A review by rhyslindmark
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything by David Christian
2.0
This book tackles the history of our universe through the energetic lens of complexity—that entities are becoming more complex as measured by the amount of energy running through them per atom (their energy density).
In this way, it reminds me of Energy & Civilization. Though that book is more detailed and has a smaller scope (just humanity's time, while Origin Story goes from 14B years ago and has more of an astrophysicist lens).
This "energy as complexity" lens is a good foil to the "information as complexity" lens in books like The Origins of Life. They go well together, just as Energy & Civilization goes well with The Information.
Though I love the subject matter of Origin Story, I was left a bit disappointed. It felt like it was written for high schoolers, and had too much generalization without enough striking claims.
In this way, it reminds me of Energy & Civilization. Though that book is more detailed and has a smaller scope (just humanity's time, while Origin Story goes from 14B years ago and has more of an astrophysicist lens).
This "energy as complexity" lens is a good foil to the "information as complexity" lens in books like The Origins of Life. They go well together, just as Energy & Civilization goes well with The Information.
Though I love the subject matter of Origin Story, I was left a bit disappointed. It felt like it was written for high schoolers, and had too much generalization without enough striking claims.