INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter explores theories of how the Earth was formed and the origin of life, using astrophysicist Carl Sagan’s famous analogy of a cosmic calendar. The calendar condenses the history of the universe into one year. Thus, the Big Bang would take place on January 1 and the first living organisms would not emerge until September. Humans would appear four minutes before midnight on December 31.
Following this analogy, wine would appear 4.8 seconds before the end of the year.
