After reading the authors' discussion at the end of the book, I know that they spent a lot of time and effort trying to make this an engaging story as well as an exploration of universal history from a theologically conservative and scientifically literate perspective. Unfortunately, at least in the English translation, the didacticism overwhelmed everything else. The idea of protons, neutrons, and electrons being conscious and having anachronistic conversations with one another was just too implausibly cutesy for me, though I can't think of an alternate way to provide a "first-person" account of the universe before the emergence of life.

Admittedly, I'm not the intended audience for this book, which was seemingly meant to work as a fable for older children, an introduction to theistic evolution for evangelical believers, and a science-positive tract for questioning agnostics. As a progressive Christian with an evangelical background, I'm wary of religious didacticism and found the insistence on biblical historicity a bit silly (by contrast, the reworking of the Fall story was slightly bizarre). While I appreciate the efforts to mesh faith in a personal God with an enthusiasm for science, neither the theology nor the Three Trees-style plot worked for me, so I found myself skimming once it became obvious most of the story would be Heilsgeschichte-via-random-objects.

This was an imaginative book, and I appreciated the authors' attempt to blend science (cosmology, physics, evolution, etc.) with Christianity into a narrative history of the universe. There is, of course, no paradox involved; despite the opinions of many, science and faith are complementary, not contradictory.

That being said, I don't think that the implementation quite succeeds. The narrative is necessarily perfunctory, as it covers billions of years in a fairly small book, and it skims over the details of the scientific and Biblical history that it covers. The reader needs to have some familiarity with the subject matter already in order to fully understand what is being described, I think. The casual reader (i.e., someone without a background in science or Christianity) may not know what to make of the strong and weak nuclear forces, or understand why light appeared in the universe only after a few hundred thousand years, or who Womuntu and Maisha are supposed to be in the Bible.

However, I think the authors do succeed in making the presence of God -- or at least his purpose -- felt throughout the story, from the very beginning with the Big Bang to the present day and open-ended future. And that, perhaps, is the most important thing. ( )

It's an interesting concept, making the story from a protons prospective and mixing evolution with creation. I liked how the protons were many different things. It's not a fantastic book that I would recommend to everyone. It's a decent read if you keep an open mind. I'm not very religious and don't believe in a creator of all, so I had to keep an open mind with this book and think it would be a fun way to teach kids both sides. I love the idea, but it's not a book I would reread. ( )

Incredible and cute story of the creation of the universe. If he were still living, Mark Twain would have had a hand in this. It's a lovely little tale, and as a Christian, I'm very proud to have read it.

This is a unique book. Its portrayal of the story of the world and creation definitely made me see things with fresh eyes. The retelling doesn't come across as "this is for sure how it actually was" but more so "here's one possible interpretation/adaptation based on what we know of science and theology." I enjoyed the story and the writing quite a bit. It was a really ambitious project for the writers, and learning about the behind-the-scenes was interesting. The authors put their whole hearts and expertise into the work. One of my favorite parts of the story was where God first meets "Adam and Eve" in the garden. I thought it was vividly written and I really liked how they all interacted. Overall, I thought this was an epic book. ( )