David Christian is a Distinguished Professor of History at Macquarie University and director of Macquarie University's Big History Institute. He cofounded the Big History Project with Bill Gates, his Coursera MOOCs are popular around the world, and he is cocreator of the Macquarie University Big History School. He has delivered keynotes at conferences around the world, including the Davos World Economic Forum, and his TED Talk has been viewed more than seven million times. He is the author of numerous books and articles.

Review

"I have long been a fan of David Christian. In Origin Story, he elegantly weaves evidence and insights from many scientific and historical disciplines into a single, accessible historical narrative."

―Bill Gates

"In Origin Story, David Christian has found a spectacular way to use history to put order in the entire set of our knowledge about the world. This is a wonderful achievement."

―Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time

"A remarkable book that puts us self-important humans in our proper place in the cosmos, yet also explains why the story of human culture and knowledge -- what Christian calls collective learning -- matters for understanding our present world and shaping its future."―Merry Wiesner-Hanks, President of the World History Association

"David Christian is not one for half measures. Origin Story is a majestic distillation of our current understanding of the birth and development of the universe, of the solar system, of the oceans, of mountains and minerals, of all life on earth and of the driving dynamics of human culture and achievement. All of this in just over 300 pages of captivating prose that weaves together innumerable insights from dozens of disciplines in the sciences, arts and humanities. With fascinating ideas on every page and the page turning energy of a good thriller, this is a landmark work that comes at a time when it has never been more important for humanity as a whole to have a clearer, more informed understanding of our place on earth and of the earth's place in the cosmos."―Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element