You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe

by Christopher Potter

Book Overview

" You Are Here is not just physics for poets, but as close to poetry or music as science is ever likely to get. Christopher Potter's narrative is as imaginative, ingenious, and elegantly concise as it is user-friendly." -- Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind "A personal, brilliant, and often amusing account . . . . An idiosyncratic, encyclopedic blitzkrieg of a book." -- The Boston Globe "The Verdict: Read." -- Time Christopher Potter's You Are...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061137863
• ISBN13: 9780061137860
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Interesting, entertaining, and all over the place!

This is an amazingly ambitious book, presuming as it does to take us from the very smallest thing imaginable (the Planck limit) to the very largest (the extent of the cosmos), from the very earliest time (the Big Bang) to the heat death of the universe. But this is not just about the physical sciences. Potter goes deeply into philosophy and biology as well. In a sense he is doing what I have done all my life, that is to look at all aspects of our existence and knowledge in an attempt to understand who I am, why I am here, and where I am going. I think Potter, who is something of social critic as well as a scientific generalist and journalist, does an admirable job. I have read other books that attempt something like this. Potter's is one of the most readable. Potter begins with an "Orientation." We are here--at this point in time, at this place in the universe, at this stage of awareness. He follows this with Chapter 2: "26 Degrees of Separation," which is the number of degrees of mathematical magnitude in meters we are from the size of the universe (10 to the 26th). Potter gives a plethora of numerical information about things of various sizes, from the size of humans (John Keats was 1.54 meters tall, 5' 0.75 ''; the tallest people are found in Herzogovina and Montenegro where the average height of a male is 1.86 meters) through the distance to the Kuiper Belt (about 7.5 billion kilometers distance) to ultimately the radius of the visible universe (about 13 light years distance). Next comes Chapter 3, which is about measurements and measuring, which is part of the essence of science; and then comes some ancient philosophy in Chapter 4, "It's Not About You," followed by some classical mechanics in Chapter 5, "Going through the Motions," and so on (you get the idea). In later chapters he explores biology and the very small, ending with musings on what our place in the scheme of things it and what it all means. (I love stuff like this.) Potter writes: "WE are--everything is--woven out of the primordial hydrogen that filled the universe around 14 billion years ago. Nor need we rest there. WE are--everything is--evolved symmetrical radiation. And before that, WE are something that is beyond whatever before can mean. I am here. You are there. We are everything and everywhere. They are us." (p. 273) His is a sort of idealistic view that I find somewhat irresistible. I like to say that on the ether wind or thereabouts, somewhere beyond the extent of our instruments and our imaginations there exists in a form not clear to us the information that is you and I and everything that has ever been or will be. (I also believe that life is a cosmic joke and death is nothing to fear.) Some observations: "Leibniz took the view that time and space do not have a fundamental existence but are merely the means to describe the relationship between things." (p. 50). I believe that Einstein took a similar position. My sense is that time and spa

it bends your mind in a good way!

This is an exceptional book. I found it both scientifically informative and challenging both to my point of view and my thinking about philosophy. The auther is literate and very well infomed and makes some challenging concepts very clear. He takes on some of the more mind bending pieces of physics and makes them accessible, while drawing one into the insights that modern science has made. I am delighted to have read it.

Excellent overview of science

This is an excellent book and it does delve into several topics in science, including nuclear physics, astronomy, ancient geology, evolution, etc. It is, as if, Mr Potter compiled many Wikipedia articles on science and then organized them into one big glob of fascinating scientific knowledge. Whatever, he did a splendid job - a enjoyable and readable book. I only wished that I had read it with a yellow marker in order to highlight some interesting facts (eg, our speed for the rotation of the earth, the earth's velocity around the sun, the sun's velocity in the Milky Way, etc.). This certainly spices up the read and makes it entertaining - the element that makes it so appealing for the lay reader.

scintillating

I was sent this book by a 'sciencey' friend who assured me I would enjoy it. To be honest I was skeptical, since hard as I try most science books go over my head. But this one is different. Out of deference to my friend I started YOU ARE HERE and then found I was hooked and eager to read on. Christopher Potter writes with a beautiful lucid style and is very erudite but what I liked most was his open-minded approach and his willingness to challenge materialism. His examples are illuminating and often witty. I would recommend this book unreservedly to all who have an interest in science but are flummoxed by most contemporary science books (which claim to be comprehensible but in fact are not). It would also make a great TV series.

A REVEALING TRIP VIA TIME & SPACE- FROM EARTH THRU THE UNIVERSE

Four and a half ADVENTUROUS Stars!! Author Christopher Potter takes us on a short journey across 14 Billion years of time & space using hard science & speculation, unassailable facts & philosophy, while attempting to generally collate a huge amount of up-to-date data into palatable information for the layman. For the most part, he is very successful. This is an intensive and extensive look at our universe and our place in it: "You Are Here". Oddly enough, this book seems to stand on more solid ground than highly technical books because the author is not a scientist and he's explaining things in understandable language from a standpoint of known scientific findings as a 'summary presentation', often viewed through the prisms of philosophy and reason. This voyage takes us from the edge of the universe, which "is not contained in anything" to manmade and natural physical realities (the awesome chapter called "26 degrees of Separation"), to the birth of life and man on earth ("In and Out of Africa"), and beyond. The solar system, the galaxy, billions of galaxies, galactic clusters, super clusters, the Sloan Great Wall, quasars, black holes and more are taken on in plain, but awe-inspiring language. And there are many fascinating earthly & solar system diversions along the way. The book is laden with meaningful quotes, scientific references, previously unknown facts, and amazement at the reality of life and scientific achievements. Instead of being like a dry college lecture in an auditorium, it's more like a wide-ranging after-dinner discussion with a very well-educated friend. Does he gloss over some things? Yes, sometimes dwelling in trivial detail and repetition, but we also become aware of new things such as the existence of the black hole Sagittarius A and the incredible Sloan Great Wall. So "You Are Here"...on planet Earth...of our 8 (yes, eight) planet solar system...of the bending, spiraling Orion Arm...of the Milky Way galaxy...of The Local Group...of the Virgo Supercluster...etc., etc... Indeed! A very enjoyable read about our life on this earth and in the universe, and the life of the universe about us and it is Highly Recommended! Four and a half VOYAGING Stars!! (This review is based on a Kindle download.)