition

by David Christian (Author), William H. McNeill (Author)

17 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0520244764

ISBN-10: 0520244761

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An introduction to a new way of looking at history, from a perspective that stretches from the beginning of time to the present day, Maps of Time is world history on an unprecedented scale. Beginning with the Big Bang, David Christian views the interaction of the natural world with the more recent arrivals in flora and fauna, including human beings.

Cosmology, geology, archeology, and population and environmental studies—all figure in David Christian's account, which is an ambitious overview of the emerging field of "Big History." Maps of Time opens with the origins of the universe, the stars and the galaxies, the sun and the solar system, including the earth, and conducts readers through the evolution of the planet before human habitation. It surveys the development of human society from the Paleolithic era through the transition to agriculture, the emergence of cities and states, and the birth of the modern, industrial period right up to intimations of possible futures. Sweeping in scope, finely focused in its minute detail, this riveting account of the known world, from the inception of space-time to the prospects of global warming, lays the groundwork for world history—and Big History—true as never before to its name.

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Product Details

Paperback: 664 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; New Ed edition (February 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520244761
ISBN-13: 978-0520244764
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #188 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Paleontology
- #510 in Books > Science & Math > Astronomy & Space Science > Cosmology
- #2276 in Books > Science & Math > Evolution

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Customer Reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

5 star		59%
4 star		6%
3 star		12%
2 star		12%
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

FROM THE BIG BANG TO THE FUTURE

By The Curmudgeon on January 7, 2015

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It is amazing how much knowledge this writer has acquired to present a complete history of not only the world but the universe. The various chapters can be basically reduced to about four topics: the universe, early civilizations, modern civilization, and the future.

As is well known, our now-expanding universe started with the big bang about 13 billion years ago. Our solar system was formed about 4.6 billion years ago from condensing hydrogen. It just happened that solar debris formed a planet at such a distance from the Sun that most water remained liquid. Around 4 billion years ago biological molecules began forming in the hot volcanic beds of the seas of this planet. Plants eventually began growing on land and emitted oxygen as a waste product. Oxygen-breathing animals including us then evolved from this waste.

At the end of the last ice age around 10,000 years ago modern humans began using agriculture by domesticating plants and animals. The first mass civilization, based on irrigation, was developed about 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). This created a cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations where innovation led to population growth, which eventually led to overpopulation with environmental degradation and partial or complete collapse, followed by new innovation and recovery.

Modern civilization began in the 18th century with the Industrial Revolution in England. It really got going after James Watt perfected the steam engine in 1769. This caused world population to explode virtually overnight from about one billion to seven billion today. It was based on rapidly using up fossil fuels which took millions of years to develop. Needless to say this cannot continue forever as these resources are finite.Read more ›

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History (Almost) Without Humanity

By JohnCarr on February 11, 2015

Format: Paperback

Of all the books I’ve reviewed on Amazon this is the one that I’ve had most difficulty assigning a rating to. Indeed I began a draft review without deciding on my final rating. This isn’t because I don’t have a settled opinion on the merits of the work but rather because (a) I haven’t read anything really comparable to assess it against, and (b), for me, the book falls into two main parts to which I would assign different ratings.
It sets out to combine a natural history of the universe from the Big Bang onwards with what most of us think of as history, i.e. human history. These two main parts of the work are followed by a kind of epilogue – if that’s the correct term – where the author speculates about what might happen in the near and not-so-near future. This I found somewhat out of keeping with the “just the facts” approach earlier in the book.
As far as I can tell the author does a more than adequate job of the covering the non-human part of the work i.e. the first 13.7 billion years but I think the appeal of this book is its attempt to integrate human history into the history of the universe. In a way it is like an Agatha Christie novel. I don’t think many people read them for their character development, sparkling prose or insights into the human condition. They read them to find out whodunit.
Similarly, if one wants a history of the cosmos then a work by a scientist or professional science writer would probably do a better job. But this book includes a world history i.e. a history of humanity since the emergence of our species and – like the Christie reader who judges the book by the twists in and the ingenuity of the plot – so in the end I gave my rating based on the author’s treatment of human history.Read more ›

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

The Most Important Book of the Decade

By Stan Prager on April 17, 2009

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

I have just completed reading Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History, by David Christian, and even after more than 500 small-font pages of dense ideas, I inhaled the final section - twin appendices actually - and audibly exhaled a satisfied "Wow."

Maps of Time is one of the most significant books to impact upon my recent intellectual development, if not the most significant. Prior to this book, I was not even aware of the new genre of history known as "Big History". Now - and forever after - I will view everything - and I mean everything - through the prism of Christian's fascinating concepts, which essentially unite all of science and all of human history into a single grand discipline.

Christian launches his opus by promising the reader "a modern creation story" -- sans supernatural creatures - that explains how we got to be the advanced, networked, highly-intelligent 21st century beings reading this book, and he eloquently delivers. So we begin our human history not with the first cities in 3000 BCE or Neolithic villages in 8000 BCE or even the australopithecines circa 3 million years ago, but rather with the Big Bang event itself, some 13 billion years ago.

For the non-scientist, some of the physics concepts are a bit tough - it is difficult for me to "grok" the "theory of inflation," for example, which posits that ". . . for a fraction of a second, between ca.10-34 and 10-32 seconds after the big bang, the universe expanded faster than the speed of light . . . driven apart by some form of antigravity." But the overall ideas are easier to negotiate than with a Stephen Hawking book, and the science does not bog down the text, but rather enlightens it.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

great book-- i'd highly recommend it

great book-- i'd highly recommend it. gives an overview of the history of everything from the cosmos to medieval eurasia.

Published 5 months ago by readit

Very interesting book

The book arrived promptly and in good shape.

I was watching a video by the author at
[...]
and was intrigued enough to want to read more. Read more

Published 18 months ago by sore hands

Met expectations

I haven't read the whole book, actually, just wanted access to one chapter for comparison to the work of another author on the same topic.

Published on March 28, 2013 by Laura LaChappelle

Comprehensive, Integrative

David Christian presents an enormously complex subject in an easily understood narrative. It's fascinating. Can't put it down. Read more

Published on March 1, 2013 by S R Goodnow

Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History

This was an interesting read, I found it interesting how this book put the history of the universe into a map of time.

Published on February 9, 2013 by Jason Stefani

More Promotion of the Big Bang theory.

The big bang myth leaves many holes and just goes arrogantly on its way ignoring them. Perhaps the author has chosen a nom de plume that is the antithesis of his philosophy. Read more

Published on April 20, 2011 by Pat D.

Unforgiveable that endnotes are not linked

In a Kindle edition of a book of this type, it's unforgiveable that the endnotes are not linked. If a book decides on endnotes rather than footnotes, it should be a given that... Read more

Published on April 18, 2011 by J. Hausman

I just don't get it -- or perhaps the author doesn't

I've been "doing history" for forty years, both professionally and avocationally, and I'm puzzled -- in fact, a bit baffled -- by this recently introduced concept of "big history"... Read more

Published on November 19, 2009 by Michael K. Smith

A mind-boggling book

I believe that Maps of Time is the first book I have annotated since I finished graduate school in 1983. Read more

Published on November 9, 2009 by RJF in Illinois

Not with the "Maps" I thought.

I really thought there would be a lot of graphics ("maps") in this book to make it easier to visualize the historical content. But not so.

Published on October 30, 2008 by Jack Hilift