What if the ancient Greeks were right, and the universe really did spring into being out of chaos and the void? How could we know? And what must its first moments have been like?

To answer these questions, scientists are delving into all the hidden crevices of creation. Armed with giant telescopes and powerful particle accelerators, they probe the subtle mechanisms by which our familiar world came to be, and try to foretell the manner in which it will end.

The result of all this collective effort is a complex tale, stranger at times than even our most ancient creation myths. Yet its building blocks give us the power to work marvels our predecessors could scarcely comprehend. In Genesis, the CERN physicist and bestselling author Guido Tonelli does poetic justice to that great story, the accomplishment of countless minds working together across the ages.

Review

Most of us are familiar with the bare bones of the story - a moment of explosive expansion; then stars and planets form; finally, up we pop - but the detail is much richer and stranger ... Tonelli leaps - often in one paragraph - from minutiae to cosmic grandeur ... [This] hugely impressive book gives a grand vision of the marvels we've discovered, and the immensity of what we still don't understand. Maybe he should have called it Revelations instead -- Stephen Bleach ? Sunday Times

Accessible and highly engaging ... Takes us on a journey from the big bang to the evolution of humans, blending Greek mythology with scientific exploration in a narrative that's lyrical and exhilarating in equal measure -- Hannah Beckerman ? Observer

Einstein meets Ovid ... Grounded in theoretical science but sustained by artistic fervor, this account not only illuminates the precepts of modern cosmology for nonspecialists, but also endows those precepts with rare imaginative power ... Others have told this story, of course, but no one has so enriched the science of this cosmic drama with such meaningful forays into mythology, scripture, music, and history ... A science book that will matter deeply to nonscientists ? Booklist starred review

Elegant, accessible ... Tonelli's storytelling successfully weaves curiosity, Greek mythology, and scientific discovery ? Publishers Weekly starred review

Lush and inviting, offering countless points of entry even for those readers unfamiliar with fundamental concepts of physics ... An exhilarating exploration of the cosmos that is both poetic and cutting-edge ? Kirkus starred review

Tonelli takes the reader on the most thrilling roller-coaster ride, starting with the void and ending 13.8 billion years later with the complex multiverse we currently inhabit. Neatly divided into seven chapters corresponding to different cosmological epochs, this is the modern-day Genesis narrative told by a master story teller. -- Marcus du Sautoy, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, author ? The Creativity Code

The scientific story of the origin and evolution of our universe is much like a collection of the brittle scrolls of some ancient philosopher. We have mere fragments, enough to be sure that this is the one great poem of the universe, but tantalisingly incomplete. In Genesis, Guido Tonelli guides us expertly through what we know, what we don't know, and what we can only guess. You will find poetry here, and a strong sense of wonder and awe -- Jim Baggott, author ? The Quantum Story

Guido Tonelli tells the compelling, astonishing and profoundly beautiful story of creation according to modern science; but just like the Book of Genesis itself, this is also a story of the future - for it is science that enables our modern world and ensures the future of our species -- Ian Shipsey, head of particle physics at the University of Oxford

A wonderful scientific narrative ? Corriere della Sera

An exquisite tale ? La Repubblica

About the Author

Guido Tonelli played a key role in the discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the 'God Particle', which earned Francois Englert and Peter Higgs the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. For his contributions to science, Tonelli was awarded the Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2012, the Enrico Fermi Prize from the Italian Physics Society, and the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. He is a professor of general physics at the University of Pisa and a visiting scientist at CERN. Genesis, which he started writing in order to share the wonder of our cosmic origin story with his non-scientist friends, was a bestseller on release in Italy.