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Encyclopaedia Cosmologica: Everything that ever was, is, or will be; the history of the Universe, in the most beautiful book ever!

Person19960

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I GOT THE UNIVERSE and ALL OF TIME AND SPACE in the MAIL today! it is EPIC. You nerds are gonna be so jealous! omg it smells like NEW BOOK and stardust. I am forever in debt to Ethan Siegel and his fellow authors for their work, and for sharing it with me!!

https://cosmologica.carrd.co/

Quote: INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered how we got here? How it all began—and all of the steps that got us from that point to now? You’ve probably read some science books or seen shows like Cosmos, and so you know the basic story. But have you ever wondered about what came before the beginning? About what lies outside of the Universe? Whether there is life elsewhere, or even advanced extraterrestrial civilizations? And have you ever longed for an intuitive understanding of the immensity of the time and space that is our Cosmos?

The origin story of everything that ever was,
everything that is, and everything that ever will be.

While there have been many books written and shows produced about the history of the Universe, there has never been a book like this. We tell this epic 13.8-billion-year tale 100 million years at a time, each time step featured on a two-page spread, making about 300 pages in total. Presenting the story of the Cosmos in a linear, concrete form like this will help give you an intuitive understanding of the vastness of space and time, making cosmological scales comprehensible to everyone. The experience of the Encyclopaedia Cosmologica will be like holding the Cosmos in your hands, and to flip through its pages like traveling billions of years through space and time in mere seconds.

… flipping through its pages will be like traveling hundreds
of millions of years through space and time in mere seconds.

In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, the Encyclopaedia Galactica was an archive of all knowledge in the Galactic Empire. Then later, in the award-winning TV show and book Cosmos, Carl Sagan reimagined the Encyclopaedia Galactica as a bold tome penned by advanced extraterrestrials. It catalogued the many worlds of the Milky Way galaxy, and included summaries about any life or advanced civilizations that lived among them. We decided to make our own version of the Encyclopaedia Galactica, but expanded to include the entire Cosmos. We are excited to invite you to participate in the creation of the Encyclopaedia Cosmologica—the story of not just our planet, Solar System or even our galaxy, but of the bustling, energetic and evolving Cosmos in its sprawling entirety, from before the beginning 13.8 billion years ago to the present day.

I may do a Facebook Live tonight, Friday the 13th of September, 2024. I apparently ran out of space on my cellphone and have no understanding of modern technology now, so I somehow can't take a picture. But I gotta show you all this beautiful BOOK!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS​

Ethan Siegel

Ethan Siegel is a theoretical astrophysicist by training and popular science communicator and educator. He is author of the “Starts With A Bang!” column for Big Think, as well as the books, Beyond the Galaxy and Star Trek Treknology. Learn more at Starts With A Bang!
William Lidwell

William Lidwell is a designer, educator, and researcher living in Houston, Texas. He is the author of several books and online courses, most notably, The Universal Principles of Design and his design lectures on The Great Courses and LinkedIn Learning.
Mark Garlick

Mark A. Garlick initially trained and worked as an astrophysicist, but now works as a scientific illustrator and computer animator living in Brighton, England. He is author and illustrator of several books including The Story of the Solar System and Cosmic Menagerie. Learn more at MarkGarlick.com.
Jon Lomberg

Jon Lomberg was the principal artistic collaborator of Carl Sagan. He was the Chief Artist for the classic television series, COSMOS, Astronomical Visual Consultant for the movie CONTACT, and Design Director for the Voyager Golden Record, among many other things. Learn more at JonLomberg.com.
 
Thanks, what do you think about the BOOK that is the subject of this thread, @steve_bank ? An astrophysicist and Carl Sagan's artist sent me 300 pages of beautifully bound and presented information in a BOOK 📖 and that's why I posted here!

If you enjoy the History Channel, I guess that's cool, you ought to make a thread about your interests.
 
It is difficult for me to read books anymore.

The 3 hour show I watched on Story Channel,broadcast DTV.

NOVA has had several shows using current cosmology tracing the BB to today and future predictions.
 
I love these big encyclopedias. So inspiring for young people too. I bet most of us here read these cover to cover too.

My mother bought us a volume-per-week set from the grocery store; and yes, I did read the entirety cover to cover. I also read every appendix in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 5th Edition and most of Isaac Asimov's science books. With all this reading there were some factoids I encountered so often I assumed they were common knowledge, e.g. the way to determine if a year is a leap-year in the Gregorian calendar.
#define IS_LEAP(Year) (0 == Year % (Year % 100 ? 4 : 400))​
Americans were few and far between when I lived as a hermit in the jungle, so I ended up drinking beer with an elderly Cobol programmer. He had a website offering software for sale including a date manipulation program. Hoping for a common interest, I offered to show him a C language solution. It turned out he knew nothing about the 100/400 exceptions in the Gregorian calendar! To test this I asked him "Was 1900 a leap-year?" He answered "I dunno. Is 1900 a multiple of 4?"

Despite my avid reading, I had no interest in, or knowledge of, history when I was a child. This didn't slow me down in school though. In 4th, 7th, and 10th grades we studied California History. IIRC the three classes focused respectively on the Spanish Missions, the Spanish Missions and the Spanish Missions!
 
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