We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
Through a Glass Brightly: Using Science to See Our Species as We Really Are
Share Tweet
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About Through A Glass Brightly: Using Science To See Our
Product Description Human beings have long seen themselves as the center of the universe, the apple of God's eye, specially-created creatures who are somehow above and beyond the natural world. This viewpoint--a persistent paradigm of our own unique self-importance--is as dangerous as it is false. In Through a Glass Brightly, noted scientist David P. Barash explores the process by which science has, throughout time, cut humanity "down to size," and how humanity has responded. A good paradigm is a tough thing to lose, especially when its replacement leaves us feeling more vulnerable and less special. And yet, as science has progressed, we find ourselves--like it or not--bereft of many of our most cherished beliefs, confronting an array of paradigms lost. Barash models his argument around a set of "old" and "new" paradigms that define humanity's place in the universe. This new set of paradigms range from provocative revelations as to whether human beings are well designed, whether the universe has somehow been established with our species in mind (the so-called anthropic principle), whether life itself is inherently fragile, and whether Homo sapiens might someday be genetically combined with other species (and what that would mean for our self-image). Rather than seeing ourselves through a glass darkly, science enables us to perceive our strengths and weaknesses brightly and accurately at last, so that paradigms lost becomes wisdom gained. The result is a bracing, remarkably hopeful view of who we really are. Review "Wise, witty, literate, well-read, this is David Barash at his best. A true scholar-scientist." - Richard Dawkins, author (most recently) of Science in the Soul and The Selfish Gene "David Barash's brilliant, fact-filled, and thoroughly enjoyable Through a Glass Brightly is devoted to taking us humans down a peg or two - or five or six. Every pretention we have to being bigger or better or brighter is deftly skewered and we are put in our proper place in the living world. And yet, I came away not just proud to be a human but even prouder to be part of the flow of life. Great fun and much to be recommended." - Michael Ruse, Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, Florida State University "For millennia humans have groped around in the dark in search of who we are, where we came from, and what our purpose is. It was not until the Darwinian Revolution that light was shown on the true nature of human nature, and now one of our species most insightful and eloquent students of the human condition, David Barash, has penned a magnum opus that shines the light of science into the shadows that have for so long shrouded understanding. Through a Glass Brightly is destined to take its place among the pantheon of great books." - Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic Magazine, columnist at Scientific American, and author of The Moral Arc and Heavens on Earth "David Barash brilliantly explores the conclusion that we are a less wonderful species than is generally proclaimed, questioning everything from anthropic foolishness about the supposed specialness of the universe, nonsense about the supposed inevitabilities of human aggression, and our theistic myths about supposed free will and transcendence from biology. This wonderful, droll, utterly readable book is deeply wise and important." - Robert Sapolsky, Stanford University and author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worstr "Unfailingly entertaining, gracefully literary, and always grounded in science, the aptly titled Through a Glass Brightly continues the David Barash tradition of explaining the limitations and promise of our own biology. Our future depends on it, and this excellent book will help chart that future." - Melvin Konner, author of The Tangled Wing and Women After All "A refreshing, revelatory and poignant look at the fundamental faults of our species, that also explains our inability to make the bold decisions
