  This book provides a completely new approach to understanding the universe.
The main idea is that the principal objects in the universe form a spectrum
unified by the presence of a massive or hypermassive black hole. These objects
are variously called quasars, active galaxies and spiral galaxies. The key to
understanding their dynamics is angular momentum and the key tool, and main
innovative idea of this work, is a proper formulation of "Mach's principle"
using Sciama's ideas. In essence, what is provided here is a totally new
paradigm for the universe. In this paradigm, there is no big bang, and the
universe is many orders of magnitude older than current estimates for its age.
Indeed there is no natural limit for its age.
