This accessible, student-friendly text offers a fresh approach to teaching introductory astronomy, emphasizing the "big picture" of the universe emerging from the flood of discoveries during the last two decades. The authors engage students' curiosity by linking the new insights and discoveries to themes of human achievement, physics in the universe, continuity of matter, the dynamic systems that sustain life, and astronomy and physics as foundations for our world view. Throughout, the emphasis is on important ideas, with relevant details, techniques, and formulas presented after concepts.