A front-row seat to one of humankind's most dramatic intellectual journeys-the search to understand the makeup of our universe, and the history of physics, chemistry, and astronomy that brought us to our present understanding (and misunderstandings) of the world.

"A fascinating exploration of how we learned what matter really is, and the journey matter takes from the Big Bang, through exploding stars, ultimately to you and me." -Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden)


Carl Sagan once quipped, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." But finding the ultimate recipe for apple pie means answering some big questions: What is matter really made of? How did it escape annihilation in the fearsome heat of the Big Bang? And will we ever be able to understand the very first moments of our...