David Baker in conversation with Toby Walsh

How did time begin? What conditions led to humans evolving on Earth? Will we survive the Anthropocene? And is it really true that we’re all made from stars? 

The Shortest History of the World follows the continuum of historical change in the cosmos – from the Big Bang, through the evolution of life, to human history. Combining knowledge from chemistry, biology and physics with insights from the social sciences and humanities, The Shortest History of the World takes a bird’s eye view of 13.8 billion years. 

Author David Baker uses Big History to allow us to see beyond the chaos of human affairs to the overall trajectory and consider the dramatic and sudden changes we’re making to our planet and its biosphere and how history hints at what might come next.