This is a history of representations of the universe, from the early Babylonian cosmologies to today’s Big Bang theory. The originality of Jean-Claude Pecker’s approach lies in his avoidance of a positivism common among many scientists who consider their vision of the universe to be ultimate reality. Yet Pecker does not succumb to relativism, since he believes the history of cosmology is a continuous, unbroken one, without "revolutions", as historians say.
Pecker’s book is both a history and a work of popularisation. As readers follow events from past to present, they progress from the simple to the more complex, witnessing the development of the discipline of astronomy. Pecker wishes to help the reader understand the problems that astronomy was supposed to resolve and how ideas about astronomy emerged. By providing the motivation behind the concepts, as well as the techniques and laws of his discipline, he renders astronomical problems and ideas accessible — or, as he would say, "human".

Jean-Claude Pecker a member of the Institut de France and an honorary professor at the College de France.