Low Price Guarantee
We Take School POs
Evolutions: Fifteen Myths That Explain Our World
Contributor(s): Harman, Oren (Author)

View larger image

ISBN: 0374538417     ISBN-13: 9780374538415
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
OUR PRICE: $15.20  

Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: June 2019
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Science | Philosophy & Social Aspects
- Social Science | Folklore & Mythology
- Science | Life Sciences - Evolution
Dewey: 201.3
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.5" W x 7.9" L (0.55 lbs) 256 pages
Features: Price on Product
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

A brilliant lyrical exploration of how modern science illuminates what it means to be human, from the award-winning author of The Price of Altruism

We no longer think, like the ancient Chinese did, that the world was hatched from an egg, or, like the Maori, that it came from the tearing-apart of a love embrace. The Greeks told of a tempestuous Hera and a cunning Zeus, but we now use genes and natural selection to explain fear and desire, and physics to demystify the workings of the universe.

Science is an astounding achievement, but are we really any wiser than the ancients? Has science revealed the secrets of fate and immortality? Has it provided protection from jealousy or love? There are those who believe that science has replaced faith, but must it also be a death knell for mythology?

Evolutions brings to life the latest scientific thinking on the birth of the universe and the solar system, the journey from a single cell all the way to our human minds. Reawakening our sense of wonder and terror at the world around us and within us, Oren Harman uses modern science to create new and original mythologies. Here are the earth and the moon presenting a cosmological view of motherhood, a panicking mitochondrion introducing sex and death to the world, the loneliness of consciousness emerging from the memory of an octopus, and the birth of language in evolution summoning humankind's struggle with truth. Science may not solve our existential puzzles, but like the age-old legends, its magical discoveries can help us continue the never-ending search.


Contributor Bio(s): Harman, Oren: - Oren Harman's book The Price of Altruism won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He is a renowned professor of the history of science and the Chair of the Program in Science Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University.
 
Customer ReviewsSubmit your own review
 
To tell a friend about this book, you must Sign In First!