Books
Books
BIOGRAPHY
Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon in 1978 for work in gravitational dynamics. He brings the context of story to our understanding of the 13.7 billion year trajectory of cosmogenesis. Such a story, he feels, will assist in the emergence of a flourishing Earth community.
Swimme is the author of The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos and The Universe is a Green Dragon. He is co-author of The Universe Story, which is the result of a 10 year collaboration with cultural historian, Thomas Berry. Swimme is also the creator of three educational video series: Canticle to the Cosmos (1990), The Earth’s Imagination (1998), and The Powers of the Universe (2004).
In my life as a cosmologist, my mission has been to celebrate the great events of cosmogenesis by employing the central theories of contemporary science. But after decades of teaching this evolutionary cosmology, I suddenly realized something. I had left myself out.
During the years before the discovery of cosmogenesis, we scientists could live in the fantasy of thinking we could step out of the universe in order to understand it. But there is no outside place where cosmologists can stand and see the nature of things. Every adequate cosmology must include the story of the narrator…
Imagine experiencing Earth’s beauty for the first time—its birds, fish, mountains, and waterfalls. Imagine, too, the vastness of Earth’s home, the universe, with its numerous galaxies, stars, and planets. Surrounded by such magnificence, we can ask ourselves a simple question: Can we find a way to sink deeply into these immensities? And if we can, will this enable humans to participate in the flourishing of life?
Imagine a walk where every step forward transports you a few million years in time. Just such a mind-expanding premise inspired this landmark book, developed from the acclaimed “Walk Through Time” exhibit on tour around the world. Here, in one lavish volume, is the remarkable drama of the history of the universe and life on Earth.
Travel from the furious blast of the Big Bang to the first pulse of life, and on through the rich pageant of life’s evolution from primordial microbes to the rise of Homo sapiens. Span 15 billion years to discover life’s greatest mysteries emerging. Over 130 beautiful four-color illustrations and an absorbing narrative highlight significant events and themes in Earth’s life story.
From the beginning of our existence, humans have pondered the ultimate nature of things. Shamans and sages, philosophers and saints, rabbis and theologians, all have reflected on the endlessly fascinating questions of life’s meaning. Hidden Heart of the Cosmos wants to join that ancient tradition by asking the same questions, but from the perspective of an evolving universe.
From the big bang to the present and into the next millenium, The Universe Story unites science and the humanities in a dramatic exploration of the unfolding of the universe, humanity’s evolving place in the cosmos, and the boundless possibilities for our future.
Communicating his ideas in the form of a classical dialogue between a youth and a wise elder, cosmologist Brian Swimme crafts a fascinating exploration into the creativity suffusing the universe. His explication of the fundamental powers of the cosmos is mystical and ecstatic and points directly to the need to activate one’s own creative powers.
