How was it that a single "genesis event" could create billions of galaxies, black holes, stars and planets? How did atoms assemble--here on Earth, and perhaps on other worlds--into living beings that were intricate enough to ponder their own origins and purpose? What are the fundamental laws that govern our universe? This book introduces to a general readership for the first time new discoveries about, and remarkable insights into, these fundamental questions.

There are profound connections between stars and atoms. In this accessible and highly original book, Martin Rees demonstrates how it is that just six numbers, imprinted in the "big bang," determine the essential features of the physical cosmos. Moreover, cosmic evolution is astonishingly sensitive to the values of these numbers. If any one of them were "untuned," there could be no stars and no life. This realization offers a radically new perspective on the universe and our place in it, and on the nature of physical laws.