David Christian
Né(e): December 08, 1946 – Brooklyn, New York, United States
David Christian is a historian and pioneer of Big History, known for tracing human and cosmic history across deep time. He is the author of Maps of Time and co-author of Origin Story, and he helped found the Big History Project, bringing interdisciplinary history teaching to classrooms worldwide.
Biographie et Parcours de l'Auteur
David Christian is a historian whose work moved outward from national history to the widest temporal scale imaginable. Born in New York in 1946 to British and American parents, he spent much of his childhood in Nigeria before schooling in England. He took a BA in modern history at Oxford, completed an MA in Russian history at the University of Western Ontario, and returned to Oxford for a D.Phil. awarded in 1974. His early career at Macquarie University was grounded in Russian and Soviet history, producing books on Russian food, drink, and Inner Eurasia. The decisive turn came in 1989, when a discussion about how to introduce students to history pushed him toward a radical question: why not begin at the beginning? That question led him from human history to geology, biology, and finally to the history of the universe itself. ((https://storage.googleapis.com/coursetexts-notion/usmani%20sociol2204/readings/Christian%20and%20McNeill%20-%20Maps%20of%20Time%20An%20Introduction%20to%20Big%20History.pdf))
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Voix de la Communauté
"David Christian teaches an ambitious world history course that tells the tale of the entire universe"
— TED ((
"David Christian is one of the grandest parachutists of them all—so grand that he's almost a space traveler"
— American Scientist ((
"David Christian charts our course from the Big Bang to today"
— TED Blog ((
"David Christian covers 13 billion years in 600 pages and poses some suitably weighty questions"
— The Guardian ((
"A wave of mainstream media attention shines a spotlight on David Christian, a leading proponent of ‘big history"
— Publishers Weekly ((
"David Christian’s approach to understanding history can help all of us learn to prepare for the future that lies ahead"
— Bill Gates ((
"David Christian’s ‘big history’ synthesizes several disciplines, from astrobiology to behavioral economics, to tell the story of the universe"
— The Washington Post ((
"Big History founder David Christian enthusiastically turns his attention to humanity's short- and long-term future"
— Shelf Awareness ((
Cree par des anciens de Columbia University a San Francisco
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"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
Cree par des anciens de Columbia University a San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
