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Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History…
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Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History (California World History Library) (original 2004; edition 2005)

by David Christian

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6081238,440 (4.09)2 / 98
I hardly know where to begin with this book, because it gathers so many threads and gives the reader so many directions to think about and investigate. I’ve taken the last year to read a couple of chapters a month, and I still find myself going back over some of the observations and connections made and seeing the world around me in different ways.
David Christian is probably the best-known teacher of Big History, and this book is possibly the Bible of the field. Big History looks at ALL of history, from the Big Bang to modern life and its trajectory, as one area of study encompassing all fields of scientific and historical research. This book approaches our present by beginning with the formation of the universe, through the development of galaxies and our solar system, our sun, and our planet, and then life itself. As the narrative moves forward in time the history slows down, so that life on Earth, especially human life, is examined in more detail. A major focus is the impact of humanity on the pace of natural changes to the planet and other species (most obviously in climate change and species extinctions), but much of Christian’s emphasis is on the extraordinary swiftness of the evolution of humanity itself and consideration of whether we can survive our success. The last chapter takes an admittedly weak stab at forecasting the future, but the rest of the book is a treasure trove. ( )
1 vote auntmarge64 | Dec 11, 2011 |
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An introduction to big history
  jhawn | Jul 31, 2017 |
The book's existence is more important than the contents herein. Maps of Time acts as a guiding text for the Big History movement, and thus spends its time trying to narrate the universe's history within its bindings. Because of this fact, Maps of Time has issues. This isn't saying its a bad book - it's far from it - rather the book as an object and as a text is more important than the book's actual message - a problem with Big History from a philosophical standpoint. ( )
  MarchingBandMan | Apr 4, 2017 |
A new way of looking at history. Sweeping in scope. An ambitious pverview. ( )
  clifforddham | Feb 2, 2014 |
I hardly know where to begin with this book, because it gathers so many threads and gives the reader so many directions to think about and investigate. I’ve taken the last year to read a couple of chapters a month, and I still find myself going back over some of the observations and connections made and seeing the world around me in different ways.
David Christian is probably the best-known teacher of Big History, and this book is possibly the Bible of the field. Big History looks at ALL of history, from the Big Bang to modern life and its trajectory, as one area of study encompassing all fields of scientific and historical research. This book approaches our present by beginning with the formation of the universe, through the development of galaxies and our solar system, our sun, and our planet, and then life itself. As the narrative moves forward in time the history slows down, so that life on Earth, especially human life, is examined in more detail. A major focus is the impact of humanity on the pace of natural changes to the planet and other species (most obviously in climate change and species extinctions), but much of Christian’s emphasis is on the extraordinary swiftness of the evolution of humanity itself and consideration of whether we can survive our success. The last chapter takes an admittedly weak stab at forecasting the future, but the rest of the book is a treasure trove. ( )
1 vote auntmarge64 | Dec 11, 2011 |
Is the written historical record enough to explain the history of civilization? David Christian would argue that it isn't, Maps of Time is a condensed, single volume argument based on his introductory lectures on the topic of “Big History”. Big History as defined by Christian is the history of everything on the largest possible scale, from the beginning of the universe to its bitter end. By this definition Big History covers not only the written record, but also prehistory and even prehuman history. To begin his tour of Big History, Christian starts his introduction with the Big Bang and the evolution of the universe and solar system; slowly drilling down into smaller timescales to examine the formation and development of complex societies. The concluding chapters of Maps of Time speculates what is to come in the near future (100 years), the intermediate future (a few million years), and the distance future (billions of years) until the universe ultimately runs down. A large undertaking for any researcher looking to form a single coherent story of our past, present, and future based on empirical study rather than dogmatic ideas from the past.

Using a combination of modern science and up-to-date theories of history Christian aims to construct what he calls “a modern creation myth”. The author is an academic historian, so the science presented in the book is pretty basic and introductory, but he has made the effort to convey the material accurately and concise enough to be understood by the general public. The rest of the story (thesis) is really a series of snapshots and large-scale patterns throughout history. So, no one subject is covered in much detail. By looking at the large-scale patterns of history, Christian argues, that we are better able to understand how society has come into its current state of being. Something that is often missed when looking at specific events in history (i.e. the fall of Rome). What was really interesting about this, was that Christian choose to frame the story of human progress with all that it entails, in a creation myth. Although radically different from traditional creation myths, he is still seeking a way make sense of the complex world around us.

However, in contrast with most traditional creation stories, this modern creation myth does not view complex entities as better or worse than less complex entities. The story simply relates the increase in the level of complexity over the course of time. Complexity is just a consequence of progress, that for one reason or another is undertaken by a species or a society when faced with competition for resources. It's the differential progress throughout the world that has shaped our histories and fueled the present. The ebb and flow of time does not favor any particular culture. It is the choices and often competitive needs that ultimately controls the destiny of whole regions. As a consequence of this ever-increasing complexity have come unforeseen impacts to society and the environment, which leads to conflict, innovation, and transition from one social and political system to another. With each transition comes new interdependence and the need for new methods of organization.

In many ways Maps of Time is a successful re-telling of human history, in other ways many readers may find it disappointing. For me personally, the provided what I was looking for, a sense of the big picture, an outline and context to help me put things into a larger perspective. However, it fails on one crucial point as a modern creation myth. Early on the book Christian states that “creation myths provide universal coordinates within which people can imagine their own existence, and find a role in the larger scheme of things. Creation myths are powerful because they speak to our deep spiritual, psychic, and social need for a place and sense of belonging.” Christian is able to deliver a scientifically and historically accurate narrative of our basic history that fulfills our intellectual curiosity, but fails to satisfy our deep spiritual and social needs. Our species needs to feel as though we are privileged, that this oasis in space is special to us and to us alone. The cold facts of science and history destroy the self-centered notion that we are the center of the universe. For the a modern creation myth to be complete it needs to answer the question of where we belong on deeper philosophical and psychological reasons. Maybe that's too much to ask of just one book. ( )
5 vote stretch | Dec 21, 2010 |
The concept is to cover the big, worldwide, or in the beginning even universe wide trends. The book, about 500 pages and another 100 of notes, begins with the big bang, and ends with the present and speculations about possible futures. I find that there are things that I like and don't like about big history. I do like hearing about large trends, like the trend to agrarian settlement and what promotes or holds it up, and I do like reading about interactions between different areas of the world. But, in the end, I need to get away from big history and more into the smaller realms where I am likely to encounter more that is personal. While I might read another big history - and I think Europe Between the Oceans shared some of the same approach - I think that this moment of human beings being such a minute portion of the whole history of time, perhaps I can better spend it reading novels. In fact I think I may try to learn more of history of some periods/places by more systematically reading works by their inhabitants, maybe starting out by cataloging those of which I have some familiarity and from what books, i.e. 19th century Russia from Doestoevky, Gogol, etc. U.S in the mid 1800's from Little House on the Prairee, Little Women, etc. That said, it was a good book, and, if you are interested in the idea of big history, is probably a good starting point. ( )
  solla | Jul 2, 2009 |
What a book! Intrigued by the discussions among members of the "History from 30,000 Feet" group, I bought it and have been sucked up in this vast tome ever since. Just the kind of book I love, one that sends you in search of many other things to read as you work your way through it. It is going to take me a while to complete, but I forsee this being my favorite book ever once I am finished. Truly a seminal work. ( )
  thejazzmonger | Jun 8, 2009 |
"Superlative -- The Most Important Book of the Decade"

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. I won’t remember everything I read in that chapter, and I’ll be even less competent regurgitating it at a cocktail party, but I was nevertheless filled with awe for both the magnificence of Big Bang cosmology and Christian’s ability to distill it to a general audience.

And the book has amazing momentum, driven primarily by Christian’s effortless movement from one discipline to another to highlight the ideas he articulates, as well as to provide fertile ground for wonderful metaphors – he refers to slaves as “human batteries” for example – that consistently remind us that despite the seeming chaos and randomness in human history and the universe itself, there is also an amazing sense of cross-disciplinary order that appears to affect everything. And that’s where those outstanding metaphors and similes come in that make you smile and shake your head slowly from side to side in a kind of “I-am-not-worthy” appreciation of his skills as a writer and a thinker.

He liberally borrows from and incorporates the work of others (always with appropriate credit) to weave an even tighter narrative. I remember having to pause and sigh when I came upon this in a discussion of the explosion of human populations and the dominant role of our species in the biosphere: “Humans have become [according to Margulis and Sagan] . . . a sort of “mammalian weed” . . . [and according to Cipolla, it is as if we are] . . . in the presences of the growth curve of a microbe population in a body suddenly struck by some infectious disease. The ‘bacillus’ man is taking over the world.” Heady stuff indeed!

This is a big, dense, long book, and I took my time reading it over several months, while I read other books at the same time. Maps of Time is not really intended, in my view, for a cover-to-cover read that swallows all the material in a sudden gulp, but rather in slow, meaningful sips that will treat your intellect to some serious and repeated “treats” that you will marvel at even as you find your entire perspective towards history and the sciences irrevocably altered by this monumental work.

David Christian is Professor of History at San Diego State University, and he teaches courses on big history. For my recent birthday, I received as a gift the Teaching Company audio set of 48 lectures for his course “Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity,” which I look forward to keeping me company in the car for many hours to come. Moreover, it is not entirely out of the question that one day I will read Maps of Time again, if only to relive the intellectual rapture I experienced on my first time through.

Don’t miss this book! It will forever change the way you conceive of yourself as a part of the universe, and perhaps your macro view of the universe itself. ( )
5 vote Garp83 | Apr 17, 2009 |
A new discreet field of history called "Big History" that examines history from the start of time through to the present, looking for common themes, using a multi-disciplinary approach, not limited to just the written record. Mammoth tomb, well illustrated, worth the price for the bibliography alone.

The best thing this book does is provide is a sense of scale and time. It shows where the major "fault-lines" are in human development and history. Normally its hard to understand the difference between 60,000 years versus 200,000 years -- this will give a sense of categorizing time into periods going all the way back to the big bang. It gives defining characteristics of each period, and what made them different from the periods before and after. These are broad brush strokes, but very very helpful to comprehending the complexity of so much time and space. ( )
  Stbalbach | Jul 3, 2006 |
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