From the dustjacket:

How do human beings view the universe, its structure, its origin, and their role in it? Are there other sentient beings out there, have they visited the earth, and will we visit other worlds? These questions have occupied man for millennia. Perhaps the most central is how celestial bodies influneced human destiny on earth. Indeed, man's relation to the universe, and to its creator, forms the basis of all relgious experience.

These are some of the vast questions explored in The Universe and Its Origins. But this is more than a summary of current scientific thinking; it examines contrasting views of cosmology held by scientists and non-scientists from ancient times to the present. Anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, physicists, astonomers, cosmologists, and astronauts have shed light on the origin of myths, the purposes for which they were created, and how over the years they have assumed modern forms. In thought-provoking discussions by the above we'll find, for example, how widely different cultures have produced surprisingly similar ideas about the structure of the physical universe, how astrology became a forerunner of astronomy, and how astronomical observations formed the basis of ancient calendars as well as providing the impetus for Newtonian and Einsteinian physics.

Despite our scientific advances, many fundamental questions remain. Did the universe start with a "big bang" and will it expand forever? How far back can we trace its beginnings? What are quasars and black holes? Many of these answers are within reach, perhaps within the next decades, and The Universe and Its Origins captures this exciting era of cosmological discovery. Equally important, however, is its discussion of ancient cosmogonies. For with scientific advances, the old myths return, this time in the form of UFOs and "space visitors" rather than gods, demons, or spirits. The book concludes with noted science fiction author Ben Bova explaining why myths and fantasies are human needs as basic as the drive for greater scientific understanding of our physical universe.

S. Fred Singer is a professor at George Mason University in Virginia. He has written and edited several books, including Is There an Optimum Level of Population?, Free Market Energy, and The Ocean in Human Affairs.

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