The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People

by Neil Shubin Narrated by Marc Cashman

Overview

**Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)**

From one of our finest and most popular science writers, and the best-selling author of Your Inner Fish, comes the answer to a scientific mystery as big as the world itself: How are the events that formed our solar system billions of years ago embedded inside each of us?
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In Your Inner Fish, Neil Shubin delved into the amazing connections between human bodies-our hands, heads, and jaws-and the structures in fish and worms that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. In The Universe Within, with his trademark clarity and exuberance, Shubin takes an even more expansive approach to the question of why we look the way we do. Starting once again with fossils, he turns his gaze skyward, showing us how the entirety of the universe's fourteen-billion-year history can be seen in our bodies. As he moves from our very molecular composition (a result of stellar events at the origin of our solar system) through the workings of our eyes, Shubin makes clear how the evolution of the cosmos has profoundly marked our own bodies.

WITH BLACK-AND-WHITE LINE DRAWINGS THROUGHOUT

Editorial Reviews

DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

Listeners who've wondered about how neighboring planets turned out to be uninhabitable while ours became so bountiful will find plenty to think about as they hear Neil Shubin's account of the history of the particles that are us. Along the way, he relates the water in human bodies to that in comets and asteroids. He also takes side trips to the Big Bang and a star-mapping satellite. Marc Cashman narrates with a clear broadcaster's voice that shares the excitement of, say, discovering a tooth that shows the link between mammals and reptiles. There's a lot to digest, but between Shubin’s lively writing style and Cashman's enthusiastic reading, it'll hold the interest of any listener interested in the universe. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

University of Chicago paleontologist Shubin wrote about the fishy origins of humanity in 2009’s Your Inner Fish. In his new book, he goes farther back and further out, explaining how humans bear the markings of cosmic phenomena; as he puts it, “Written inside us is the birth of the stars.” Here, the author surveys everything from glints in “Greenlandic rocks” to the spreading signs of supernovae to reveal “deep ties to the forces that shaped our bodies.” He demonstrates how mammals owe their “high-energy lifestyle” to oxygen released hundreds of millions of years ago as continents spread apart, and how color vision arose after continental drift cooled the planet, diversified flora, and resulted in biological competition that favored those organisms who could identify nutritious plants according to hue (“Every time you admire a richly colorful view, you can thank India for slamming into Asia”). Shubin is a leading proponent of the fusion of paleontology, developmental genetics, and genomics, and the result of his efforts is a volume of truly inspired science writing. Appropriately vast in scope, Shubin deftly balances breadth and depth in his search for a “sublimely beautiful truth.” Photos & illus. Agent: Katinka Matson, John Brockman, Max Brockman, and Russell Weinberger, Brockman Inc. (Jan.)

From the Publisher

**Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)**

“What is special about the book is its sweep, its scope, its panorama—how physics, biology, geology, chemistry and seemingly every other science are brought to bear on the most intricate details of human life…In ‘Auguries of Innocence’ Blake wrote with rapture about the ability ‘To see a world in a grain of sand, / And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, / And eternity in an hour.’ Shubin's ability to do all this comes from long experience, not blissful Blakean innocence. But the two ends somehow wrap around and meet: They tap into the same awe, and this makes science seem a very uplifting enterprise indeed.” —Wall Street Journal  
 
“Hooray! A new book by Neil Shubin (Your Inner Fish) has just been published: The Universe Within. This book is, quite literally, cosmic: a profound story told with Shubin’s usual clarity and passion.” —Oliver Sacks, author of Hallucinations

"A truly delightful story of how human beings and life on Earth are connected to the wider universe. We don't observe reality from outside; we're embedded deeply within in it, and it shows. Neil Shubin is a sure-handed and entertaining guide to the big picture of how we came to be." —Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and author of The Particle at the End of the Universe   

“What better young paleontologist to tie together the physical and biological aspects of our universe to comprehend the emergence of modern humans.  Engagingly written, The Universe Within, is sure to enlighten all who peruse this stimulating book.” —Donald Johanson, author of Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind 

"A fascinating, accessible tour of how life on Earth, include our own, has been shaped by many upheavals in our planet's long history. Full of surprising, yet profound insights, Neil Shubin's The Universe Within is also a celebration of the humans whose curiosity and genius have, in a very short time, transformed our understanding of our ever-changing world."—Sean B. Carroll, author of Remarkable Creatures          

"This is beautiful story, beautifully told. Our very bodies store within them the entire arc of cosmic history, and Neil Shubin's tale weaves, with great authority, accuracy and a wonderfully light touch, a grand synthesis that manages to incorporate forefront research in astronomy, geology, paleontology, and genetics. He captures not only the excitement of the scientific enterprise, but also the many personalities from many different fields, countries, and eras, each of whose lifelong contributions have helped continue to further reveal the ever more subtle and remarkable cosmic connections that each of us has with the cosmos." —Lawrence M. Krauss, Director of the Origins Project and Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, and the author of numerous books including The Physics of Star Trek, Quantum Man, and most recently A Universe from Nothing           
 
"‘We are stardust,’ goes the old song, but most of us don't give the fact much thought. The Universe Within will change that. Neil Shubin roots around our physiology and finds the history of the cosmos lodged in our cells. And in the process, he makes the familiar wondrous." —Carl Zimmer, author of Evolution: Making Sense of Life and A Planet of Viruses

“Engrossing…An intelligent, eloquent account of our relations with the inanimate universe.” —Kirkus, starred review 

“We sometimes forget just how closely we humans are bound to the rest of the cosmos in both our bodily composition and our history.  Nobody is better placed to remind us than Neil Shubin, and he does so with brio in his fascinating page-turner The Universe Within.” —Ian Tattersall, author of Masters of the Planet  

“From the finest scientific detail to the biggest picture, Shubin understands who we are and why we are here, and even what we need to do to keep going. The magic of  his writing is that you can open to any page and in a paragraph or two witness an entire revelation. If you really want your mind blown, read the whole thing. Shubin weaves very human stories into an earthly and universal narrative that without this book might seem too vast or two miniscule to matter.” —Craig Childs, author of Apocalyptic Planet  

“A volume of truly inspired science writing…Shubin deftly balances breadth and depth in his search for a ‘sublimely beautiful truth.’” —Publishers Weekly

“Walt Whitman yawped, ‘I contain multitudes,’ and in Your Inner Fish (2008), Shubin confirmed him by demonstrating how the evolution of life on earth is inscribed in the human body. Now Shubin shows that all creation, from the big bang on, is packed in there, too…In short, universal history made us what we are. Wow.”—Booklist starred review

“Biologist Shubin’s grand tour of human origins goes beyond the well-worn Carl Sagan line, ‘We’re made of star stuff’…Even those familiar with the basic underpinnings of how we evolved will find The Universe Within engaging. It is laced with Shubin’s own fossil-hunting adventures and filled with colorful tales of historical figures.” —Scientific American
 
“The biblical passage, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return,’ is a poignant reminder of our fragile place in the world. It also reminds us how deeply we are connected to the earth, the water, the air and to the other creatures who roam the land. Shubin’s The Universe Within is a further reminder of this critical relationship…The Universe Within gives us an appreciation of how we are just small specks and small moments in time.” —Bookpage

“Shubin, takes us on an exhilarating ride through the workings of science and gives a fascinating glimpse into the vast universe's many constituents…To read The Universe Within is to arrive at all sorts of wonders…Shubin illuminates our inner and outer selves and our world, and demonstrates how beautifully connected, transitory, rare, and changeable we are.” —Book Browse  

“An illuminating account of how life on earth is shaped by the rhythms of the cosmos…Shubin’s gift for storytelling is rooted in such shifts of scale, from the cosmic to the quotidian…‘Every astronomer is a paleontologist’, notes Neil Shubin, but on the evidence of this dazzling excursion into life, the universe and everything, every palaeontologist is also a biologist, a physicist and a cosmologist rolled into one, a magical storyteller whose work succeeds in reminding us how at home we are in our universe.” —The Times Literary Supplement
 
“Entertaining.” —METRO newspaper

Library Journal - Audio

A University of Chicago paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, Shubin discovered the fossilized Tiktaalik roseae ("a mosaic of primitive fish and derived amphibian"); his best-selling Your Inner Fish parallels human anatomy with the structures of the fish that first wriggled landward. Here he goes one step further, explaining how the universe's 14-billion-year history is reflected in our very bodies. With a 100,000-copy first printing and a ten-city tour.

DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

Listeners who've wondered about how neighboring planets turned out to be uninhabitable while ours became so bountiful will find plenty to think about as they hear Neil Shubin's account of the history of the particles that are us. Along the way, he relates the water in human bodies to that in comets and asteroids. He also takes side trips to the Big Bang and a star-mapping satellite. Marc Cashman narrates with a clear broadcaster's voice that shares the excitement of, say, discovering a tooth that shows the link between mammals and reptiles. There's a lot to digest, but between Shubin’s lively writing style and Cashman's enthusiastic reading, it'll hold the interest of any listener interested in the universe. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

In a follow-up to Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (2008), Shubin (Biological Sciences/Univ. of Chicago) delivers an equally engrossing history of life's connections to everything else. The author begins with the most common element in the human body, hydrogen, which also makes up 90 percent of the universe. All hydrogen existed along with helium and a trace of lithium when everything began 13.7 billion years ago. Heavier elements were made later inside stars, some of which end their lives violently. Cosmic dust that condensed to form the sun 5 billion years ago also made the planets. Microorganisms appeared soon after the Earth cooled enough to support liquid water--so soon that many scientists believe that life is not a rare accident, but inevitable under the right circumstances. Shubin recounts the subsequent 4 billion years of changes in both life and its surroundings. Oxygen, absent at first, slowly accumulated as photosynthetic plants multiplied. The Earth's rocky crust shifted, eroded and cracked, leaking volcanic gases from the interior. Continents formed and split, expanding and shrinking the oceans; the resulting mountains, shifting ocean currents and migrating landmasses carried life across the planet, forcing it to adapt to the changing environment or nearly wiping it out. The sun is 30 percent hotter than when life began; in another billion years, it will make the Earth too warm to support life. An intelligent, eloquent account of our relations with the inanimate universe.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169149746
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/08/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Prologue
 
Having spent the better part of my working life staring at rocks on the ground, I’ve gained a certain perspective on life and the universe. My professional aspiration—uncovering clues to the making of our bodies—lies inside the baked desert floor or deep within the frozen Arctic. While this ambition may seem eccentric, it is not much different from that of colleagues who peer at the light of distant stars and galaxies, map the bottom of the oceans, or chart the surface of barren planets in our solar system. What weaves our work together are some of the most powerful ideas that mankind has ever developed, ones that can explain how we and our world came to be.
 
These notions inspired my first book, Your Inner Fish. Inside every organ, cell, and piece of DNA in our bodies lie over 3.5 billion years of the history of life. Accordingly, clues to the human story reside within impressions of worms in rock, the DNA of fish, and clumps of algae in a pond.
 
While I was thinking about that book, it became clear that worms, fish, and algae are but gateways to ever deeper connections—ones that extend back billions of years before the presence of life and of Earth itself. Written inside us is the birth of the stars, the movement of heavenly bodies across the sky, even the origin of days themselves.
 
During the past 13.7 billion years (or so), the universe came about in the big bang, stars have formed and died, and our planet congealed from matter in space. In the eons since, Earth has circled the sun while mountains, seas, and whole continents have come and gone.
 
Discovery after discovery in the past century has confirmed the multibillion-year age of Earth, the sheer vastness of the cosmos, and our species’ humble position in the tree of life on our planet. Against this backdrop, you could legitimately wonder if it is part of the job description of scientists to make people feel utterly puny and insignificant in the face of the enormity of space and time.
 
But by smashing the smallest atoms and surveying the largest galaxies, exploring rocks on the highest mountains and in the deepest seas, and coming to terms with the DNA inside every species alive today, we uncover a sublimely beautiful truth. Within each of us lie some of the most profound stories of all.

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