PRAISE FOR THE SECOND EDITION
Summary
Extensively revised and in full color. Each chapter begins with an accessible story about the dynamics of Nature: the origins of the universe, the planet, and life; the workings of cells and organisms; the patterns of biological evolution and the resultant biodiversity; awareness and feelings; sex and intimacy; multicellularity and death; and two new chapters on human evolution and morality/ecomorality. Each is followed by a reflection on the spiritual sensibilities elicited by these science-based understandings, generating the foundations for a non-theistic religious naturalist orientation.
Anticipated availability: Early 2023
Watch this space for pre-ordering information.
Summary
Extensively revised and in full color. Each chapter begins with an accessible story about the dynamics of Nature: the origins of the universe, the planet, and life; the workings of cells and organisms; the patterns of biological evolution and the resultant biodiversity; awareness and feelings; sex and intimacy; multicellularity and death; and two new chapters on human evolution and morality/ecomorality. Each is followed by a reflection on the spiritual sensibilities elicited by these science-based understandings, generating the foundations for a non-theistic religious naturalist orientation.
Anticipated availability: Early 2023
Watch this space for pre-ordering information.
PRAISE FOR SECOND EDITION
Marc Bekoff “A truly fascinating, wide-ranging, beautifully written, and eye-opening book that explains the origins of earth, the origins of life itself, where we are now, where we are most likely heading, and the importance of developing a shared global cosmology and ecomorality that can benefit us all in the future.”
Ecology and Evolution, U. Colorado, author of Rewilding our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence
Terrence Deacon “Not since Loren Eiseley or Lewis Thomas has biology had such an eloquent spokesperson, nor one with so much heart. Finally, someone who can breathe life into molecules, and make us feel it.”
Cognitive Science Program, UC Berkeley, author of Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter
Ann Druyan “Tender, yet passionate, this is a book that pulls focus on our collective spiritual vision, allowing us to discover and feel the numinous revealed by science. It seamlessly synthesizes the religious impulse and the imperatives of science without doing harm to either. Learning to hold sacred nature’s depths is, I think, our best hope for a future.”
Writer/director/producer of COSMOS and co-creator with Carl Sagan of the motion picture CONTACT”
Jeremy Lent This book is a treasure for all those who seek to connect with a deeper meaning in the universe without jettisoning empirical scientific evidence. Ursula Goodenough dissolves the conventional split between science and religious orientation, showing with delightful prose and breathtaking examples how a deeply scientific investigation can naturally lead us to a “covenant with mystery” and a “credo of continutation.”
Author, The Patterning Instinct and The Web of Meaning
Peter Mayer “Thank you, Ursula Goodenough, for telling us the science-based story of life on earth and the wonders of our universe in a way that brings them down to the level of our hearts, and deeper still, to the very place from where our prayers come.
Singer/songwriter, lyricist of “Blue Boat Home.”
Bill Mckibben “I am so glad this important book is being revised for our time. It is wise, calm, and compassionate; it treats us as the mature, complex, and fascinating creatures that we are, and in so doing helps point the way towards a future where we act together far better than at present.
Founder of 350.org and author of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened
Mary Evelyn Tucker: “Goodenough gives us a new bridge between science and religion that is both eloquent and elegant. She offers us the poetry, power, and passion of her vision of nature, a vision born from scientific knowledge, nurtured by religious sensibility, and inspired by nature itself. Such a pathbreaking interdisciplinary work illumines the way for each of us – embracing an ecomorality that is comprehensive and compelling.”
School of the Environment and Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale University, co-producer of the film Journey of the Universe
Richard Wrangham: “What a beautiful, lyrical, lively, fascinating and outstanding book. Delightful to read. Awesome achievement.”
Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, author of The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution
