Inner Traditions, 2022
ISBN: 978-1644115312
Reviewed by Ian Mowll.
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The Story of Gaia is a scientific account of the Universe Story, from the big bang (or big breath as the author names it) through to today using the latest scientific discoveries. But more than this, the author takes a holistic view, seeing the Universe as a whole system rather than broken down into isolated parts as portrayed by mainstream science.
Each chapter starts with an attunement with the author connecting with the Universe in some way. This helps me to enter into, and feel, the story of the Universe rather than seeing it as something outside of me. This is one of the aims of the author, to show us that we are all participants in the ongoing evolution of the Universe.
As the book brings us the latest science, some complex subjects are covered in a few short sentences. Whilst this is necessary, occasionally the science was beyond me. But in the explanations, the book opened me up to the awe and wonder of our amazing Universe which is far more incredible, counter-intuitive and amazing than I could ever have imagined. For instance the author asserts that whilst entropy is increasing, in-tropy (the information in the Universe) is also increasing.
So often in the book, I had to take an emotional breath, as the book describes such an amazing journey. For instance, the number of ‘die backs’ where life on the planet catastrophically reduced only to recover later through some extraordinary means, more complex and diverse than before. And, on occasions, the die backs were necessary to propel new innovations into the evolutionary journey. If you have ever seen one of those ‘car chase’ movies where the protagonist only just escapes a long series of near catastrophes, well, our appearance as humans on this Earth is like this only far more daring, dangerous and on a knife edge. From all of this, I surmise that the Earth is unique in its own way – all the more reason to preserve our precious planet.
What I like so much about the book is that it takes a whole system or holistic approach. The author covers physics, evolutionary biology, complexity theory and more. Such an approach gives the story meaning and coherence, in contrast to the reductionist approach used by mainstream science which inevitably leads to the view that the Universe is a meaningless jumble of separate parts. As we see in the book, the whole of the Universe is much more than the sum of its parts and, for me, this is a spiritual approach, as I can see my part in the unity and oneness of the Universe.
At the end of the book, I felt a deep glow, amazed at the awe inspiring journey of our Universe, its impulse towards complexity and diversity and that I am part of this meaningful and coherent journey.
This book will suit anyone who is interested in the Universe Story from a meaning making perspective and enjoys reading science and being stretched by some of the concepts.