Dr. Gustav Obermair
Professor of Theoretical Physics
University of Regensburg
GERMANY

What does science tell us about the birth of our universe, about stars and galaxies and black holes, about elementary particles, the formation of atoms and molecules and their growing diversification, about the beginning of life and its evolution on earth?

In this book an omniscient quark named Yog tells his answers to all these questions for everyday persons of all ages. Indeed, as a witness to all events from the Big Bang to the present state of affairs on planet earth, Yog gives a precise and scientifically sound account to the author Eckleben, who has made a wonderfully intelligent, intelligible and moreover entertaining and often quite amusing tale out of this vast amount of knowledge, all done with a clever use of everyday language without complicated terminology and mathematical formulas.

Having taught advanced courses on cosmology on graduate student level for many years, I can confirm that the facts about cosmic evolution and organic evolution presented by Yog's ghost-writer Eckleben give a pretty good and accurate picture of present day scientific knowledge. It will attract and satisfy many curious readers, in particular young ones, even if they have (yet) had very little scientific education.

Further quite amusing chapters are devoted to a sketch of human societies and behaviour as seen from Yog's cosmic-comic point of view. It appears that the quark and his interpreter agree on the certainly likeable engineers' conviction that most personal, social and global problems arise from a lack of rationality and shall be solved in the future with a more scientific approach. In spite of some doubts I do sympathize with their point of view and hope with them for a further development of mankind leading to 'homo prudens', the rational and responsible being that may use its dominating role for the benefit of all life on earth. This, of course, is the hope of all educators and I wish that the book finds wide distribution in schools, public libraries, among teachers and students.

"The Odyssey of the smallest known particle, Yog the Quark, from the dawn of this universe - presumed to be Big Bang - to the complexities of humans in the 21st century is a truly fascinating story. The author succeeds to imbue galactic and biological evolution and sequences with life by appointing the animated figure of Yog as entertaining narrator. Yog as funny particle attempts the impossible - to convey universal and global dimensions of space, matter and time in everyman´s language, interspiced, sometimes obtrusiveley, sometimes unobtrusively, with the author´s cynical opinion. Yog crosses the boundaries of the purely material to the biological and into the intellectual world in order to communicate with his audience - the ever inquisitive, short lived human earthlings, frustrated in their confined sphere of cognisance. The book excites the wonder of our whole existence and often tests the outskirts where nothing else is left than the surmise that behind, beyond or even immanent in all ingenious beings and enigmatic phenomena there must be a superior intelligence." Eberhard Hofmann

The Big Bang theory on the origin and development of the universe has been generally accepted and the facts compiled by numerous authors over many years. What makes this work unique is the technique of relating the story from the perspective of a quark - the smallest particle existing. The occasional cynical remarks by the author on specific issues provide a personal touch to the narrative. It is clear that the subject has been thoroughly researched and the use of plain language makes for easy reading.
A highly recommended work for the novice as well as more informed reader.

Poised nicely between the worlds of hard science and human searching for understanding of the universe, this brilliant work by Siegfried Eckleben is a revealing and well worthwhile read. The author has clearly done intensive research into his subject and summarises the most complex of concepts in an easy to follow, informative and interesting manner. The ingenious use of the tiny quark as a timeless and ever changing entity allows Mr. Eckleben to make time irrelevant and ensure continuity of event throughout the eons covered by this excellent text.

Get it and read it. It's great

Great Book! The author must be one of the most interesting persons in the universe. When will the sequel follow? I Can't wait!

You are intelligent
You are a seeker after wisdom,tempering the harshness of reality with your imagination
You are invigorated by the works of Louis de Bernieres,Alain de Botton and Carlos Ruiz Zarfon;

You are one of those selected by Yog the quark for enlightenment

What an original, insghtful and amusing way to approach the subject of life, the universe and everything. This is a really entertaining read and, without the reader fully realizing it, extremely edifying. Wonderfully well researched and presented.
Ian