After a four-century rupture between science and the questions of value and meaning, this groundbreaking book presents an explosive and potentially life-altering idea: if the world could agree on a shared creation story based on modern cosmology and biology - a story that has just become available - it would redefine our relationship with Planet Earth and benefit all of humanity, now and into the distant future.

Written in eloquent, accessible prose and illustrated with magnificent colour images throughout, including innovative simulations of the evolving universe, this book brings the new scientific picture of the universe to life. It interprets what our human place in the cosmos may mean for us and our descendants. It offers unique insights into how this newfound knowledge could potentially be used to find solutions to seemingly intractable global problems such as climate change and unsustainable growth. It explains why we need to 'think cosmically, act globally' in order to have a long-term, prosperous future on Earth.

More about this title

The book is accompanied by a website (new-universe.org), which features additional videos and illustrations.

• Winner of the $50,000 2012 Chopra Foundation Award for contribution to science
• Winner of the 2012 Nautilus Gold Award for the science/cosmology category

Nancy Ellen Abrams, an attorney, cultural philosopher, and lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has worked for the Ford Foundation and the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress. Joel R. Primack, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is one of the principal creators of the modern theory of the universe on the grand scale. The New Universe and the Human Future is based on the Terry Lectures that the authors gave at Yale University in October 2009.

"So what kind of meaning do Primack and Abrams find in the cosmos? Their book answers this question through a totally engaging and very readable exploration of ''the new universe'' explained by quantum physics and contemporary astrophysics. . . . The View from the Center of the Universe goes a long way in that direction, and it should be read by anyone, not just scientists, who worry about the human condition."--Deepak Chopra, The Huffington Post

Watch the related video

This vidio features Bjork on her Biophilia tour, which features one of Joel R. Primack's video simulations. 
As she sings her cut "Dark Matter" , behind her on a giant screen is Joel's visualization of the Bolshoi simulation.