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From the world-renowned physicist, cofounder of the World Science Festival, and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes this 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 extraordinary cosmic expanse. He shows us how, despite the universe's drive toward ever greater entropy, remarkable structures form--planets, stars and galaxies--providing islands of order in a sea of chaos; biochemical mechanisms animate the processes of life, populating earth with finely adapted particulate collections; neurons, information, and thought yield complex consciousness, generating cultures suffused with timeless myths, creative expressions, and scientific explorations. Through a series of nested stories that explain distinct but interwoven layers of reality, 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. Through this grand tour of the universe, beginning to end, Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.