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The Ascent of Man

Jacob Bronowski

4.18 · Rating details · 5,408 ratings · 199 reviews

Lauded by critics & devoured by readers, this companion to the BBC series traces the development of science as an expression of the special gifts that characterize humans & make us preeminent animals. Bronowski's exciting, illustrated investigation offers a perspective not just on science, but on civilization itself.
Lower than the angels
Foreword
The harvest of the ...more

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Paperback, 520 pages

Published September 1st 1976 by Little Brown and Company (first published 1973)

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Nov 12, 2010 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Joshua Nomen-Mutatio by: Bobby Trigg

Shelves: evolutionary-theory, history, miscellaneous-natural-science

"It's said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That's false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how the ...more

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Mar 20, 2015 Roy Lotz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history-of-science

Fifty years from now, if an understanding of man’s origins, his evolution, his history, his progress is not in the common place of the school books, we shall not exist.

I watched this series right after finishing Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, as I’d heard The Ascent of Man described as a companion piece. So like my review of Clark’s work, this review is about the documentary and not the book (though since the book is just a transcription of the series, I’m sure it applies to both).

The Ascent o ...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Tony rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

THE ASCENT OF MAN. (1973; this ed. 2011). Jacob Bronowski. ****.
It’s hard to believe that almost forty years ago I was watching this series on PBS. I immediately went out and bought the companion book to the series and read it straight through. This edition, published by The Folio Society, is a reprint of that edition with a new foreword by Mervyn Bragg, and was one of the presentation volumes for 2012 members. After reading it again, I found that some of its contents were slightly dated, but o ...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Jason Estrin rated it it was amazing

Brilliant. This book inspired me in a way that I've never been before. What is explained by the man, is nothing short of crystal clear descriptions of Humankind's physical, scientific, sociological and theological discoveries from the very first roaming tribes to our modern era. It is presented, stripped of the wordy, overly philosophical ramblings and data heavy meanderings found in other books that cover similar subject matter. Concise, endearing, earthy, genius. A must for anybody who needs a ...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Paul Brogan rated it it was ok

Shelves: science

There are two things to remember about this book. First, it was published in 1973: it is surprising how, in the course of only 40 years, our knowledge of our evolutionary history has advanced. Second, it was originally a TV series made by the BBC: the book is arranged into 13 essays, I assume based on the original episodes.

The book starts logically enough at our roots in east Africa five million years ago. Bronowski doesn’t make nearly enough of how touch-and-go it was, not only then but at seve There are two things to remember about this book. First, it was published in 1973: it is surprising how, in the course of only 40 years, our knowledge of our evolutionary history has advanced. Second, it was originally a TV series made by the BBC: the book is arranged into 13 essays, I assume based on the original episodes.

The book starts logically enough at our roots in east Africa five million years ago. Bronowski doesn’t make nearly enough of how touch-and-go it was, not only then but at several points later when we could easily have gone extinct. I think this is mainly because much of what we have learned about the tenuousness of our evolution we have done so quite recently. Indeed, several human branches did die out, including the Neanderthal, and if a new book on this topic were to be written, I’d like to see more attention paid to the possible reasons for these demises.

He does make the valid point that our weakness, as well as our strength, lay in the fact that we were not nearly as shaped by our environment as other animals were, honed over time into a perfect fit with those things we ate and those that would eat us. Rather, it is the brain-hand relationship of the human that caused us rather to shape our environment. While this was an eventual advantage, is was not always so; things like climate change forced us to migrate or face annihilation.

It is also interesting how in 1973 the main source of our information concerning how both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens migrated across the globe was blood groups. DNA analysis was then still a young science, but blood groups allowed us a very good guess at the process. For example, it enabled us to determine that humans crossed the Bering Strait into North America, not in one but in two separate migrations, something confirmed by DNA analysis, albeit with more precision.

The next chapter deals with the transition from a nomad culture, tracking the paths of animal herds, to one of agriculture. This, according to Bronowski, started 12,000 years ago, which leaves an enormous gap from the appearance of Homo sapiens 150,000 years ago, even earlier in the case of Homo erectus, in which it is assumed our ancestors happily continued their hunting and gathering lifestyle. What evidence we have, especially here in Africa, indeed points in that direction, but it is sparse. It’s as if several chapters are missing from the human story, the bit between the development of tools and the domestication of both animals and plants. Again, I should have liked a more thorough attempt at fleshing out the gaps.

The ensuing chapters spend time on particular human achievements, such as mathematics, architecture, music, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and so on. This read like a history book. While it was interesting, it was not so much about the ascent of man — some may say that he had already ascended when he founded his first city, his first enclosure against the vagaries of the elements — as it was about his applying the finishing touches to a remarkable project that had started five million years before, that was not always assured of success, and that would forever be a work in progress.

Summarizing, I enjoyed the book, but knowledge moves on, man continues to ascend, and an update would be welcome. ...more

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May 09, 2011 Koen Crolla rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biology

I never thought I'd say this, but this book would be better if it had been written by an anthropologist rather than a mathematician.

The Ascent of Man is the companion book to the 1973 BBC documentary of the same name; I didn't realise this when I bought it (I haven't seen it), but I remembered I knew of its existence upon reading the introduction. It certainly reads like a BBC documentary, with a tediously slow and pompous prose that works better for television narration by David Attenborough or I never thought I'd say this, but this book would be better if it had been written by an anthropologist rather than a mathematician.

The Ascent of Man is the companion book to the 1973 BBC documentary of the same name; I didn't realise this when I bought it (I haven't seen it), but I remembered I knew of its existence upon reading the introduction. It certainly reads like a BBC documentary, with a tediously slow and pompous prose that works better for television narration by David Attenborough or indeed Jacob Bronowski than for a book.
It sets out to give an overview of the whole of human history, briefly going over our biological evolution, and then covering in some detail our cultural evolution.

It's worth noting that Bronowski isn't, despite what seems to be a sincere effort, a biologist, historian, or anthropologist, but a mathematician with a background in physics. Maybe this is why his discussion of our evolutionary origins is often too sloppy (for instance, he explains that he does not like the name Australopithecus because it means ``southern ape'', which is confusing for something that ``for the first time was not an ape'', which is obviously wrong; I considered that probably to be an artefact of his native Polish, which, like most languages, does not have a colloquial distinction between monkeys and apes but does have one between monkeys and non-human apes on the one hand (małpa) and humans on the other, but Bronowski made it clear later on that he doesn't speak a word of Polish anymore), and his discussion of history just repeats a whole lot of layperson misconceptions and ancient canards (starting with the idea that nomadic cultures are culturally arid, because nomads don't have time to create artifacts that aren't strictly practical or the ability to cart them around with them, and just continuing on from there until he reaches the 20th century).
Or maybe it's just because the book was written in 1973, before many of the things we now know were well-known (for instance, the reason the New World lagged behind the Old in terms of technology; Bronowski suggests it's because it was colonised later, around the end of the last ice age, ignoring his earlier statement that that's also the time period cultural evolution began in earnest in the Old World as well) and when the kind of cultural condescension he exhibits (casually referring to Europe as ``the civilised world'', completely disregarding China and ``the Mohammedans'' (though he calls Mohammed ``Mahomet'') even as he patronisingly praises the latter for their Golden Age mathematics elsewhere) was more acceptable. I don't know.

Either way, and high-profile accolades notwithstanding (Dawkins, Sagan, Singh), The Ascent of Man could be a lot better than it is. Bronowski should have gotten a historian to punch him in the chest from time to time. ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 Seham rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

التطور الحضاري الذي استغرق الانسان آلاف السنين حصره الرياضي جاكوب برونوفسكي في عدة فصول.
لم يتطور الانسان الا بالاستيطان لما بدأ يدجن بعض الحيوانات- الكلب أولها :) ثم الماعز و ما يؤكل لحمه، ثم حيوانات الجر- و يزرع بعض النباتات. و من هنا انطلقت المدنية فكانت أول مستوطنة هي أريحا، و كذلك كانت بداية الحروب، اذا غارت مجموعة من البدو الرحل لتسلب حاصدي القمح ما فاض عندهم من حنطه، و من ذلك يتضح أن الحروب ليست غريزية، بل هي شكل من أشكال السرقة و اللصوصية.
ثم يعرض ارتقاء الانسان بالاعمار و استخراجه للمعادن ...more

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Mar 26, 2016 Simon Hollway rated it it was amazing

Shelves: anthropology, 2016

Powerful stuff...consistently sublime segues between chapters, historical periods and theories. At least a dozen phenomenal insights into several anthropological mainstays. A manner of metaphor and analogy that distills entire theses into a single, resonant sentence. Humility of expression and thought twinned with a generosity of spirit keep the subject in the spotlight throughout whilst the narrator discretely maintains the tempo unseen, offstage.

As suitable for the adept as it is for either th ...more

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Jan 08, 2015 أحمد فضيض rated it liked it · review of another edition

كان من الممكن أن استمع إلى كلمات هذا الكتاب بينما أشاهد لقطات طبيعية أخّاذة، أو توثيق لحياة قبائل بدائية، أو أشاهد مواقع الحفريات والآثار، أو إعادة تمثيل لأحداث تاريخية مرّت ببعض العلماء، أو حتى محاكاة مجسمة لعمل الخلايا والجزئيات، فالكتاب في الأصل هو نَص تعليقات برنامج وثائقي اسمه ارتقاء الإنسان، أعدّه المؤلف وعُرف به، وأذاعته قناة البي بي سي الوثائقية، ثم لما مرّت سنة على انتهاء حلقات البرنامج، مات صاحبه!، أو كما يقتبسون من الإنجيل في صفحة وفيات الأهرام: فلما انقضت أيام خدمته انصرف إلى بيته

مثل ...more

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Apr 12, 2019 Rıdvan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Okuması zaman aldı. Ancak bilinsel yayınlar zaten hep böyledir. Bu kitabı diğer bilinsel yayınlardan ayıran ise çok daha kolay anlaşılır dili.
Taaa ilk insandan başlamış ve kısa bir tarih özeti çıkarmış yazar. Oldukça faydalı. Kapaktan evrim anlaşılsa bile kitap sadece evrimle başlıyor ama süratle ilerlieyip sanayi devrimi iç savaşlar avrupa asya kadim medeniyetler ve her şeyden kısaca bahsediyor.

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Jul 04, 2009 Jee Koh rated it really liked it

Based on the BBC television series of the same name, The Ascent of Man charts the development of human civilization through the lens of scientific progress. Though clearly intended to be only an introduction to its subjects, the book is tremendously wide in scope, taking in paleontology, architecture, alchemy, industrialization, quantum physics and genetics; noticeably, it has little to say about psychology. It is organised in powerful thematic chapters that are also more or less chronological. Based on the BBC television series of the same name, The Ascent of Man charts the development of human civilization through the lens of scientific progress. Though clearly intended to be only an introduction to its subjects, the book is tremendously wide in scope, taking in paleontology, architecture, alchemy, industrialization, quantum physics and genetics; noticeably, it has little to say about psychology. It is organised in powerful thematic chapters that are also more or less chronological. So it begins by looking at human fossils in Chapter 1 Lower than the Angels, and ends by discussing John von Neumann and game theory in Chapter 13 The Long Childhood. Since the book was published in 1973, I expect its discussion of contemporary science (and perhaps historical events and figures) needs updating. But, as the chapter titles suggest, the book is not so much concerned with presenting up-to-date facts as with creating "a philosophy for the twentieth century which shall be all of one piece" (from the Foreword).

It is a philosophy that puts man at the center of things. He is, in this book, the seeker of knowledge, and seek using the tools of observation, reasoning, and conversation. I guess the philosophy can be called scientific rationalism. And one of the many achievements of this lucid and learned book is to restore the viability of this view. It does so by not ignoring the fall-out from technological progress, whether it be the harsh factories of the Industrial Revolution or the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski. It does so also by reminding us of the responsible actions taken by some industrialists and innovators in their respective situations, and so proves its point that science was not to blame, but man's uses of it were. Related to this, Bronowski deplores what he calls "the aristocracy of the intellect," scientists who move away from the needs of people, and into the arms of government, industry and corporations. Bronowski calls for, instead, "a democracy of the intellect." By that he means a society that not only allows the specialist to do specialist things, but also educates the non-specialists like us on how nature works.

Jacob Bronowski was a British mathematician, biologist, poet and playwright. In reflection of the different facets of his mind, his prose is clear, organizing, poetic, with a strong feel for the dramatic illustration or detail. I read all 438 pages of the book in the course of two leisurely days. The accompanying pictures are often revelatory as well. At his death in 1974, a year after the publication of the book, he was a Fellow of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California.

...more

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Aug 14, 2014 Mohammed Alsalik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: علوم-إنسانية

يتحدث الكتاب عن التطور الحضاري للإنسان والذي بدأ كما يقول الكتاب منذ عشرة الآف سنة فقط والذي بدأ عندما اتخذ الانسان قراره بالتوقف عن الترحال والإستقرار في مدينة ..منذ ذلك الوقت فقط بدأت مسيرة الحضارة
أكبر خطوة في ارتقاء الإنسان تكمن في انتقاله من مرحلة البداوة الى المرحلة الزراعية وتأسيس القرية

ثم ينتقل للحديث عن تطور العلوم وتقدمها ويبدأ بالرياضيات التي يعتبرها أكثر العلوم دقة وأعمقها فكرا وينتقل بعده لعلم الفلك ويروي قصة العالم غاليليو وصراعه مع الكنيسة ومحكمة التفتيش ويروي تفاصيل محاكمته
وفي
يتحدث الكتاب عن التطور الحضاري للإنسان والذي بدأ كما يقول الكتاب منذ عشرة الآف سنة فقط والذي بدأ عندما اتخذ الانسان قراره بالتوقف عن الترحال والإستقرار في مدينة ..منذ ذلك الوقت فقط بدأت مسيرة الحضارة
أكبر خطوة في ارتقاء الإنسان تكمن في انتقاله من مرحلة البداوة الى المرحلة الزراعية وتأسيس القرية

ثم ينتقل للحديث عن تطور العلوم وتقدمها ويبدأ بالرياضيات التي يعتبرها أكثر العلوم دقة وأعمقها فكرا وينتقل بعده لعلم الفلك ويروي قصة العالم غاليليو وصراعه مع الكنيسة ومحكمة التفتيش ويروي تفاصيل محاكمته
وفي الكتاب جزء طويل عن العالم اسحاق نيوتن واختراعاته العديدة وعن العالم العبقري آينشتاين ولم أهتم كثيرا للتفاصيل العلمية المعقدة والمملة في الكتاب بل لفت نظري الجانب الشخصي من حياة العلماء وخصوصا آينشتاين حيث كان هذا العبقري لا يعبأ بالنجاح أو الشهرة وكان يكره الحرب والقسوة والنفاق وفوق كل شيء كان يكره التعصب وقد رفض أن يصبح رئيسا لإسرائيل لهذه الإعتبارات

من الملفت وصفه للإمبراطورية الإسلامية بأنها حضارة اتسمت بالقوة الهائلة والسماحة والرحمة بينما كانت أوروبا تغط في العصور المظلمة ويقول ان الإسلام كان في محتواه الفكري نموذجا للتأمل والتحليل فالنبي محمد كان يؤكد بإصرار على أن الإسلام ليس دين معجزات ولم يعط الإسلام الله صفات شخصية بشرية خلافا للدينيين التوحيديين السابقين ويصف الصوفية في الإسلام بانها ليست دما ونبيذا وجسدا وخبزا بل هي نشوة سماوية لا دنيوية ويعتبر ان أهم إبتكار أنجزه العلماء العرب كان في مجال كتابة الأعداد فقد استبدل المسلمون الطريقة الرومانية لكتابة الأعداد بالطريقة العشرية الحديثة التي لا زالت تسمى بالطريقة العربية إلى الآن ..ولم تعرف أوروبا هذا النظام إلا بعد خمسة قرون على ذلك ... هذا الجزء من الكتاب يجعلك تشعر بالفخر وبالحسرة في ذات الوقت

الكتاب مفيد ولكن عيبه القاتل هو الإغراق في التفاصيل العلمية المملة والمعقدة التي يصعب يفهمها على غير المتخصص ...more

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Jan 04, 2008 Seizure Romero rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, anthropology, college, nonfiction

This book was assigned for a college course I took about a thousand years ago. The instructor was obsessed with Jacob Bronowski, so he played many, if not all of the documentary episodes that went along with the book, probably so he could sit in the corner and hide his boner (c'mon, the course was called "The Ascent of Man" fer chrissakes. It should have been called "The Life and Times of Jacob Bronowski Plus Some Stuff That Might Make You Ungrateful Wankers Appreciate Not Living in Mud Huts." T ...more

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Jan 01, 2014 Joan Colby rated it it was amazing

A marvelous study of man’s rise shown through the lens of scientific discoveries. Written for the intelligent layman, and the basis of the lauded TV series, this is an essential book for anyone interested in the evolution of science.

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Feb 28, 2018 Charles rated it did not like it

Shelves: gave-up-on

I did not finish this book so I won't officially count it in my own stats as read. But there's no real way to indicate that here. They need an "abandoned" choice. The reason why I'm reviewing it is because there are numerous errors in the first chapter that make this a problematic read. That's as far as I got. These errors have to do with human evolution. This book was originally published in 1973 so that explains some of the mistakes, but not all. And the mistakes that would not be blamed on th ...more

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Apr 09, 2019 Nubero rated it liked it · review of another edition

Very good passages here and there and definitely worth reading. Still, most of the time a strange mix of philosophy and science in which neither gets to bloom the way that it could have. Probably better to watch it as the TV show (of which this book is the almost 1:1 transcript).

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Dec 24, 2016 Mehmet rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sahibim-sahiptim, müspet-bilimler

İnsandaki entelektüel arayış, uğraş devam ettiği sürece, insanın yükselişi de devam edecektir. Yazar, kitabı iki temel sorunun üzerine inşa etmiş:
1- Neden diğer türler değil de insan bu derece yükseldi?
2- Bu yükselmede lokomotifliği kim yaptı?

Kitap boyunca bu sorulara yanıtlar arıyoruz ve bunları tartışıyoruz. Yazarın görüşü, insanın diğer türlerden evrimsel olarak daha avantajlı olmasını sağlayan bazı özelliklerinin bulunmasıdır. Bunlar doğayı biçimlendirme ve bir uğraş amacıyla kullanma, doğay İnsandaki entelektüel arayış, uğraş devam ettiği sürece, insanın yükselişi de devam edecektir. Yazar, kitabı iki temel sorunun üzerine inşa etmiş:
1- Neden diğer türler değil de insan bu derece yükseldi?
2- Bu yükselmede lokomotifliği kim yaptı?

Kitap boyunca bu sorulara yanıtlar arıyoruz ve bunları tartışıyoruz. Yazarın görüşü, insanın diğer türlerden evrimsel olarak daha avantajlı olmasını sağlayan bazı özelliklerinin bulunmasıdır. Bunlar doğayı biçimlendirme ve bir uğraş amacıyla kullanma, doğaya egemenlik kurma, doğayı anlamaya çalışmak gibi farklı bölümlerde açıklanıyor. En temel farklılıklardan birisi ise "entelektüel arayış". İnsanın hiç yoktan; ilave bir merak duygusuyla yaptığı çalışmaların; diğer hiçbir türde olamayacağını düşünüyor.
Kitabı; kapağına bakarak satın almak yanıltıcı olur. Kitabın bu sitedeki farklı dillerden 26 edisyonunun hiçbirinde evrime dair bir kapak yoktur. Bu baskının (İst. 2012) kapağını tasarlayan sayın Mehmet İlhan Kaya muhtemelen kitabın sadece ilk iki bölümünü okumuştur. Zira, bu kitap bir evrim tarihi değil, bir "bilim tarihi" olarak kabul edilebilir.

Kitapta yazarın düştüğü birkaç tuzak olduğunu düşünüyorum. Bunlar sırasıyla:
Lineer tarih düşüncesi
İnsanın yükselişini lineer bir tarih algısıyla yazan yazarın; dinlerin özellikle kullandığı, her şeyin çizgisel bir zaman üzerinde yol aldığı düşüncesinden etkilendiği ortadadır. Tıpkı Fukuyama'nın Kapitalizmin Nihai zafere doğru ilerlediğini söylemesi, Marx'ın tarihin akışının nihai zafere doğru ilerlediğini söylemesi gibi; yazar da insançocuğunun hikayesinin yükselişe devam ettiğini düşünüyor ve bunun da zorunlu olduğunu söylüyor. Oysa evrim; yahut da doğal seçilim çizgisel bir şey olarak görünse de; aslında her zaman böyle değildir. Zamanla bozulan, kötüye giden türler olduğu gibi; nesli tükenen canlı sayısı bugün hesaplanamamaktadır.

Batı merkezli tarih yazımı
Kitapta 139. sayfada Lorenzo Ghiberti'yi perspektif okulunda "öncül" olarak anlattığı bölümde, Lorenzo'nun Alhazen'in "Optik Bilimi" isimli kitabına şerh yazdığını da ağzından kaçırır yazar. İbni Heyzem'den (Alhazen) bir daha hiç bahsetmez. Bir fısıltı gibi geçen ismi, öylece havada kalır; hatta kitabın indeksine bile alınmaz. Oysa İbni Heyzem'e şerh yazan Lorenzo Ghiberti bu alanda yazar tarafından öncül kabul edilecektir. Yazar, İslamın bilime katkısından bahsettiği her bölümde İslam'ın bunu kimden aldığını özenle dile getirir. Usturlap Yunanlılardan, Kemerler Latinlerden, sıfır ise Hintlilerden alınmıştır. Paracelsus'un Avicenna'nın kitaplarını yaktığını söylediği bölümde; Paracelsus'u öve öve bitiremezken; bu davranışını adeta geçmişin köhne dönemini yıktığını ima eder gibi anlatmaktadır. Oysa Avicenna, yani İbn-i Sina; yazarın ısrarla "Aristo'ya şerh yazan" diye tanımladığı İbn-i Sina Paracelsus'un bulunduğu dönemdeki tıp anlayışından fersah fersah ötede olup; tıp bilgilerini "Aristo"ya şerh düşerek öğrenmemiştir.

Bu sadece İslam'a yapılmamış, Çin'in bilime katkısını geçtim; son bölümde "veya Çin" demek dışında bilim tarihinde adı bile geçmez. Barutun mucitleri tarihten dışlanmıştır. İleri matematikçi İnkaların da aralarında bulunduğu bütün Amerika uygarlıkları "tekerleği bile icat edememiş, yalnızca sırta konmuş yük aşamasında" kalmıştır yazara göre.

İnsançocuğunun seçilmişliğine inanan yazar, bilimde lokomotifliği de Batı uygarlığına vermiştir. Giordano Bruno'yu yakan batı uygarlığına! Bu elim olay bile bir sayfada kısaca anlatılıp geçiştirilmiştir.

Kitabın Batı merkezci tarih yazımıyla yazıldığını düşünüyorum. Medeniyette Batı'nın öncüllüğü tartışılması faydalı bir konu değildir. Newton'un Optik Bilimi kitabından bahsederken, Newton'dan asırlar önce yaşamış Harezmi'den, İbni Heyzen'den bahsetme zorunluluğu vardır. Zira, kitapta sıklıkla biliminsanlarının fikrilerine itibar edilmemesinden dem vururken; yazar bunu kendisi yapmıştır.

Seçilimci tarih algısında, -her ne kadar yazıları yazarlarıyla değerlendirmek adetim olmasa da- yazarın Yahudi olması sebep olmuş olabilir mi? Gerçi tabib İbn-i Meymun, yahut filozof İbn-i Cebirol gibi Yahudi isimler de atlanmış.

Yine de okunması gereken bir kitap, bu kitaptan öğrenilecek çok şey var. Bilim rafında mutlaka bulunmalı. ...more

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Nov 09, 2017 Pejman Shojaeion rated it it was amazing

اگر در تمام زندگي ميونه خوبي با علم نداشتين و مي خواهيد در طول يك كتاب با علم و فلسفه علم به زبان ساده آشنا بشيد و خلاصه اي از سير تمدن بشر را مطالعه كنيد ، اين كتاب رو توصيه مي كنم
"عروج انسان اثر برونوسكي"

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Dec 21, 2018 Ben rated it really liked it · review of another edition

'Knowledge is our destiny. Self-knowledge, at last bringing together the experience of the arts and the explanations of science, waits ahead of us.'

Copy found while wasting time in Bloomsbury's Skoob Books.

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Nov 22, 2014 Daniel Gonçalves rated it it was amazing

Shelves: anhtropology, favorite-science, science

Writing is a revitalizing experience. It changes your mind, and it turns your body into a magical soul. Although I don’t believe in spiritualisms, I am truly confident that the human condition is perpetuated by our own behaviours. In the end, it isn’t really important the way we lived, but why we lived. Did we populate the Earth to reproduce and eat, like 99 percent of all other species? Or were we born in order to shift the perspective of our universe? By reading the immensely significant writi
Writing is a revitalizing experience. It changes your mind, and it turns your body into a magical soul. Although I don’t believe in spiritualisms, I am truly confident that the human condition is perpetuated by our own behaviours. In the end, it isn’t really important the way we lived, but why we lived. Did we populate the Earth to reproduce and eat, like 99 percent of all other species? Or were we born in order to shift the perspective of our universe? By reading the immensely significant writings of Charles Bronowsky, my answers got immediately answered.

The ascent of man is of cultural complexity. Biology is not important in order to make the human being understand his role in perpetuating the knowledge he is responsible for transmitting, generation after generation. What matters here is the actions that the same homo sapiens sapiens has been doing in the last 12000 YEARS. Although the modern human has been around for half a million years, it seems that we’ve only started leaving our mark very recently. So recently, in fact, the first real evidence of activity dates back to 30000 years ago: on the caves we find portraits, art.

Bronowsky tells us about the necessity of man to constantly be on the move. And that was the fundamentally main problem with Men: in order to develop a cultural body of work, we need to settle down. Most nomad cultures nowadays struggle to develop any scientific and artistic knowledge. They consist solemnly of hunters and gatherers.

Agriculture: that’s the keyword. Why did it took us so long to understand that seeds and water make things appear from the ground? It’s a complex question, and in order to answer it, one has to be informed that, at around 12000 BC, something extraordinary happened. The last ice age had come to an end, and the climate had allowed for extremely fertile grounds. The result: human beings were finally planting their own things. By doing that, one can settle down.

However, in the beginning, they had to make the choice, and it was an hard one. In fact, the Old Testament deals with those dilemmas. Should we stay, or should we go?

The Ascent of Man Bronowsky talks eloquently about is one of extreme courage and wit. ...more

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Sep 29, 2017 Xavier rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, anthropology, history, non-fiction, philosophy, reflective-reading

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 ...more

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Aug 30, 2008 Todd Martin rated it liked it

Shelves: environment-science

This book is based on a television documentary series produced in 1973 by the BBC in association with Time-Life Films. The title alludes to The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin. The book traces the development of human society through its understanding of science.

The book is written in a rather odd and stilted style which I found completely bizarre at times. Here's an example:
"The role of women in nomad tribes is narrowly defined. Above all, the function of women is to produce men-children; too ...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Simon Mcleish rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in August 2001.

Like Kenneth Clarke's Civilisation, The Ascent of Man is a series looked up to by every producer of factual, educational TV programmes. It probably wouldn't get made today, as its broad canvas is not really fashionable, and it is not about ordinary people. Its subject is the history of science, far removed from the pseudo-anthropology of "Reality TV".

The arrangement of material is a little unusual; it is basically thematic, each chapter trackin ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 bfdez.nuria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

El libro plantea ideas muy interesantes y creo que cumple con la labor divulgativa (aunque reconozco que no han faltado las partes en las que me he sentido terriblemente idiota por no comprender lo que el autor me estaba intentando explicar) Aun así, hay un par de cosas que me han escamado en la mayor parte del libro (a excepción, quizás, de los primeros capítulos).
La primera, esa especie de idolatría a «Los Grandes Hombres de la Ciencia»; entiendo el mérito que tiene lo que hicieron y entiendo ...more

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Dec 25, 2014 Sunny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

Excellent book about the story of mankind not too dissimilar from Jared diamonds guns germs and steel. the book starts off with the evolution of man from basic mini monkey types like the Limur (king Julian!) through to homo erectus, Neanderthal and finally homo sapien around 100,000 years ago. Then the book really begins by exploring a whole whose of subjects like: food, nomad cultures, structures and architecture, fire, metals, numbers, islam and the rise of Europe through the renaissance and t ...more

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May 02, 2009 Sin rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction

I really liked this book.
It's full of fascinating facts and stories from our past. It consists of many episodes but it is essentially one long story. It's our story. How did we, human beings, rise from the animal world and become what we are today.
I will always remember the story about the appearance of first hybrid wheat in the Middle East and raise of agricultural societies.
There is also a lot of interesting stories about scientists. I’ve heard about all of them but I found so many amazing de ...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Nick rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Patricia Edie

Finished after 3 weeks of slogging through it. I took that long, not because it isn't interesting, but because it is. With a book like this one I like to read and give thought and analysis what I have read. It is just the way my thinking works, I guess I'm not that "quick".
The Ascent of Man is our scientific development from the start using small ancient hand tools and the emergence of our humanity through the development of quantum physics, DNA, cognitive science, artificial intelligence. and b ...more

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May 14, 2012 Ahlam al-jurdi rated it it was amazing

الكتاب عندي 257 صفحة فقط ..
بعد أن انتهيت وذهلت أستطيع أن أقول أنه نسخة أصغر فلسفياً وشمولاً لكنها أمتع أدبياً من كتاب كيف تغير العالم لجيمس بيرك .. عرض المؤلف بتسلسل ذكي خطوات ارتقاء الإنسان منذ أصوله الأقل بيولوجياً حتى عصره هو .. عصر ثورة العلم وإنجازاته .. مر على مستعمرات الصيد وحضارات كانت عامرة كالإنكا والإغريق عرّج على ديار الإسلام .. ثم عصر النهضة تناول قفزاته المذهلة بتركيز أكثر. كان ممتعاً فعلاً حس الكاتب العلمي أولاً ثم الأدبي والفلسفي مزج باقتدار .. في النهاية توصل إلى ذات النتيجة "م ...more

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Apr 19, 2012 Dick Edwards rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 18, 2012 Kyle rated it really liked it

A whirlwind tour of human history, the development of society and culture, and the importance of intellectual freedom. This is a great book if you're interested in the roles of science, art, and ingenuity in our world. The author's breadth of knowledge is unparalleled, and it shows through as he constructs themes that tie science and mathematics together with the arts to become one cohesive perspective on what it means to be human.

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About Jacob Bronowski

Jacob Bronowski

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Jacob Bronowski was a British mathematician and biologist of Polish-Jewish origin. He is best remembered as the presenter and writer of the 1973 BBC television documentary series, The Ascent of Man.

In 1950, Bronowski was given the Taung child's fossilized skull and asked to try, using his statistical skills, to combine a measure of the size of the skull's teeth with their shape in order to discrim Jacob Bronowski was a British mathematician and biologist of Polish-Jewish origin. He is best remembered as the presenter and writer of the 1973 BBC television documentary series, The Ascent of Man.

In 1950, Bronowski was given the Taung child's fossilized skull and asked to try, using his statistical skills, to combine a measure of the size of the skull's teeth with their shape in order to discriminate them from the teeth of apes. Work on this turned his interests towards the human biology of humanity's intellectual products.

In 1967 Bronowski delivered the six Silliman Memorial Lectures at Yale University and chose as his subject the role of imagination and symbolic language in the progress of scientific knowledge. Transcripts of the lectures were published posthumously in 1978 as The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination and remain in print.

He first became familiar to the British public through appearances on the BBC television version of The Brains Trust in the late 1950s. His ability to answer questions on many varied subjects led to an offhand reference in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus where one character states that "He knows everything." However Bronowski is best remembered for his thirteen part series The Ascent of Man (1973), a documentary about the history of human beings through scientific endeavour. This project was intended to parallel art historian Kenneth Clark's earlier "personal view" series Civilisation (1969) which had covered cultural history.

During the making of The Ascent of Man, Bronowski was interviewed by the popular British chat show host Michael Parkinson. Parkinson later recounted that Bronowski's description of a visit to Auschwitz—Bronowski had lost many family members during the Nazi era—was one of Parkinson's most memorable interviews.

Jacob Bronowski married Rita Coblentz in 1941. The couple had four children, all daughters, the eldest being the British academic Lisa Jardine and another being the filmmaker Judith Bronowski. He died in 1974 of a heart attack in East Hampton, New York a year after The Ascent of Man was completed, and was buried in the western side of London's Highgate Cemetery, near the entrance. ...more