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image courtesy of Amazon.com and Christophe Galfard

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In The Universe in Your Hands, Christophe Galfard employs the immediacy of simple, direct language to show and explain to readers the theories of the vast universe. By using everyday similes and metaphors, addressing the reader directly, and writing stories rather than equations, Christophe Galfard simplifies complexities of the universe so the reader can understand them. Astronomical things like quantum physics, black holes, string theory, the big bang, dark matter, dark energy, and parallel universes are each all explained with immense detail. As the reader continues to imagine traveling through space and time with Christophe Galfard, they grow a outstanding knowledge of the universe and all its qualities.

To find out more about Christophe Galfard, visit his website at: http://www.christophegalfard.com/

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Christophe Galfard, Author of "The Universe in Your Hand"

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Christophe Galfard, Author of "The Universe in Your Hand"

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Image courtesy of Getty Images photographer, Eric Fougere

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Chapter 1 a silent boom

picture yourself on a far-away volcanic island on a warm, cloudless summer night. The surrounding ocean is as still as a lake. only the tiniest of waves wash against the white sand. All is quiet. You are lying on the beach. Your eyes are closed. The warm, sun-baked sand heats up air saturated with sweet, exotic scents. There is peace all around.

A wild streak in the distance makes you jump and stare into the darkness.

Then: nothing

Whatever street is now quiet. There is nothing to be afraid of after all. This island may be dangerous for some creatures, but not for you. You are a human, the mightiest of predators. Your friends will soon be joining you for a drink and you are on holiday, so you lied back on the sand to focus on thoughts worthy of your species.

A myriad of tiny lights flicker throughout the vast night sky. Stars.

Even with the naked eye you see them everywhere. And you remember questions you had as a child: what are they, these stars?  Why do they flicker? How far away are they? And now you wonder:  will we ever really know? With a side, you relax back on the warm sand and put these silly questions aside, thinking, why should we care?

A tiny shooting star gently streaks across the sky over head and, just as you are about to make a wish, the most extraordinary thing happens:  as if to answer your last question, 5 billion years suddenly pass and the next thing you know, you are no longer on a beach, but in outer space, floating through emptiness. You can see and hear and feel, but your body is gone. You are ethereal. Pure mind.  And you don't even have the time to wonder what just happened or to shout and call for help, for you are in the most peculiar of situations.

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Video explaining Christophe's meaning behind "The Universe in Your Hand"

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Video explaining Christophe's meaning behind "The Universe in Your Hand"

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Main Video Clip For Project

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the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (adapted work)

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CAN YOU HOLD THE UNIVERSE IN YOUR HAND? | Christophe Galfard

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Journey through space, time and beyond with author Christophe Galfard. Internationally renowned physicist Christophe Galfard, who was Professor Stephen Hawking's graduate student, takes us on a wonder-filled journey through the past, present and future of the universe - a journey into scientific fact.

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Christophe Galfard with good friend Steven Hawking, a "universe hero" and co-writer to some of Christophe's books.

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Christophe Galfard with good friend Steven Hawking, a "universe hero" and co-writer to some of Christophe's books.

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image courtesy of http://www.christophegalfard.com/about-me/

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Thirty Minute Interview With Christophe Galfard Explaining Different Topics Brought Up Throughout the Book

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Thirty Minute Interview With Christophe Galfard Explaining Different Topics Brought Up Throughout the Book

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The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond

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"If Ms. Frizzle were a physics student of Stephen Hawking, she might have written THE UNIVERSE IN YOUR HAND, a wild tour through the reaches of time and space, from the interior of a proton to the Big Bang to the rough suburbs of a black hole. It's friendly, excitable, erudite, and cosmic."

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Four of My Favorite Quotes From "The Universe in Your Hand"

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Four of My Favorite Quotes From "The Universe in Your Hand"

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“Our image is here and will for ever stay, and there is comfort in knowing that the memory of our lives will always be there, traveling among the stars.” (Part Seven).

“Everyone should be very grateful radioactivity exists at all. It can kill you, yes, but without it you wouldn't have been born in the first place. On Earth, deep under your feet, our planet happens to contain many atoms that do decay, all the time. Less so now than in the past, but still, Earth's mantle is radioactive. When atoms decay there, the particles they emit bump into their neighbours and generate heat, the very heat that contributes to keeping our planet warm. Without radioactivity, there would be no seismic or volcanic activity. The surface of the Earth would have been dead cold billions of years ago. Life as we know it would probably not exist at all.” (Part Five).

The idea of a universal time - a godlike clock that could somehow sit outside our universe and measure, in one go, the movement of everything in it, how its evolution unfolds, how old it is and all that - does not exist.” (Part five).

“Even today, more than eighty years after Oort's bold guess, we still don't have a clue what this dark matter is made of. We know it exists. We know where it is. We have maps of its presence within and around galaxies throughout the universe. We even have stringent constraints on what it is not, but we have no clue what it is. And yes, its presence is overwhelming: for every one kilogram of ordinary matter made out of neutrons and protons and electrons, there are five kilograms of dark matter, made out of who-knows-what.” (Part six).