Book Review: The Little Book of Big History: The Story of Life, the Universe and Everything by Ian Crofton and Jeremy Black

This little book by Crofton and Black gives us a better understanding of the story of humanity and how modern humans fit into the universe. It starts with the Big Bang Theory. Further it discusses how stars and planets are formed and how our planet earth sustains life. Stories from a range of disciplines (which include cosmology, biology, archaeology and anthropology) are covered in this book. It is divided into six parts. One, setting the scene, two animal planet, three humans start to dominate, four civilization, five the rise of the west and six the modern world.

I mention some of the interesting points I found out in this book. Modern humans emerged 200, 000 years ago (p. 33). Males dominated hunts of Chimps (p. 47). On page 54 there is an interesting story of an African grey parrot. About 7500 years ago a mutation arose in cattle herders living in Central and South-Eastern Europe which stopped lactose intolerance in adults. Drinking milk became a widespread new cultural practice that conferred a competitive advantage. The lactose-tolerant gene spread successfully and is now found in many cultures of the world (p. 56). The authors state that languages may have emerged independently in a number of different places (p. 69).

With the coming of agriculture people started living in permanent settlements (p. 77). Wild horses were relatively small, but with selective breeding things changed (p. 84). Through the Silk roads the Chinese paper, printing, gunpowder and magnetic compass reached the West (p. 102). Wheat was used as a currency by the ancient Egyptians. The authors write that writing rose in early urban societies which were more stratified than in pre-urban times. They argue that the ruling elite needed it as a means to keep control over masses of commodities and numerous subjects (p. 116). 

Ancestors of Anglo-Saxons migrated from Scandinavia and Northern Germany(p. 125). The book discusses Sumerians, Babylonians and Egyptians. In Britain, not until the Crown Act of 2013 could a Roman Catholic take the throne (p. 154). Words such as Algebra and Alcohol are derived from Arabic (p. 156). Because of small pox and measles almost 90 percent of the native population of America died (p. 160). The last blasphemy case in Britain was in 1697.

In the last chapter, the authors mention that human species have existed for only a tiny fraction of the life of our solar system. They are of the view that there comes a point where humans have no choice but to accept that we humans will never know the full story of the universe in which we live (p. 255). The other themes discusses in the book include technology, printing, economic debates, expansion and imperialism. There is also mention of some books by the authors. I look forward to read them.