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qatsiBook Review: The Upright Thinkers, by Leonard Mlodinow
Having enjoyed previous works by Mlodinow, I picked this one up straight away at a work book sale some time ago. In this volume Mlodinow takes the rather broad subject of - more or less - everything that has ever happened, from a human point of view.
He begins by pointing out that, although chimpanzees can communicate with human researchers, and can answer questions posed, they never show evidence of asking questions, and that this is a very fundamental difference from even a quite small human child. The first few chapters examine prehistory and early history, from before the Neolithic revolution through Göbekli Tepe and the writings of Aristotle, with an emphasis on the rational inferences and behaviours that were drawn by early humans from the evidence around them. The second part of the book considers the way Aristotelian science was cast aside from the seventeenth to nineteenth century, with a focus on Galileo, Newton, Mendeleev and Darwin. The third part focuses exclusively on physics, which is Mlodinow's profession, in the twentieth century, with a non-specialist overview of quantum physics. It is, perhaps, a shame that other scientific achievements, such as the discovery of DNA or the development of the electronic computer, are omitted. The book is interspersed with memories and anecdotes of his father's time as a survivor of the Holocaust, perhaps in part as a memorial and also as a cautionary tale of un-thinking. Overall, this is an entertaining and eminently readable book, and Mlodinow's dry humour also frequently shows through.
Having enjoyed previous works by Mlodinow, I picked this one up straight away at a work book sale some time ago. In this volume Mlodinow takes the rather broad subject of - more or less - everything that has ever happened, from a human point of view.
He begins by pointing out that, although chimpanzees can communicate with human researchers, and can answer questions posed, they never show evidence of asking questions, and that this is a very fundamental difference from even a quite small human child. The first few chapters examine prehistory and early history, from before the Neolithic revolution through Göbekli Tepe and the writings of Aristotle, with an emphasis on the rational inferences and behaviours that were drawn by early humans from the evidence around them. The second part of the book considers the way Aristotelian science was cast aside from the seventeenth to nineteenth century, with a focus on Galileo, Newton, Mendeleev and Darwin. The third part focuses exclusively on physics, which is Mlodinow's profession, in the twentieth century, with a non-specialist overview of quantum physics. It is, perhaps, a shame that other scientific achievements, such as the discovery of DNA or the development of the electronic computer, are omitted. The book is interspersed with memories and anecdotes of his father's time as a survivor of the Holocaust, perhaps in part as a memorial and also as a cautionary tale of un-thinking. Overall, this is an entertaining and eminently readable book, and Mlodinow's dry humour also frequently shows through.