From the world-renowned physicist, cofounder of the World Science Festival, and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes this utterly captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose. Brian Greene takes readers on a breathtaking journey from the big bang to the end of time and invites us to ponder meaning in the face of this unimaginable expanse. He shows us how, despite the universe's tendency toward entropy, remarkable structures form: planets, stars, and galaxies provide islands in a sea of disorder; biochemical mechanisms animate life; neurons, information, and thought give rise to complex consciousness, which in turn creates cultures and their timeless myths and creativity. Through a series of nested stories Greene provides us with a clearer sense of how we came to be, a finer picture of where we are now, and a firmer understanding of where we are headed. Science has proven to be modern society's greatest source for meaning, and Brian Greene takes us on a grand tour of the universe while always keeping his eye on one central question: What does it all mean?

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

“A splendid and invigorating read . . . [Greene] fans out the fabric of our present understanding, deftly untangling then interweaving the science of everything from black holes to quanta to DNA, tracing how matter made mind made imagination, probing the pull of eternity and storytelling and the sublime.”
—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

“Until the End of Time is encyclopedic in its ambition and its erudition, often heartbreaking . . . A love letter to the ephemeral cosmic moment when everything is possible.”
—Dennis Overbye, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Ambitious and utterly readable . . . [Greene] weaves personal stories, scientific ideas, concepts and facts into a delightful tapestry . . . What is remarkable about Mr. Greene’s book is how he has delved into deep questions that not only have no simple answers but may never be settled at all.”
—Priyamvada Natarajan*, The Wall Street Journal*

"[Greene] says it all with such ebullience, such ingenuous enthusiasm, that if he told you the whole cold, amoral universe was ending tomorrow you'd roll with it the way he would—as just one more dramatic chapter in an extraordinary tale in which we all have a precious if fleeting role." **—**Time

"A cracking read. . . . The origins of matter, life and consciousness, and their grisly fate, are laid out here with elegant clarity. If you want to know how everything got here and where it's going, read this book." **—**The Sunday Times (London)

"Marvelous. . . . [Greene's] prose style is one that any novelist would envy. . . . [He] traces a tremendous arc through pretty well everything: a thrilling venture, at once frightening and consolatory." —The Irish Times

"Greene writes beautifully." —The Courier-Mail (Brisbane)

“There’s tremendous joy in witnessing a brilliant and curious mind wrestle with such profound issues. [Greene] takes readers on a remarkable journey.”
*—John Keogh, Booklist

“Packed with ideas . . . There is an echo of philosopher Henry David Thoreau in Greene’s account of lying out at night, enraptured by the aurora borealis. And essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson’s declaration that the “sublime laws play indifferently through atoms and galaxies” could almost be this book’s epigraph. Such qualities lift this work above many accounts of the cosmic story.”
**—Philip Ball, *Nature

“[Greene] weaves a rich tapestry of theories and perspectives as he navigates space and time . . . Of course, Until the End of Time can’t provide all the answers. But you would be hard-pressed to find another book that seeks to do so with the same clarity and meaning.”
—Gege Li, New Scientist

"Brian Greene is a master at elucidating the laws of physics." —Journal Inquirer (Connecticut)

"As well as offering lucid, detailed accouns of the science behind the big bang, the development ofthe cosmos, the emergence of life and human conscoiusness, and the inevitable exeinction of the cosmos, Greene's treatise is motivated by a personal search for equanimity." —The Guardian

"Mind-bending" —GeekWire

"Sentence by sentence, Greene is such a wonderful teacher. . . . When the current hour gets overhwleming . . . it's a joy to sweep back and forth through the eons. You remember how infinitesimal this moment actually is, and that every second we get to be alive on this planet is an utter gift." —Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See

"Greene is an elegant, eloquent writer . . . beautifully written. . . . An energizing, fascinating exploration of origins and endings." —The Providence Journal

“Accessible and illuminating . . . Curious readers . . . will be richly rewarded by [Greene's] fascinating exploration.” 
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Engaging . . . An insightful history of everything that simplifies its complex subject as much as possible but no further.” 
—Kirkus

Autorentext
BRIAN GREENE is a professor of physics and mathematics and director of Columbia University's Center for Theoretical Physics and is renowned for his groundbreaking discoveries in superstring theory. He is the author of The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos, and The Hidden Reality, which have collectively spent sixty-five weeks on The New York Times best-seller list and sold more than two million copies worldwide, and he has hosted two Peabody and Emmy Award winning NOVA miniseries based on his books. With producer Tracy Day, Greene cofounded the World Science Festival. He lives in New York.

Zusammenfassung
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose f**rom the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe

**"Few humans share Greene’s mastery of both the latest cosmological science and English prose." —The New York Times

Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.
**
**

Leseprobe
1

The Lure of Eternity

Beginnings, Endings, and Beyond

In the fullness of time all that lives will die. For more than three billion years, as species simple and complex found their place in earth’s hierarchy, the scythe of death has cast a persistent shadow over the flowering of life. Diversity spread as life crawled from the oceans, strode on land, and took flight in the skies. But wait long enough and the ledger of birth and death, with entries more numerous than stars in the galaxy, will balance with dispassionate precision. The unfolding of any given life is beyond prediction. The final fate of any given life is a foregone conclusion.

And yet this looming end, as inevitable as the setting sun, is something only we humans seem to notice. Long before our arrival, the thunderous clap of storm clouds, the raging might of volcanoes, the tre…