Maps of Time by David Christian, University of California Press, $34.95/£22.95, ISBN 0520235002
TO SYNTHESISE 13 billion years of Earth history is David Christian’s brave aim in Maps of Time. He not only takes in the history of the universe itself but has the chutzpah to take a quick look into the next 5 billion years. An academic historian based at San Diego State University, he is all too aware of the potential pitfalls of such an ambitious project. So he takes pains to explain why it is worthwhile to try to unite everything from astronomy to human history, the whole macrocosm and microcosm, in…
