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Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time
Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 5 reviews on
In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, a winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books shows how four tools enabled has us humans to control the destiny of our species
"A wondrous, visionary work." --Tim Flannery, scientist and author of the bestselling The Weather Makers
What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution -- a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones -- caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time. She explains how, through four key elements -- fire, language, beauty, and time -- our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvelous.
"A wondrous, visionary work." --Tim Flannery, scientist and author of the bestselling The Weather Makers
What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution -- a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones -- caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time. She explains how, through four key elements -- fire, language, beauty, and time -- our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvelous.
Book Details
- Publisher: Basic Books
- Publish Date: Jan 21st, 2020
- Pages: 352
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.30in - 6.30in - 1.40in - 1.23lb
- EAN: 9780465094905
- Categories: • Life Sciences - Biology• Life Sciences - Evolution• Anthropology - Cultural & Social
More books to explore
About the Author
Gaia Vince is a science writer and broadcaster. In 2015, she was the first woman to win the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book prize solo for her debut, Adventures in the Anthropocene. She has held senior editorial posts at Nature and New Scientist, and writes for Science, the Guardian, and others. She lives in London.
More books by Gaia Vince
What people are saying
Anglonerd
@anglonerd
5 years
Science books and British comedy are my things.
Check this out: Transcendence: How Humans Evolved through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time by Gaia Vince https://t.co/HPrybv61du @BasicBooks https://t.co/dpllVdJ45h
Michael Marshall
@m_c_marshall
3 years
Michael Marshall is a science writer.
@OmanReagan Transcendence by Gaia Vince is supposed to be very good - I haven’t read it yet but Gaia’s a terrific writer and does her homework
Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf 🌏 🦣
@rahmstorf
2 years
Head of Earth System Analysis @ Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research & professor of Physics of the Oceans @ Potsdam University. Dad. Opinions my own!
@wblau „Transcendence“ by Gaia Vince covers this as one thread of history. https://t.co/JKQdu7eeBD
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"Captivating... A provocative, highly readable take on our astonishing emergence from the primordial soup."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Transcendence is a beautifully imaginative overview of the biological and cultural evolution of humans. Richly informed by the latest research, Vince's colorful survey fizzes like a zip-wire as it tours our species' story from the Big Bang to the coming age of hyper-cooperation."--Richard Wrangham, professor of biological anthropology at HarvardUniversity and author of The Goodness Paradox
"An imaginative and inspiring adventure into the origins and evolution of what we hold most dear: our human culture."--Uta Frith, emeritus professor of cognitive development UCL
"Science writer Vince looks at human evolution in terms of four elements -- dubbed Fire, Word, Beauty, and Time -- in this stimulating account... Even those broadly familiar with humanity's story will find new information and insights in Vince's fascinating study."
--Publishers Weekly
--Publishers Weekly
A best book of the year (Times of London)
"History doesn't get much bigger than this epic sweep through human progress....Vince takes dizzying leaps, making connections between archaeology, anthropology, genetics, and psychology."--Tom Whipple, Times of London
"Any story that begins with the words '14 billion years ago' is bound to be epic, and Transcendence is no exception... An impressive breadth of research from paleoarchaeology to genetics to anthropology."--M.R. O'Connor, Undark
"A hugely enjoyable sprint through human evolutionary history... and a good story."--Tim Radford, Nature
"A wondrous, visionary work."--Tim Flannery, scientist and authorof The Weather Makers
"This book goes from the Big Bang to the Hundred Thousand Genome Project to make a convincing case that Homo sapiens has become a super-organism. I learned a lot from it and so will you."--Steve Jones, Emeritus Professor of HumanGenetics UCL and author of Here Comes the Sun
"An engaging, well-researched book for anyone curious about the development of humanity as approached through a social lens."--Library Journal