In what may be the most understandable and readable accounts of “Where did the universe come from and what will the future bring”, Krause writes about the Big Bang, quantum fluctuations producing chaotic inflation, and the likelihood of a multiverse.  The central concept here is that we live in an anthropic universe with physical laws and constants that enable life to exist; in other words, if there was nothing, we wouldn’t be here to describe it.  If you have any interest in understanding cosmology, this is the book to read or you can go to Alan Lightman’s essay in the Best American Essays, 2012 (see above).