The last section, however, should have been a better and more thoughtful disquisition on existential risk around which there is considerable contemporary hysteria. Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children - like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of ***delusion***." - Quran

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That's a big claim. For two authors trained in science, their conclusions are far from scientific. But they are upfront about that from the beginning. Science, they point out, has found many answers to questions about our world. But on the big, important, metaphysical questions, science is coming up short because of the very methods that have served us so well over the past four centuries. Since science is based on observation and thus far answers to these questions are unobservable, maybe it is time to move on, they suggest, to other ways of viewing reality itself. This book is based on its namesake BBC documentary, Human Universe. If you did not see it yet, you should – totally worth it; the others in the series too. Brian Cox does an amazing job presenting it – his enthusiasm and joy are written all over his face and you can hear it also in his voice. Part of that excitement is present here, in the book, too. Still, this is not the bulk of the book. 95% and certainly the sections on the first four questions contain some of the best science writing currently available. It is highly recommended for that reason. As you would expect, the book is full of interesting factoids. “The Sun is one star amongst 400 billion in the Milky Way Galaxy, itself just one galaxy amongst 350 billion in the observable universe.” Keep this exact formula in mind as the authors explain in the Overview of their book (called “The Dawn of a Human Universe”) their (rather simplified) reasoning for using Einstein’s STR equation:Chopra’s medical training is in internal medicine and endocrinology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Dr. Chopra serves as Co-Founder and Chairman of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, Founder of The Chopra Well on YouTube, Adjunct Professor of Executive Programs at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Assistant Clinical Professor, in the Family and Preventive Medicine Department at the University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, Faculty at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Senior Scientist with The Gallup Organization.

Human Universe by Brian Cox | Goodreads

In summary, I loved this read. I learned a plethora of new vocabulary directly related to my favorite topic. I found deep confirmation which complemented my knowledge set.The American theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler (1911-2008), however, put it the most poetically: So.... Keep the observer in the room and have him or her direct the particles. Otherwise, you are only experimenting on energy awaiting direction.. Which isn't really quantum mechanics. As the authors said, the measurement is necessary for the particles behavior exist. The task now isn't to see what they do without us (which, we can't, but they just wait to be used), the task is to learn yo make conscious energy obey thought. There is much to say on existential risk. I share the authors' puzzlement at our political classes' hitherto slow response to the asteroid issue, far more humanly serious than the threat claimed by the less secure science of climate change.