Cosmic Evolution : The Rise of Complexity in Nature / Eric J. Chaisson.
2002
QB981 .C412 2001
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Details
Title
Cosmic Evolution : The Rise of Complexity in Nature / Eric J. Chaisson.
Author
Chaisson, Eric J., author.
ISBN
9780674260818
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2002]
Copyright
©2001
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (274 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/9780674260818 doi
Call Number
QB981 .C412 2001
Dewey Decimal Classification
523.1
Summary
We are connected to distant space and time not only by our imaginations but also through a common cosmic heritage. Emerging now from modern science is a unified scenario of the cosmos, including ourselves as sentient beings, based on the time-honored concept of change. From galaxies to snowflakes, from stars and planets to life itself, we are beginning to identify an underlying ubiquitous pattern penetrating the fabric of all the natural sciences--a sweepingly encompassing view of the order and structure of every known class of object in our richly endowed universe.This is the subject of Eric Chaisson's new book. In Cosmic Evolution Chaisson addresses some of the most basic issues we can contemplate: the origin of matter and the origin of life, and the ways matter, life, and radiation interact and change with time. Guided by notions of beauty and symmetry, by the search for simplicity and elegance, by the ambition to explain the widest range of phenomena with the fewest possible principles, Chaisson designs for us an expansive yet intricate model depicting the origin and evolution of all material structures. He shows us that neither new science nor appeals to nonscience are needed to understand the impressive hierarchy of the cosmic evolutionary story, from quark to quasar, from microbe to mind.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Mrz 2024)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PROLOGUE OVERVIEW OF COSMIC EVOLUTION
INTRODUCTION THE NATURE OF CHANGE
CHAPTER ONE MATTER
CHAPTER TWO RADIATION
CHAPTER THREE LIFE
DISCUSSION EVOLUTION, BROADLY CONSIDERED
EPILOGUE A GRAND SYNTHESIS
SYMBOLS AND NUMERICAL CONSTANTS
GLOSSARY
WORKS CITED
FURTHER READING
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PROLOGUE OVERVIEW OF COSMIC EVOLUTION
INTRODUCTION THE NATURE OF CHANGE
CHAPTER ONE MATTER
CHAPTER TWO RADIATION
CHAPTER THREE LIFE
DISCUSSION EVOLUTION, BROADLY CONSIDERED
EPILOGUE A GRAND SYNTHESIS
SYMBOLS AND NUMERICAL CONSTANTS
GLOSSARY
WORKS CITED
FURTHER READING
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR