Human Universe. Andrew Cohen

      

      

       Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       WilliamCollinsBooks.com

      This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2015

      Text © Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen 2014

      Photographs © individual copyright holders

      Diagrams © HarperCollinsPublishers

      Cover photographs © Shutterstock (ape); © NASA (arm)

      By arrangement with the BBC.

      The BBC logo is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation and is used under licence.

      BBC logo © BBC 2014

      The authors assert their moral right to be identified as the authors of this work.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-Book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008125080

      eBook Edition © May 2015 ISBN: 9780008129798

      Version: 2018-09-28

       Praise for Professor Brian Cox:

      ‘Engaging, ambitious and creative.’ Guardian

      ‘He bridges the gap between our childish sense of wonder and a rather more professional grasp of the scale of things.’

       Independent

      ‘If you didn’t utter a wow watching the TV, you will while reading the book.’

       The Times

      ‘In this book of the acclaimed BBC2 TV series, Professor Cox shows us the cosmos as we have never seen it before – a place full of the most bizarre and powerful natural phenomena.’

       Sunday Express

      ‘Cox’s romantic, lyrical approach to astrophysics all adds up to an experience that feels less like homework and more like having a story told to you. A really good story, too.’

       Guardian

      ‘Will entertain and delight … what a priceless gift that would be.’

       Independent on Sunday

       Dedication

       From Brian

       To George Albert Eagle:

       It’s your future, little boy.

       From Andrew

      To my soulmate Anna, my beautiful children Benjamin, Martha and Theo, my wonderful mum Barbara, my brothers Paul and Howard and all of the ‘small creatures’ whom I am lucky enough to have with me in the vastness.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Praise for Professor Brian Cox

      Dedication

      Where are We?

      Oakbank Avenue, Chadderton, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom, Europe, Earth, Milky Way, Observable Universe …?

Off Centre

Changing Perspective

Outwards to the Milky Way

Searching for Patterns in Starlight

Beyond the Milky Way

The Great Debate

The Political Ramifications of Reality, or ‘How to Avoid Getting Locked Up’

The Happiest Thought of My Life

A Day Without Yesterday

       Are We Alone?

       Science Fact or Fiction?

       The First Aliens

       Listen Very Carefully

       The Golden Voyage

       Alien Worlds

       The Recipe for Life

       Origins

       A Brief History of Life on Earth

       A Briefest Moment in Time

       So, are We Alone?

       Who are We?

       Spaceman

       Apeman

       Lucy in the Sky

       From the North Star to the Stars

       Climate Change in the Rift Valley and Human Evolution

       ‘An Unprecedented Duel with Nature’

       Farming: The Bedrock of Civilisation

       The Kazak Adventure: Part 1

       Intermission: Beyond Memory

       The Kazak Adventure: Part 2

       Why are We Here?

       A Neat Piece of Logic

       New Dawn Fades

       The Rules of the Game

       Nature’s Fingerprint

       A Brief History of the Snowflake

       How the Leopard Got Its Spots

       A Universe Made for Us?

       A Day Without Yesterday?

       What is Our Future?