Book description
Does one planet really matter among the immensity of the Cosmos? John
Gribbin is here to persuade us that it does. In this ground-breaking and
provocative new book Gribbin argues that we owe our existence to the
impact of a 'supercomet' with Venus 600 million years ago. But this is
only part of the story, just one of the astronomical and geophysical
reasons why the Earth is special. For the first time, he makes the link
between the whole series of cosmic events that have affected the Earth
and given rise to our intelligent civilization - a civilization, Gribbin
argues, that is unique within our Milky Way Galaxy. Even if other Earths
are common, and life itself may be common, the kind of intelligent,
technological civilization that has emerged on Earth occurs only here.
If humankind can survive the present environmental crises, the whole of
the galaxy may become our home. And if not, our demise may be an event
of literally universal significance. John Gribbin is one of today's
greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books,
including
In Search of Schr dinger's Cat
, Stardust
, Science: A History
and Deep Simplicity
. He is famous to his many fans for making complex ideas simple, and
says that his aim in his writing - much of it done with his wife, Mary
Gribbin - is to share with his readers his sense of wonder at the
strangeness of the universe. John Gribbin trained as an astrophysicist
at Cambridge University and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at
the University of Sussex.
