The Ascent of Man

First published in 1973 as a companion to a television series, this book traces human intellectual development through selected episodes: the shift to agriculture, the working of metal and stone, the rise of architecture and mathematics, the scientific revolutions of chemistry and physics, evolution, and genetics. Bronowski visits sites and instruments - a cave, a forge, a particle experiment - and argues that knowledge is a social and moral activity, ending with the responsibilities that follow from twentieth-century science. The work is a history of ideas in narrative form, not a textbook of any one science.

Quarter-bound in dark blue buckram with gilt and silver image printed dark blue paper sides. Grey endpapers. Dark blue slipcase.