The view from the centre of the universe

The Copernican Universe demoted us from a central position and every new discovery seems to highlight our insignificance. Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams think that this process has gone too far. In The view from the centre of the universe they show how it is due to an out-of-date mindset, and that recent discoveries rather emphasise our importance in the universe. For instance the fact that 99.5% of the universe seems to consist of either mysterious dark energy or of matter that we can't see doesn't relegate us to the sidelines - it shows that we are in the important bit.

The authors present plenty of other examples of our importance in the universe - how we exist at a special time in the development of the universe and at a special position in our galaxy. Our size is also central in the range of scales in the universe - what the authors term the Cosmic Ouroboros looping round from the planck scale to the whole universe. And most important of all we exist at a critical time for humanity, and a much wider perspective than we have had in the past - Think Cosmically, Act Globally - will be needed to solve our problems. What I liked about the book was that it wasn't dogmatically pushing some new idea, rather it was a wake up call to recognise what we already know. I'd recommend this book to everyone - if you have no knowledge of modern cosmology then it gives an easy to follow introduction, whilst if you are more expert then it gives you a new insight into how the subject can be presented.