Us from Nothing

by Bouvier, Geoff

• ISBN13: 9781625570710
• ISBN10: 1625570716
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-09-03
• Publisher: Black Lawrence Press

Summary

Fifteen billion years ago, there was nothing, not even light. Now, we live in a universe that plays host to trillions of galaxies with uncountable stars, worlds, and maybe even other life. How did we get from there to here? Us From Nothing is a historical epic prose poem about the most important milestones in world history, from the Big Bang to the near future. It traces the tale of how the universe formed, how life arose, how humanity amplified the Earth’ s abundance, and how our future might emerge from where we find ourselves now.

Author Biography

Geoff Bouvier has previously published two books of prose poetry, including the APR/Honickman Prize-winning Living Room. He served as the Holloway Lecturer in Poetry at the University of California-Berkeley and he has written long-form magazine journalism, publishing over 50 cover stories. His prose poems have appeared in numerous journals including American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Denver Quarterly, and New American Writing. He is currently an Instructor of Creative Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Table of Contents

13.8 Billion Years Ago: The Big Bang 13.6 Billion Years Ago: Stars 4.5 Billion Years Ago: Earth 3.8 Billion Years Ago: Life 443 Million Years Ago: Life on Land 66 Million Years Ago: End of the Dinosaurs 56 Million Years Ago: Mammals 7.5 Million Years Ago: Humans 3.3 Million Years Ago: Tools 1.5 Million Years Ago: Fire 300,000 Years Ago: Sapiens 220,000 Years Ago: Mass Migration 120,000 Years Ago: Music 100,000 Years Ago: Language 73,000 Years Ago: Extinction-Level Event 42,000 Years Ago: Mathematics 40,000 Years Ago: Art 30,000 Years Ago: Stories 16,000 Years Ago: Humans Everywhere 13,000 Years Ago: The Last Humans 12,000 Years Ago: Pets 10,000 Years Ago: Work 10,000 Years Ago: Civilization 8,000 Years Ago: Private Property 6,000 Years Ago: Cities 3200 Before Common Era: Writing 3100 Before Common Era: Money 3000 Before Common Era: Time 2700 Before Common Era: War 2300 Before Common Era: Empire 2100 Before Common Era: Law 1500 Before Common Era: Religion 1367 Before Common Era: Monotheism 1290 Before Common Era: Judaism 776 Before Common Era: Sports 600 Before Common Era: Evil and Salvation 542 Before Common Era: Taoism 539 Before Common Era: Civil Rights 508 Before Common Era: Democracy 479 Before Common Era: Confucianism 460 Before Common Era: Buddhism 399 Before Common Era: Atheism 370 Before Common Era: Science 240 Before Common Era: Geography 200 Common Era: Medicine 313 Common Era: Christianity 610 Common Era: Islam 723 Common Era: Clocks 850 Common Era: Gunpowder 1040: Advanced Science 1215: More Inclusive Civil Rights 1327: Humanism 1350: The Plague 1440: Printing Press 1444: Targeted Enslavement 1450: Capitalism 1522: Circumnavigation 1543: Heliocentrism 1597: Engineering 1600: Corporations 1604: Microscopes and Telescopes 1610: Astronomy 1644: Freedom of the Press 1666: Modern Cities 1687: Calculation 1712: Industrialization 1796: Vaccination 1800: Batteries 1814: Astrophysics 1821: Motors 1826: Photography 1831: Electromagnetism 1837: Telecommunications 1838: Mechanical Calculation 1839: Solar Energy 1842: Evolution 1842: Materialism 1846: Soap 1848: Communism 1867: Women Voting 1877: Sound Recording 1879: Light Bulbs 1886: Automobiles 1895: Motion Pictures 1900: Quantum Mechanics 1903: Powered Flight 1905: Relativity 1907: Plastics 1908: Nitrogen Synthesis 1927: Uncertainty Principle 1928: Antibiotics 1936: Computation 1945: The Bomb 1948: Universal Civil Rights 1952: DNA 1957: Global Positioning Systems 1958: Microtechnology 1960: Birth Control 1969: The Internet 1969: Moon Landing 2003: Human Genome 2008: Social Networks Present Day: Aliens Near Future: Technological Singularity Near Future: Telepathy Near Future: Amortality Acknowledgments