Just wow. Such is the potential of science fiction to use the great broad universe to examin the human experience. Much better than the first and last man as it avoids the racial/sexist tropes present in classic scifi but it expands its scope to , well everything. It has no time to dwell on such things. But it takes the ultimate doom of the universe and turns it into ultimately why everything matters. Though in the final chapter it does try to examine the concept of God but though initially it begins to falter its message, still it is sticks the landing. Though quite an old book it reads quite easily which is alot different than first and last men. Suggest starting with this one rather than its predecessor even though this is a sequel and makes some minor reference to events in first and last men. In summary, fantastic. Must read for any one.