One of the most praiseworthy accomplishments in science did not win a Nobel Prize. It turned the march of science into stories that enraptured millions of people worldwide.
The scientist behind this groundbreaking feat was Polish-British polymath Jacob Bronowski, who created the 1973 TV documentary series and accompanying book, The Ascent of Man. To this day, The Ascent of Man remains the archetype of captivating science books. It doesn’t paint science into a corner of history but reveals how it illuminates the magnificent canvas of human life and culture.
Bronowski’s goal in his travels around the world, telling stories of brilliant scientists, philosophers, and artists, was to show how humans evolved into the creative beings we are, distinguished from other animals by our “imaginative gifts”—used for both evil and good.
Evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins has written that The Ascent of Man contains “a quotable aphorism on every page, something to treasure.” Here’s a small trove of those treasures.
"There cannot be a philosophy, there cannot even be a decent science, without humanity."
"Man has also become an architect of his environment, but he does not command forces as powerful as those of nature."
"Einstein did not look at nature like a God but like a pathfinder, that is, a man inside the chaos of her phenomena who believed that there is a common pattern visible in them all if we look with fresh eyes."
"You cannot possibly maintain informed integrity if you let other people run the world for you while you yourself continue to live out of a ragbag of morals that come from past beliefs."
"It is not the business of science to inherit the earth, but to inherit the moral imagination; because without that man and beliefs and science will perish together."
"We are nature’s unique experiment to make the rational intelligence prove itself sounder than the reflex. Knowledge is our destiny. Self-knowledge, at last bringing together the experience of the arts and the explanations of science, waits ahead of us."
Place your bid now to own this first edition of The Ascent of Man, signed by Jacob Bronowski.
