Unifying the Universe: Reading Assignment 1 (Thursday, January 26 ): Read Preface, and Chapter 1 to page 18 Preface:  My aim in this book is to explore the first arena of science which emerged to reveal that the universe is indeed fundamentally orderly and governed by natural laws.  Before Newton, it was generally thought that laws which operate in the heavens [outer space] are quite distinct from laws valid in our earthly domain.  When different areas of science come together with the weaving of general principles there is a dramatic leap in our understanding of nature.  I aim to cover modern answers to the fascinating questions relating to the origin and unity of the universe and its contents. Chapter 1: The Shapes of Nature: Beginnings of Scientific Thought Nature is Natural:  Human thought rose to a new level when Greek philosophers, starting around 650 BC, began to look for rational explanations for natural events in the world around us.  Greeks looked for reasoned alternatives, rational explanations.  They sought to explain nature by drawing from nature, the foundation for eventual understanding based on natural laws.  They were the first to launch what we call scientific inquiry.  Our word politics comes from the Greek word polis meaning city state.  Demos means people and crates means rule.  The blind poet Home provided the Greek with language and poetry through the epics of the Illiad and the Odyssey.  Greeks striv