Time To Change The Universe For Anyone Who Loves Space, Science And Astronomy

Chances are you wound up following Starts With A Bang here on Medium because of something we said, wrote or shared about the Universe. Chances are you love the natural world, the natural order of the Universe, and learning about exactly what it is that we know and how we came to know it.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA); J. Blakeslee.

After all, it’s the most unifying story we all have: the cosmic story of how every one of us, atoms and all, came to be.

And yet, if you ever took an “Intro to Astronomy” course in college, or looked for a popular-level book on what that story is — that story of what we know about the Universe and our place in it, and how we came to know it — you probably came away sorely disappointed. The story of how we discovered our Universe isn’t simply, accessibly, and comprehensively told in any books currently on the shelves, anywhere.

So I did something to change that: I wrote that book.

Published by World Scientific and due out in just a few weeks, you can now pre-order it from Amazon or World Scientific itself, and if you choose the latter, there are two bonuses I want you to be first in line to receive:

You can enjoy the first chapter digitally as a free, downloadable PDF. (Even if you don’t buy it!)
You can get a 30% discount by entering the promotional code WS15XMAS30 at checkout.

And if you’re worried about the one thing everyone worries about — what if this book is terrible — here are some reviews from some actual physicists and astrophysicists!

There are no equations inside except for the occasional E = mc^2, there are over 100 illustrations, about half of which were created by me, and the book holds nothing back: it takes you all the way up to the frontiers of modern science! This includes:

The entire history of astronomy, going back to pre-historic times and coming up to the present time.
The expanding Universe, the lives and deaths of stars and the Big Bang.
The cosmic microwave background, the formation of the atoms and nuclei in the Universe and the origin of the matter/antimatter asymmetry.
And the biggest unsolved problems: dark matter, dark energy, cosmic inflation and the fate of the Universe.

It’s written for anyone at the High School level or above, so long as you love and have a passion for space, science and the Universe. Even if you can’t handle algebra or are terrified of science, this might be exactly the book you’ve been looking for.

Finally, for those of you curious about progress on our Patreon, we’re more than 85% of the way there towards our next reward: the creation of the most accurate, comprehensive history-of-the-Universe poster ever made! Make it happen if you can, spread the word about our book, and no matter what, thanks for your support and for reading what we’re creating!