BOOK REVIEW: The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack
Review by Ron Cowen
Living only for the present, using up natural resources, polluting the environment without considering future generations — can humans ever change? Lawyer and popular-culture lecturer Abrams and her husband Primack, an astrophysicist noted for his work on dark matter, argue that people might, if only they learned a little cosmology.
Echoing the words of Joseph Campbell, who studied the myths of ancient and modern peoples, the authors argue that the world needs a modern understanding of human beginnings — a common story. The origin of the universe — with concepts such as the Big Bang, cosmic inflation, dark matter and dark energy — could become this overarching story for all humankind.
Abrams and Primack are careful to explain that they’re not discounting religion as a way for people to connect with each other and understand the meaning of the unive
