Rating: 
Summary: The universe in a wildflower.
Review: "There is eventually only one story," collaborators Swimme and Berry write, "the story of the universe. Every form of being is integral with this comprehensive story. Nothing is itself without everything else. Each member of the Earth community has its own proper role within the entire sequence of transformations that have given shape and identity to everything that exists" (p. 288). Beginning 15 million years ago (p. 7), THE UNIVERSE STORY follows the universe "from its original Flaring Forth through the shaping of the galaxies, the elements, the Earth, its living forms, the human mode of being, then on through the course of human affairs during the past century" (p. 241). The product of its writers' "imaginative power as well as intellectual understanding" (p. 237), this book "is not the story of a mechanistic, essentially meaningless universe, but the story of a universe that has from the beginning has [sic] its mysterious self-organizing power that, if experienced in any serious manner, must evoke an even greater sense of awe than that evoked in earlier times at the experience of the dawn breaking over the horizon, the lightning storms crashing over the hills, or the night sounds of the tropical rainforests, for it is out of this story that all of these phenomena have emerged" (p. 238).This superb book shows that the universe acts "in an integral manner" (p. 26), everything in the universe existing for everything else (p. 263). For plants and animals, "the universe is a chorus of voices" (p. 42). We are told, for instance, "the winds speak to the butterfly, the taste of the water speaks to the butterfly, the shape of the leaf speaks to the butterfly and offers guidance that resonates with the wisdom coded into the butterfly's being" (p. 42). Similarly, we can "climb a mountain and get hit by something so profound, at so deep a level," that we will never be quite the same (p. 41). For humans, "the adventure of the universe depends upon our ability to listen" (p. 44) to "the mountain language, river language, tree language, the language of the birds and all animals and insects, as well as the languages of the stars in the heavens" (p. 258). We also learn Walt Whitman's sentience was "an intricate creation of the Milky Way, and his feelings are an evocation of being, an evocation involving thunderstorms, sunlight, grass, and death. Walt Whitman is a space the Milky Way fashioned to feel its own grandeur" (p. 40). The moral of this STORY is that the Earth is "a one-time endowment" (p. 246). Through the destruction of the rainforests at the rate of an acre a day, by disturbing the chemical balance of the planet through petrochemicals, through genetic engineering, and through the "radioactive wasting of the planet," we are "eliminating the very conditions for renewal of life in some of its more elaborate forms" (pp. 246-7). "As the natural world recedes in its diversity and abundance, so the human finds itself impoverished in its economic resources, its imaginative powers, in its human sensibilities, and in significant aspects of its intellectual intuitions" (p. 242). This celebration of the unfolding universe will change the way you look at life. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: The universe in a wildflower.
Review: "There is eventually only one story," collaborators Swimme and Berry write, "the story of the universe. Every form of being is integral with this comprehensive story. Nothing is itself without everything else. Each member of the Earth community has its own proper role within the entire sequence of transformations that have given shape and identity to everything that exists" (p. 288). Beginning 15 million years ago (p. 7), THE UNIVERSE STORY follows the universe "from its original Flaring Forth through the shaping of the galaxies, the elements, the Earth, its living forms, the human mode of being, then on through the course of human affairs during the past century" (p. 241). The product of its writers' "imaginative power as well as intellectual understanding" (p. 237), this book "is not the story of a mechanistic, essentially meaningless universe, but the story of a universe that has from the beginning has [sic] its mysterious self-organizing power that, if experienced in any serious manner, must evoke an even greater sense of awe than that evoked in earlier times at the experience of the dawn breaking over the horizon, the lightning storms crashing over the hills, or the night sounds of the tropical rainforests, for it is out of this story that all of these phenomena have emerged" (p. 238). This superb book shows that the universe acts "in an integral manner" (p. 26), everything in the universe existing for everything else (p. 263). For plants and animals, "the universe is a chorus of voices" (p. 42). We are told, for instance, "the winds speak to the butterfly, the taste of the water speaks to the butterfly, the shape of the leaf speaks to the butterfly and offers guidance that resonates with the wisdom coded into the butterfly's being" (p. 42). Similarly, we can "climb a mountain and get hit by something so profound, at so deep a level," that we will never be quite the same (p. 41). For humans, "the adventure of the universe depends upon our ability to listen" (p. 44) to "the mountain language, river language, tree language, the language of the birds and all animals and insects, as well as the languages of the stars in the heavens" (p. 258). We also learn Walt Whitman's sentience was "an intricate creation of the Milky Way, and his feelings are an evocation of being, an evocation involving thunderstorms, sunlight, grass, and death. Walt Whitman is a space the Milky Way fashioned to feel its own grandeur" (p. 40). The moral of this STORY is that the Earth is "a one-time endowment" (p. 246). Through the destruction of the rainforests at the rate of an acre a day, by disturbing the chemical balance of the planet through petrochemicals, through genetic engineering, and through the "radioactive wasting of the planet," we are "eliminating the very conditions for renewal of life in some of its more elaborate forms" (pp. 246-7). "As the natural world recedes in its diversity and abundance, so the human finds itself impoverished in its economic resources, its imaginative powers, in its human sensibilities, and in significant aspects of its intellectual intuitions" (p. 242). This celebration of the unfolding universe will change the way you look at life. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: The universe in a wildflower.
Review: "There is eventually only one story," collaborators Swimme and Berry write, "the story of the universe. Every form of being is integral with this comprehensive story. Nothing is itself without everything else. Each member of the Earth community has its own proper role within the entire sequence of transformations that have given shape and identity to everything that exists" (p. 288). Beginning 15 million years ago (p. 7), THE UNIVERSE STORY follows the universe "from its original Flaring Forth through the shaping of the galaxies, the elements, the Earth, its living forms, the human mode of being, then on through the course of human affairs during the past century" (p. 241). The product of its writers' "imaginative power as well as intellectual understanding" (p. 237), this book "is not the story of a mechanistic, essentially meaningless universe, but the story of a universe that has from the beginning has [sic] its mysterious self-organizing power that, if experienced in any serious manner, must evoke an even greater sense of awe than that evoked in earlier times at the experience of the dawn breaking over the horizon, the lightning storms crashing over the hills, or the night sounds of the tropical rainforests, for it is out of this story that all of these phenomena have emerged" (p. 238). This superb book shows that the universe acts "in an integral manner" (p. 26), everything in the universe existing for everything else (p. 263). For plants and animals, "the universe is a chorus of voices" (p. 42). We are told, for instance, "the winds speak to the butterfly, the taste of the water speaks to the butterfly, the shape of the leaf speaks to the butterfly and offers guidance that resonates with the wisdom coded into the butterfly's being" (p. 42). Similarly, we can "climb a mountain and get hit by something so profound, at so deep a level," that we will never be quite the same (p. 41). For humans, "the adventure of the universe depends upon our ability to listen" (p. 44) to "the mountain language, river language, tree language, the language of the birds and all animals and insects, as well as the languages of the stars in the heavens" (p. 258). We also learn Walt Whitman's sentience was "an intricate creation of the Milky Way, and his feelings are an evocation of being, an evocation involving thunderstorms, sunlight, grass, and death. Walt Whitman is a space the Milky Way fashioned to feel its own grandeur" (p. 40). The moral of this STORY is that the Earth is "a one-time endowment" (p. 246). Through the destruction of the rainforests at the rate of an acre a day, by disturbing the chemical balance of the planet through petrochemicals, through genetic engineering, and through the "radioactive wasting of the planet," we are "eliminating the very conditions for renewal of life in some of its more elaborate forms" (pp. 246-7). "As the natural world recedes in its diversity and abundance, so the human finds itself impoverished in its economic resources, its imaginative powers, in its human sensibilities, and in significant aspects of its intellectual intuitions" (p. 242). This celebration of the unfolding universe will change the way you look at life. G. Merritt
Rating: 
Summary: Sweeping Thoughts, Bad Conclusions
Review: Brian Swimme sure knows how to put it all together. This book purports to be the story, or history, of the Universe. It is absolutely amazing in its scope. The book attempts to tie up everything that has ever happened in any form of existence into one tight narrative. This is possible, according to Swimme, because everything is interconnected, it is a coherent one. Nothing happens without everything else feeling its effect. Needless to say, the book is heavy with physics and philosophy. The book starts out with the Big Bang and ends with today. Along the way Swimme shows how all things are built on what has come before. This is his big thesis behind the story, that the Universe is not a cyclical set of events, but a series of epic transformations. When viewed in this light, events begin to fit into place. Massive changes occur that everything after builds upon, and which could not have existed if that shift hadn't occurred in the first place. Human history also has undergone these fundamental shifts, in thought as well as geographical movements. These shifts are one way in which the Universe expands and expresses itself in reality. There are some deep thoughts in this book. Swimme says that Walt Whitman's poetry, and the feelings behind it, are, "an intricate creation of the Milky Way, and his feelings are an evocation of being, an evocation involving thunderstorms, sunlight, grass, history, and death. Walt Whitman is a space the Milky Way fashioned to feel it own grandeur." Deep stuff. Though the book is well written and expresses a deep intelligence, there are alarming statements in the book that show the ideological underpinnings of the authors. I first heard about Swimme when I read Kenn Kassman's book "Envisioning Ecotopia", which studied the Green movement in the United States. Swimme is an acolyte of the Deep Ecology movement, a belief system that posits a rejection of the industrial system we know today so that mankind can return to the days of Neolithic life. This book makes several telling statements that conform to this wacky belief system. While discussing the ultimacy of nature, Swimme discusses how all things on Earth must have communion with every other thing. Therefore, in the example Swimme gives, when a group of woodpeckers from a different region move into a new one, they must conform to the new area, or perish. When this is applied to the real world, we see that this isn't happening. In America today, there is no communion. Communion is frowned upon, while "multiculturalism" and "diversity" rule the roost. Swimme also buys into the Mystical Deep Ecology belief of Ecofeminism, where women should be in charge of everything, just like the old days when humanity worshipped "Mother Earth". This raises the ugly spectre of Charlene Spretnak, an author who is the main theologian of this ideology. Spretnak is even cited in the bibliography as a source for this material. Using this wingnut's material seriously undermines Swimme's arguments. What's so bad about being ecologically minded? Nothing if it's done responsibly. But these people are anything but responsible. Take this statement found on page 243 of this book, "The well-being of the Earth is primary. Human well-being is derivative." Enough said. Swimme also believes that the world has lost its relationship with nature. Maybe so, but his argument that humans should return to the Neolithic Age is ridiculous. Swimme says that by industrializing, we have lost touch with the good old ways. By the use of the term "good old days", Swimme must be referring to starvation, disease and early death. While these things still exist today, it is nowhere near the levels it reached under Swimme's glorious "neolithic" days. This book is well written and contains many mind expanding statements that will make you think. His conclusions are absolutely wacko, though.
Rating:
Summary: Abject depravity
Review: I have reconsidered my first (one star) review and it is clear to me now this book fully deserves five stars, simply because Swimme, without apology, wants to make clear his worldview. Read on... Author Swimme zooms around the globe in commercial air transports, speaking at "earthspirit rising" conferences, telling his audiences that humanity needs to embrace the "new story" so the Earth can bloom again. He has also written to me stating that "knowledge of complex systems is crucial." Swimme is in a predicament here. In this book, he shakes his fists at consumerism, rages against the machine, and complains about environmental degradation. Yet for whatever reasons, he does not see fit to eschew commercial air transportation and instead walk to the conferences he speaks at. It's my view Swimme can't have it both ways. He asserts that knowledge of complex systems is crucial, yet he appears comfortable that the turbofans attached to the airplanes he rides in spew a great quantity of carbon dioxide into a very complex system (the Earth's atmosphere). What other conclusion is there than this: that knowledge seems neither crucial nor has it changed Swimme's behavior. Worse, if the new story hasn't changed him, how does he expect it to change anyone else? You would think that Swimme, in all his cosmological wisdom, would lead by example. Is not Mohandas Gandhi sufficient prooftext for that? The rest of humanity need not worry about Swimme (or worry about his fellow ecoutopians), at least as long as he doesn't have power. My frank assessment is that the great majority of utopians really don't have what it takes to change anything, including themselves. One of the easist things a person will ever do is theorize. Swimme is proof enough of that. Beyond that, it's all work. And making things work. Nevertheless, history teaches a few utopians gain power. Then they change things a lot. One very good example is Pol Pot. Another, who I consider the quintessential utopian of the 20th century, is Joseph Goebbels. A common theme of their thinking was to posit at least one segment of humanity with derivative value. It is not surprising that Brian Swimme essentially holds true the same view, but he elevates it to a new level, as he has written: "The well-being of the Earth is primary. Human well-being is derivative." Swimme's statement is not unique to the religion he practices, as his ecoutopian friend Rosemary Radford Ruether has spoken at another "earthspirit rising" conference thus: "We need to seek the most compassionate way of weeding out people." So now, all of humanity, not merely the Jew (as in the case of Goebbels), is of derivative value. Nevertheless, my faith in humanity to overcome this sort of evil remains steadfast: history also teaches there are two constants associated with utopians in power. First, their power always comes to an end. Second, most unhappily, the end is always very messy. As for me, I will continue to marvel at the antiutopians. The example of Gandhi comes to mind. Now here is a guy who knew the value of walking the talk. And then there's that quintessential antiutopian, none other than Jesus of Nazareth. This guy held the value of humanity above all else. Brian Swimme, you might want to make note of that.
Rating:
Summary: The Universe is the Hero.
Review: It's been a while since I've read this book, but I can say that it's one of the most important books I've read. It's not a book to be read for entertainment, or for a "wow" experience. And yet I certainly didn't find it dull. I don't think the book is for "overly intellectual" people. But I would say it's a book for thought and reflection, as well as for knowledge. This book was written because, "In the modern period, we are without a comprehensive story of the universe. The historians ... deal not with the whole world but just with the human, as if the human were something separate from or an addendum to the story of the Earth and the universe. The scientists have arrived at detailed accounts of the cosmos, but have focused exclusively on the physical dimensions and have ignored the human dimension of the universe." In their account, the authors take a mythological approach to the story of the universe, "humanizing" the various stages of its development, but also basing all that they write on the best knowledge yet uncovered by science. The deliberate, and successful, result is the growing feeling that the universe is at last telling its own story, though us. We ourselves are part of the universe. The universe evolves! It hasn't always been as it is now. This fact may appear boring to some of us, but in a broader perspective, this idea is a radically new and exciting idea -- unthinkable in times past. Told in this way, the story is one of familiar (i.e., mythological) forces and processes interacting at each stage, but with each stage being yet more complex and intelligent than the last. The universe doesn't just change, it evolves. And as we discover its story we see how much a part of the universe we are, and that our own awareness is also a part of it. I believe that these ideas are essential for our own human evolution, and our ability to invent our own next leap, together, into the future.
Rating:
Summary: Cosmogenetic Scripture
Review: The enthusiasm of this book is almost tangible. Describing the history of the universe in a wildly dynamic, even celebratory style, authors Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry evoke emotions of awe at the story of cosmogenesis, an awe that high school students don't always feel when reading science texts. It captures a beauty that microbiologists behold when focusing an electron microscope on a chromosome, that poets experience when describing a rose, and that astrophysicists feel when listening a distant pulsar. This novel is the scripture of science. Religion sometimes exaggerates Man's place in the Universe, while science frequently diminishes it. To my delight, The Universe Story finds a balance, reconciling the natural world and the special role humans play in it. A revelation of hope for the future, the Story calls upon humans to fulfill their special destiny: to become the first creatures conscious of themselves and their universe. This consciousness is what the stars intended when they so generously erupted tens of millions of years ago, relinquishing their matter to the human form - for indeed, we are star stuff. Now, as we turn to our futures, may our own cosmogenetic stories reach such a climax as the explosion of a supernova! May our own stories never cease, but simply continue to differentiate and to commune with the original stupendous energy which exploded so many billions of years ago with a big bang! These are the stories which will captivate us all ... the stories integral to the one story, the story of the universe.
Rating:
Summary: The Universe is the Hero.
Review: The Universe Story begins to fills a vast void in Western experience. The telling of our evolutionary story has been marked by the reductionism of science. This is how our scientists are trained -- not to attempt to interpret data within their narrow disciplines in a way which might be meaningful. The idea of relating the remarkable oddessy we have been on as a story is precisely the antidote we need to turn things back from our destructive ways. Telling it as a story embeds us in the evolutionary process, giving the human a role, rather than relegating our species to some (non-existent) meaningless exterior process. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have made a remarkable first attempt and should be applauded for their courage. Almost all scientists and most theologians have not had the fortitude to take us down this path. Tell it is a story! How preposterous! It's not preposterous. It's finally acknowledging that we humans are an integral part of the incredible creative event that is still unfolding all around us! And it may be the only thing which will get through to the human mind the necessity for an active compassion toward ourselves and our fellow travelers on this Earth. Swimme and Berry celebrate this and give us a new faith at a time when many despair that the human will survive the despoiling of our beautiful planet home. The science in The Universe Story is impeccable. Swimme's background as a physicist and mathematical cosmologist provides the much-needed grounding in scientific data that makes this book stand a shoulder above many other books which have attempted to place the human within the larger story. But rather than downplay the great turning points in evolutionary history through analytical reductionism, the authors give us an opportunity to feel awe and wonder at the astounding array of events that had to take place to bring us into existence. Not the least of these is to impart how important it is that the human is the way in which the Universe reflects upon its own beauty through conscious self-awareness. We are not just simply somehow "outside" looking in. We are the Universe "tasting itself." Thomas Berry, who calls himself a "geologian," is renowned the world over as a cultural historian. In his deep concern for the Earth community and his call to "put the Bible on the shelf for 20 years in order to read the primary scripture of the Natural World" in order to regain some of our lost widom, he is one the great prophets of our age. If the evolutionary past could be taught like this -- as a wondrous story -- in all our schools, our attitudes might turn around and we might learn treat the Earth with respect, coming out of a deep awareness of our interconnectedness to all life. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in thinking in a new way about our role in the universe and for staying on the leading edge of eco-theological thought.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful antidote to the Western world's destructive ways.
Review: The Universe Story begins to fills a vast void in Western experience. The telling of our evolutionary story has been marked by the reductionism of science. This is how our scientists are trained -- not to attempt to interpret data within their narrow disciplines in a way which might be meaningful. The idea of relating the remarkable oddessy we have been on as a story is precisely the antidote we need to turn things back from our destructive ways. Telling it as a story embeds us in the evolutionary process, giving the human a role, rather than relegating our species to some (non-existent) meaningless exterior process. Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme have made a remarkable first attempt and should be applauded for their courage. Almost all scientists and most theologians have not had the fortitude to take us down this path. Tell it is a story! How preposterous! It's not preposterous. It's finally acknowledging that we humans are an integral part of the incredible creative event that is still unfolding all around us! And it may be the only thing which will get through to the human mind the necessity for an active compassion toward ourselves and our fellow travelers on this Earth. Swimme and Berry celebrate this and give us a new faith at a time when many despair that the human will survive the despoiling of our beautiful planet home. The science in The Universe Story is impeccable. Swimme's background as a physicist and mathematical cosmologist provides the much-needed grounding in scientific data that makes this book stand a shoulder above many other books which have attempted to place the human within the larger story. But rather than downplay the great turning points in evolutionary history through analytical reductionism, the authors give us an opportunity to feel awe and wonder at the astounding array of events that had to take place to bring us into existence. Not the least of these is to impart how important it is that the human is the way in which the Universe reflects upon its own beauty through conscious self-awareness. We are not just simply somehow "outside" looking in. We are the Universe "tasting itself." Thomas Berry, who calls himself a "geologian," is renowned the world over as a cultural historian. In his deep concern for the Earth community and his call to "put the Bible on the shelf for 20 years in order to read the primary scripture of the Natural World" in order to regain some of our lost widom, he is one the great prophets of our age. If the evolutionary past could be taught like this -- as a wondrous story -- in all our schools, our attitudes might turn around and we might learn treat the Earth with respect, coming out of a deep awareness of our interconnectedness to all life. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in thinking in a new way about our role in the universe and for staying on the leading edge of eco-theological thought.
Rating: 
Summary: An overly cerebral history of the universe.
Review: This book is for dominant left-brain people. Whereas Brian spun fact and poetry together into the classic 'The Universe is a Green Dragon', this book fails to enchant in the telling of what should be a very enchanting story. What we are seeing here is the scientist mind overshadowing the poet. Unless you don't know much about the Big Bang through Hawking or the theory of evolution, this book is a miss.
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