*****

Dear Nancy and Joel,

I heard you speak at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and was the last person that evening to buy your book!!!  I just finished reading your book and as I read it I fought back tears the whole time.

I have been aware of all of this as part of an MA program which I just completed at Holy Names University in December 2010 and as I presently audit a class on the Cosmological Powers by Brian Swimme at California Institute of Integral Studies.  But your book and how you articulate and integrate what the science is showing us with what it means to be a human being NOW is so powerful and beautiful.  And three chapters, "This Cosmically Pivotal Moment,"  "A New Origin Story" and "Cosmic Society Now" are so so important.
I have never felt so blessed to be alive as I do right now at age 66, after reading your book.

Have you hand delivered a copy of your book to Barack Obama?  One for each Senator in Congress? One to those on the Supreme Court?  How about one to Oprah? One to each CEO of the top 20 corporations?  and to all with the true sense of urgency that is commensurate with the wisdom and the deeper understanding presented in your book.  I plan on giving your book to my two sons, my five siblings, and to five close friends.  Thank you.

With Gratitude and Blessings,

*****

Nancy and Joel,

It was a privilege to hear you speak at Capitola BookCafe. It is a rare gem: The New Universe and the Human Future. The book is a charge to the human race to start thinking scientifically, but realistically about preserving the planet; The human race is uniquely qualified to take on this challenge.

From the presentation, the book is forward thinking, out of the box, yet, so elementary- come together/unite to save the planet for our children and grandchildren.
I am a pro at thinking ahead about my life; It will not be difficult for me to start thinking ahead about the planet. If the federal government can project when social security will run out of money; The federal government can project what it will take to preserve our planet.

I uphold religious beliefs and principles. I believe God in its perfect wisdom designed the planets and the universe to meet our needs forever-if it is His will. I thought of the book of Ecclesiastes".... to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose.......a time to plant, and time to pluck up."
This is the season to pluck up old thinking, and time to plant a plan, using the scientific and technology advancement, to preserve this gift called Earth. Thank You !

A new way of living; A new way of thinking ! What a concept!
Continued Success,

*****

"Other than the Bible, which I dont quite consider a book, this is the best book ive ever read. Mr Primack and Ms Abrams have shown me a world I didn't realized existed. I truly think this book should a "text book," at all high schools. As a matter of fact I think everyone person on planet earth should read this book. Thank you Mr Primack and Ms Abrams for taking the time to try to change our world and cosmology for the better"

*****

Sun, May 8, 2011
Hello:
After I saw you on PBS being interviewed I bought your book,  The View from the Center of the Universe.  It is fascinating.  How in the world do people like you become so intelligent?  I can't get over that!
How is it that even though more and more is told about evolution, that so many, many people still believe in the Bible's story, instead of in evolution?  It is all so simple and yet they can't comprehend it.
I so enjoy this book and wanted to thank you for writing it.
 Because it is (to me at least) so scientific and sort of difficult reading for me, I only read on the weekends when I am in my home in the middle of the woods where I can't here anything but the rustling of the trees and the birds.   That way I can absorb and understand it.  Such a joy!
I can't repeat myself often enough, but never before have I so enjoyed a book and have I felt I learned so much.
Looking forward already to reading your other book

Elisabeth C Berkely <elisabeth@askrpm.com>

*****

My dears Dr. Primack and Ms. Abrams,

I attended your lecture at the California Academy of Sciences and have just finished The New Universe and the Human Future.

I am relieved that you have put into words what I have been thinking about since I was a child. I remember in second grade that the world could not continue the way it was going. My metaphor then was of a clock being wound too tightly (we only had clocks with springs then) that would one day just pop apart and no longer work. I spent long hours in the library trying to understand so much that the librarians asked if I were really reading the books. I was 12 years old when I got to visit the SLAC before they turned it on. My mother was scared of me and dad said that I thought too much.

By and by I became fascinated with the very, very big and the very, very small. This evolved into a life long love of learning about high energy physics, astrophysics, cosmology and more recently the advances in the neurosciences (think Damasio, Ramachandran and Iacaboni). I would meditate in wonder that we humans seemed to be in such a privileged place in between those Planck scales and had a brain as complex as any galaxy that could think mathematically and in metaphor and could speak. My biggest problem over the years was that I had nobody to talk with about what was going on in my mind. I still have this problem; I can get about 6 sentences into discussing this stuff and then I get such a vacant stare from the one with whom I am trying to communicate and then I go off to more mundane things for the time being.

I have mentioned to many people over the years, especially my students (I was an instructor in psychology of graduate school students before retirement) that we are the Earth expressing itself. I felt that as a child. You have expanded my view to understand now that we are the universe expressing itself and knowing itself. We exist to know that that is the case. We are the meaning of the universe. It is probable that it would not know it is here were it not for us.

In some ways, contemplating all of this can drive one to the brink and I do not want to end up like Georg Cantor who went off the deep end thinking about infinities. So, to get to the point: What can one person do, myself, to put the future into action now? I have no car; I recycle everything, compost, shun packaged products, live in an urban environment; I am a lousy consumer and a devout Catholic who understands my spiritual connection to the "the whole shebang" as Ferris put it. At the lecture you did say that you were going to ask lots of questions and for the most part answer none. Nevertheless, can you help me out here?

Thank you for reading this brief apology for wonder and thank you for your thoughts and all the work that you do. And simply, thank you both for being you.

Best,

Tom Smith, Ph.D

*****