everything.study
ERS 102

At Home in the Universe

Undergraduate

Winter 2021 · Sustainability: The Really Long View

Topics

  • Big History
  • Energy and complexity
  • Biological and social evolution
  • Language and culture
  • Nation-state formation
  • Long-term sustainability

Readings

  • Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History
    David Christian · required
    2004 or later edition; a later passage permits Sapiens as an alternative.
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Yuval Noah Harari · unspecified
    2014; alternative purchase mentioned alongside Maps of Time.
  • The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History
    J. McNeill; William Hardy McNeill · recommended
    2003.
  • Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
    Jared Diamond · recommended
    2005 edition cited.
  • A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
    Bill Bryson · Abridged and illustrated · recommended
    2008; described as a useful additional resource.
  • Selected videos from The Big History Project. https://www.bighistoryproject.com
    unspecified
Sources