Excellent, thought provoking book.
Thoroughly enjoyable read. ( )

Un viaje a través de la historia intelectual con el fin de encontrar "los grandes monumentos de la invención humana": la Isla de Pascua, Machu Picchu, la biblioteca de Newton y el observatorio de Gauss, la Alhambra y las cuevas de Altamira. En cada lugar, Bronowski considera las cualidades del pensamiento y de la imaginación que hicieron que el hombre, primero analizara el mundo físico para a continuación, explorar las leyes y las estructuras invisibles por encima y por debajo de su superficie. El hombre asciende al descubrir la plenitud de sus propios dones .... lo que él crea en el camino son monumentos en las etapas de su comprensión de la naturaleza y de sí mismo.

Este clásico del doctor Bronowski traza el desarrollo de la sociedad humana a través de nuestra comprensión de la ciencia. Publicado en 1973 junto con una innovadora serie de televisión de la BBC, es considerado una de las primeras obras de divulgación científica, que ilumina el contexto histórico y social del desarrollo científico para una generación de lectores. Bronowski analiza la invención humana desde la herramienta de pedernal a la geometría, desde la agricultura a la genética y desde la alquimia a la teoría de la relatividad, mostrando cómo todas ellas son expresiones de nuestra capacidad de comprender y controlar la naturaleza.

The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski is a wonderful book about the beginnings of the human species and all of the fascinating and incredible leaps and bounds in knowledge and technology we have made.

There are 12 chapters and they touch upon so many different subjects. Our story begins in the savannas of Africa, where our ancestors were once tree dwellers and eventually began to walk upright. Humans transformed stones into tools and became hunter-gatherers, ultimately bringing forth the Neolithic Revolution.

As time moved on, we learned to tame the land by planting seeds and growing crops. Humans disciplined the ox, mules and horses for battle and farming. By building canals we controlled the flow of water. The discovery of metals thrust us into the Copper and Iron Ages.

Mathematics skyrocketed intellectual thinking and we began to apply that thinking to shapes and geometry. Galileo Galilie turned the telescope towards the Moon and left humanity in awe. Sir Isaac Newton gave motion to the planets by inventing calculus and Albert Einstein gave the speed light and the slowing of time a definition -- the Theory of Relativity.

The discovery of quantum physics and the subatomic world expanded our way of thinking. The Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace lifted the veil of nature's mysterious ways.

It was a delightful trip learning about all the amazing things humans have achieved. To learn about how we moved up the intellectual ladder was inspiring. Bronowski points out the importance of the continual push for knowledge and how to maintain that goal for future generations. Who knows where the human race will end up if we do. ( )

I learned a fair bit about bits of this and that from this response to Kenneth Clarke's classic "Civilization" series and book, basically the "the human in history as a function in science" to Clarke's similar take rooted in art. Bronowski's "wide-eyed urbanity" kind of schtick was alternately very charming and a bit much, like nobody could possibly be that blown away by the Victorian scientists and their vigour, like nobody who thinks of themselves as objective and a "man of science" likesay could really be that unreflective about whether China and India and the Middle East were really that Hegelian-philosophy-of-history torpid unless maybe he wasn't quite as free of preconceptions as he thought. ( )

This book, which is an augmented version of the narrative Bronowski delivered for the BBC series of 1973, which I haven't yet watched, is lucid and brilliant from start to finish. At first, I regretted not having the accompanying video, but this feeling passed quickly. My edition does have some illustrations, but they are all black & white and most are poorly reproduced. In the end, they aren't needed. The writing is so good, the argument so convincing, and the content so fascinating that the book is a joy to read. And what a guide--a mathematician who later turned to other sciences, while at the same time a scholar of English literature, Bronowski's ascent of man is both scientific and artistic. His focus on the accomplishments of individuals such as Galileo, Newton, and Alfred Russel Wallace is fascinating. Topics include discovering atomic structure, genetics, and, of course, evolution. It is sad that Bronowski didn't live a lot longer. I would love to see him discussing quantum physics. Highly, highly recommended! ( )