Big History and the Future of Humanity
Published on 17. December 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-4443-3943-7 (ISBN)
Description
Big History and the Future of Humanity presents an original theoretical approach that makes "big history" - the placing of the human past within the history of life, the Earth, and the Universe -- accessible to general readers while revealing insights into what the future may hold for humanity.
* Provides an accessible and original overview of the entire sweep of history that places human history within the history of life, the Earth, and the Universe
* Features an original theory of "big history" which explains all of history and opens up an entirely new interdisciplinary research agenda
* Offers new insights into the future of humanity by better understanding the past
* Presents a new approach to complexity studies, which takes into account the greatest galaxy clusters as well as the tiniest sub-atomic particles
Reviews / Votes
"Spier takes us one important step forward in making big history accessible to all. I look forward to the next, more fully illustrated and documented, step in this process." (Journal of World History, 1 August 2012 "This is a deep and important book that promises to send scholars in many different fields off on new paths in search of a grand unified theory of history." (Journal of Global History, 2011) "Personally, I think everyone should have access to this story, and I would put it at the heart of the national curriculum as well." (The Times Higher Education, September 2010)More details
Other editions
New editions
Fred Spier
Big History and the Future of Humanity
Book
04/2015
2nd Edition
Wiley
€31.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Additional editions
Fred Spier
Big History and the Future of Humanity
Book
03/2010
1st Edition
Wiley
€152.94
Article not available at the moment
Person
Fred Spier is Senior Lecturer in Big History at the University of Amsterdam and also teaches Big History at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He is the author of Religious Regimes in Peru (1994), San Nicolás de Zurite (1995), and The Structure of Big History: From the Big Bang until Today (1996).
Content
List of Figures
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction to Big History
2. General Approach
3. Cosmic Evolution: The Emergence of Simple Forms of Complexity
4. Our Cosmic Neighborhood: The Emergence of Greater Complexity
5. Life on Earth: The Widening Range of Complexity
6. Early Human History: The Emergence of the Greatest Known Complexity
7. Recent Human History: The Development of the Greatest Known Complexity
8. Facing the Future
Appendix: A Short Time Line of Big History
Notes
Bibliography
Index