Genesis

A breakout bestseller in Italy, now available for American readers for the first time, Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began is a short, humanistic tour of the origins of the universe, earth, and life—drawing on the latest discoveries in physics to explain the seven most significant moments in the creation of the cosmos. Curiosity and wonderment about the origins of the universe are at the heart of our experience of the world. From Hesiod’s Chaos as found in his poem about the origins of the Greek gods, Theogony, to today’s mind-bending theories of the multiverse, we have been consumed by the relentless pursuit of one awe-inspiring question: What exactly happened during those first moments? Guido Tonelli, acclaimed, award-winning particle physicist and a central figure in the discovery of the Higgs boson (the “God particle”), reveals the extraordinary story of our genesis—from the origins of the universe to the emergence of life on earth, to the birth of human language and its power to describe the world. Evoking the seven days of Biblical creation, Tonelli take us on a brisk, lively tour of the evolution of our cosmos, and considers the incredible challenges scientists face in exploring its mysteries. Genesis both explains the fundamental physics of our universe and marvels at the profound wonder of our existence.