The Ascent of Man. J. Bronowski 1st edition, 4th printing.

  Little Brown & Company, Boston & New York, 1973. Hardcover. Book Condition: Good, corners bumped. Dust Jacket Condition: None. 1st Edition, 4th printing. Professor Bronowski's universally acclaimed classic account of the rise of man & civilization. * 7.12" x 10.0" x 1.46", 1.36 kg, 448 pp. * More than four decades after its publication here is a copy of a great classic: "What I present, what has fascinated me for many years, is the way in which man's ideas express what is essentially human in his nature." 'The Ascent of Man' is nothing less than a full-scale history of science developed from the acclaimed 13-part BBC television series written by Jacob Bronowski, mathematician & statistician, poet, historian, teacher, inventor, fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, & a leader in the modern movement of Scientific Humanism. 'The Ascent of Man' traces the development of science as an expression of the special gifts that characterize man & that have made him unique among animal species. Bronowski journeys back through intellectual history in order to find "the great monuments of human invention." Discoveries from the flint tool to geometry, from the arch to the theory of relativity, are shown to be progressions in man's search to understand nature & control it. The author's informal history ranges throughout most of the western world, reaching into such out-of-the-way places as Easter Island, Machu Picchu, Newton's library & Gauss' observatory, the Alhambra & the caves of Altamira. In each location, Bronowski considers the qualities of thought & imagination that compelled man first to analyze the physical world, & then to explore the invisible laws & structures above & beneath its surface. He writes, "Man ascends by discovering the fullness of his own gifts . . . what he creates on the way are monuments to the stages in his understanding of nature & of self." Whether discussing the evolution of mathematics, the rise of the republican scientist, or the place of science in the future, Dr. Bronowski approaches his subject w/ authority & grace. In the end, he gives us a new perspective, not just on science, but on civilization itself. * "Dr. Bronowski's brilliant text remains today as vibrant & fascinating & as wise & humane as when it was first published."