Origins: Speculations on the Cosmos, Earth, and Mankind

In this book, three eminent scientists--an astrophysicist, an organic chemist, and an anthropologist--ponder some of the basic questions that have obsessed mankind through the ages and offer thoughtful, enlightening answers in terms the layperson can understand.

In this book, three eminent scientists -- an astrophysicist, an organic chemist, and an anthropologist -- ponder same of the basic questions that have obsessed humankind through the ages and offer thoughtful, enlightening answers in terms the layperson can understand. Beginning with the Big Bang 15 billion years ago, the authors trace the evolution or the cosmos from the first particles, the atoms and molecules, the development of cells, organisms, living creatures, up to the tardy arrival of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. We descend, they show, from apes and bacteria, but also from the stars and galaxies. The elements that make up the human body are those that in the depths of time constituted the universe. "We are", say the authors, "truly children of the stars".

Provocative and informative, Origins offers compelling insights into how the world began, in the light of the most up-to-date knowledge and scientific discoveries.