Book Study: The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski

Bonowski trances man's scientific development though the ages of man.

“The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. Civilization is not a collection of finished artefacts; it is the elaboration of processes. In the end, the march of man is the refinement of the hand in action. The most powerful drive in the ascent of man is is pleasure in his own skill. He loves to do what he does well and, having done it well, he loves to do it better. You see it in his science. You see it in the magnificence with which he carves and builds, the loving care, the gaiety, the effrontery. The monuments are supposed to commemorate kings and religions, heroes, dogmas, but in the end the man they commemorate is the builder. “

“That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.”

“The University is a Mecca to which students come with something less than perfect faith. It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not her to worship what is known but to question it.”

42 pages 13,296 words, visuals