John Gribbin's ''The Universe: A Biography'' explores the story of our cosmos, from the mystery of its origins to how scientists think it might end. How did the universe grow from a tiny fireball to its present size? Where did life on earth come from? How do planets form? How will the universe end? And how do we even know all this anyway? John Gribbin, one of Britain's most popular writers about science and the people who made it happen, has decided to create a biography of the greatest subject of all: the universe itself, from beginning to end (and beyond). From the Big Bang 14 billion years ago, the formation of stars and galaxies and the first stirrings of life, to the latest thinking on dark matter and a theory of everything - and beyond to the future possibility of a Big Crunch or a Big Rip - this is the life history of the entire world around us. ''If you really want to know about the greatest story there is, then this is the book to read''. (''Independent on Sunday''). ''As clear an account of current thinking on the subject as we are likely to get''. (''Daily Telegraph''). ''One of Britain's best and most prolific science writers''. (''Sunday Telegraph'').''The master of popular science writing''. (''Sunday Times''). John Gribbin is one of today's greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books, including ''In Search of Schrodinger's Cat'', ''Stardust'', ''Science: A History'' and ''In Search of the Multiverse''. Gribbin trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.