A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year In The Universe Within, Neil Shubin reveals the connection between the evolution of the cosmos and the evolution of the human body. Just as the history of the earth is written in the rocks, so too is the universe's 14-billion-year history written in the human body. Starting at the smallest level, with our very molecular composition, Shubin explores the question of why we are the way we are, tracing the formation of the planets, the moon, and the globe of Earth through the development of the organs, cells, and genes that make up human life.

Prologue -- 1 Rocking Our World -- 2 Blasts from the Past -- 3 Lucky Stars -- 4 About Time -- 5 The Ascent of Big -- 6 Connecting the Dots -- 7 Kings of the Hill -- 8 Fevers and Chills -- 9 Cold Facts -- 10 Mothers of Invention -- Further Reading and Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Illustration Credits -- Index.