The Ascent of Man
by Jacob Bronowski
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jacob BronowskiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1976-08
ISBN: 0316109339
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Little Brown & Co (P)
Product features:
- Orange paperback with black and white lettering.
Book Reviews of The Ascent of Man
Book Review: An Enlightened man
Summary: 5 Stars
The Ascent of Man
A review I recently read of a new history of science favorably mentioned The Ascent of Man, so I was stimulated to read it. I am glad I did. I missed both the television series and the book when they came out more than 35 years ago.
Bronowski, a mathematician who later became a biologist as well, was the very model of a humanist scientist. Untainted by post-modern cynicism, he connected to another era (he recalled that in his childhood he had seen the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef). He espoused an unashamedly progressive view of history, where "Man ascends by discovering the fullness of his own gifts (his talents and faculties) and what he creates along the way are monuments to the stages in his understanding of nature and of self...." The book consists of thirteen conjoined essays covering the major steps in that ascent.
After the first few chapters much of the narrative revolves around mini-biographies of canonical figures, mostly conventional choices for a history like this one (although we get Alfred Russell Wallace in place of Darwin, which I appreciated because I know less of Wallace). Pleasingly, Brownowski emphasizes not just what these scientists discovered but also how they went about their work. Often there are generous quotations from the writings of the subjects themselves. Bronowski also brings in art and literature at appropriate points to illuminate key ideas.
The profuse, often colorful, illustrations add greatly to the value of the book. Some are little science lessons in themselves (I am still trying to figure out the visual proof of the Pythagorean Theorem in one of them). Two plates, in particular, say more than perhaps any of the others: photos of the ruins of Hiroshima and of the crematorium at Auschwitz.
Some of the science reflected in the essays is already dated, illustrating the fast pace of discovery and shifting consensus in several fields. For example, Brownowski accepted that the evolutionary line to Homo sapiens went through the Neanderthals, he wrote his piece on particle physics prior to the development of the current standard model, and the imaging technology he wrote about involved x-rays, not MRI's. The lack of currency does not matter much, however, because it is all valid as history. And for me, at least, Bronowski's essays served as a good refresher on several important scientific concepts.
I especially appreciated his balancing the zest for knowledge with a recognition of man's limits. "Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible," he claimed. "Knowledge is our destiny," he believed, but he stressed that all information is imperfect, that we have to treat it with humility. "We have to cure ourselves of the itch for absolute knowledge and power," he said. "We have to close the distance between the push-button order and the human act. We have to touch people." In spite of the counter-claims of many contemporary critics, that is the true heritage of the Enlightenment.
Summary of The Ascent of Man
Lauded by critics and devoured by countless readers as a companion to the acclaimed PBS series, this work traces the development of science as an expression of the special gifts that characterize man and make him preeminent among animals. Bronowski's exciting, splendidly illustrated investigation offers a new perspective not just on science, but on civilization itself. Photographs.Biology Books
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