Thought Stack: Adventures In Being Human

We’re far less important than we think we are.  And yet... Everything had to work out exactly the way it did for us to come into existence.  The Milky Way had to form ~12.21 billion years ago and the Earth had to form ~4.43 billion years ago. Our species, Homo sapiens, had to survive countless threats to pop up ~160,000 years ago, which is but a minor blip on the vast cosmic timeline. What makes us significant is that we’re the first species to realize all of this. That’s what makes us matter — we’re the species that was curious enough to ask questions and develop cognitive tools to help discover the answers. Today's Actionable Book Short is on A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. For the corresponding article, be sure to read it on our site. Stay Thought-Full.