Origin Story

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While most historians study the smallest fragments of time, David Christian likes to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day - and even into the remote future.

Favorite quotes from the book:

“Knowledge is like a sphere; the greater its volume, the larger its contact with the unknown.”

“Like the origin stories of Confucianism or early Buddhism, the modern story is about a universe that just is. Any sense of meaning comes not from the universe, but from us humans. “What’s the meaning of the universe?” asked Joseph Campbell, a scholar of myth and religion. “What’s the meaning of a flea? It’s just there, that’s it, and your own meaning is that you’re there.”