The Universe Story : From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the Unfol

Rating:
Summary: Needed a hero
Review: Well, considering all the exciting things that have been happening in my life, I was surprised that reading about the life of the universe was so dull. I can watch a sunset or listen to the sound of a bird singing and that can be wonderful. But I suspect that if the authors were to have written about a bird singing or the sunset, I wouldn't have recognized it let alone enjoyed it much. If this book was an attempt to synthesize science with the wisdom of all cultures then give me a genealogy from the Old Testament any ol' day. I could tell that the authors knew a lot, but unfortunately they didn't know enough about how to capture my attention. Now I'm no stranger to heavy reading so it can't be the density of information concealed in semi-poetic language that made the story unexciting. I think it was the tell-me-don't-show-me style of overlong explanations of the beauty and wonder of the universe that might have been significant in this regard. Unfortunately academicians haven't quite got the hang of how to make countless acts of procreation throughout the history of life sexy nor have they been able to capture the mystery of the ever-shy rainbow. It didn't help that it had a "we need to do better, us humans" ending. One might have made that criticism of the authors for their worthwhile undertaking fallen short.

Rating:
Summary: Needed a hero
Review: Well, considering all the exciting things that have been happening in my life, I was surprised that reading about the life of the universe was so dull. I can watch a sunset or listen to the sound of a bird singing and that can be wonderful. But I suspect that if the authors were to have written about a bird singing or the sunset, I wouldn't have recognized it let alone enjoyed it much. If this book was an attempt to synthesize science with the wisdom of all cultures then give me a genealogy from the Old Testament any ol' day. I could tell that the authors knew a lot, but unfortunately they didn't know enough about how to capture my attention. Now I'm no stranger to heavy reading so it can't be the density of information concealed in semi-poetic language that made the story unexciting. I think it was the tell-me-don't-show-me style of overlong explanations of the beauty and wonder of the universe that might have been significant in this regard. Unfortunately academicians haven't quite got the hang of how to make countless acts of procreation throughout the history of life sexy nor have they been able to capture the mystery of the ever-shy rainbow. It didn't help that it had a "we need to do better, us humans" ending. One might have made that criticism of the authors for their worthwhile undertaking fallen short.