Customer Reviews

Beginnings: The Story of Origins

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my favorite books for evenings when I feel like learning something in an entertaining way. Of course, if you're looking for an exhaustive treatment of any of the varied subjects covered, you'll have to turn to the many authoritative texts out there (for example, the part about vertebrate paleontology sparked my interest enough to read an old textbook that had been sitting on my shelf a long time called "Evolution of the Vertebrates" which turned out to be excellent!).

The main charm, and ultimately the main value, of this book is not however its depth but its impressive breadth. I love the sense of mystery it is infused with. Rather than take the typical approach of starting with the Big Bang and summarizing major events after that, he actually begins with a seemingly simple topic that most people feel they know enough about -- the history of human flight. This leads into another chapter about recorded history, which leads to the bigger mystery of prehistoric civilizations, then the origin of man himself... well, you get the picture!

For anyone with a fascination for science, love of a good mystery, and fondness for the Good Doctor's deceptively simple but always informative prose, look no further than this little gem. I picked it up as an afterthough because I loved Asimov's fiction, but I've now read it three times in as many years!

Asimov, as usual, handles these topics with a clear, concise presentation of the facts. His explanations are excellent. He provides very good, concrete arguments for the evolutionary processes which have shaped and guided our growth and development. I couldn't put it down and continually reread it.I recommend it to anyone interested in the truth about our existence.

Azimov's Beginnings is a book every science teacher and student must read.I begin, finally, to understand all those boring highschool science classes. A masterpiece.

In this book on beginnings Isaac Asimov as always delivers.

Though written in 1989 it still holds up in many remarkable ways.

For those interested in further study to better understand some of the beginnings issues covered by Asimov, I would recommend the following:

1) On the beginnings of history, I would recommend Before the Dawn which traces human evolution from the perspective of genetics. Among other things you learn that evolution is still ongoing. That's why some people can drink milk while others remain lactose intolerant.

2) On the beginnings of life, I would recommend The Fifth Miracle by Paul Davies. I would also recommend The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins where you'll learn that you are cousins fifty thousand times removed from pretty much any chimpanzee. For advanced study on the origins of life, I would also recommend Mitochondria and Oxygen by Nick Lane which discuss the origins of life from the perspective of the items listed in their titles. For those wishing to go even further I would recommend Atom which picks up the story of oxygen pretty much where Lane leaves it off.

3) On the beginnings of Earth, I would recommend Rare Earth by Peter Ward. This book picks up the discussion that Asimov briefly started about the origin of continents on Earth. Interestingly enough, not only is Earth the only habitat in our solar system so far found to support life it is also (perhaps not uncoincidentally) the only place with moving continents.

4) On the beginnings of the Universe, I would recommend Origins by Neil de Grasse Tyson and also Cosmos by the late Carl Sagan (which also dates from the 1980s but like this book also basically holds up). For advanced further reading (and I mean really advanced) I would recommend Road to Reality by Roger Penrose. Perhaps more accessible, you might also find Michio Kaku's Hyperspace to your liking though you might wish to also add Kraus' Through the Mirror to your reading list (because Kaku believes in string theory whereas Kraus is skeptical about it).

Because there were important origins issues not touched on by Asimov, I would also make the following additional suggestions:

1) On the origins of human love, I would recommend Helen Fisher's Why We Love.

2) On the origins of language, I would recommend Bickerton's Language and Species.

3) On the origins of writing, I would recommend pretty much anything by Jack Goody.

4) On the origins of religion, I would recommend Religion Explained by Pascal Boyer as to issues related to the morphology of God. As to the doxology of religion I would recommend Dawkins' The Selfish Gene (yes, it does relate), Prisoner's Dilemna by William Poundstone, Jeffrey Moses' Oneness (which gives verbatim quotes of all the religions treatments of moral issues, viz: they all have a version of the golden rule, etc.), and Robert Axelrod's Evolution of Reciprocity (which shows how reciprocal ultruism naturally evolves as a matter of the survival imperative).

5) On the origins of law, I would recommend the Axelrod book I already suggested along with Unto Others.

Because of the preclusive effect foundational activities can have in terms of historical roads not taken, it is my opinion that understanding how things came to be has everything to do with understinding why they are as they are.

Our histories are ourselves.

Of all of Asimov's non-fiction books I've read this one was my favorite.

He concisely describes how different sciences and discoveries are connected. He does this by working backwards starting with human flight. If there is someone you know that doesn't fully undertand the way the world is interconnected, give them this book!

Here is an overview of current (well, 1995) natural science state of the art. The surprising part is how it compells you to turn the page. It's one of the few books that I keep buying and giving away to friends. Very highly recommended.

This is the second book of Asimov's I've read (the first being the equally excellent 'Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth & Space') and it won't be my last. The blurb on the backcover of this book says it perfectly: 'A spellbinding 15-billion-year journey through the universe.'

This book is a great journey in time. Isaac Asimov teaches about the past of men and Universe naturally. Using all areas of knowledge and science he shows why things really are as we think they are. How did Mankind find out about this planet being round ? It's there. Name a scientist and look at the index, (s)he's there! It should be read by every high school student.

Beginnings takes a new approach to history. Instead of starting at the 'beginning', Beginnings starts at the end and works backwards. You start with the known and venture to the unknown. I highly recommend this title to anyone interested in our past.

I am only giving this book 3 stars for anumerous amount of reasons. If i were an average person with little or no understanding of questions of where we came from and what we have done , then this is a good book. I bought this book expecting a deep scientific and philosphical account on thoughts of the origin of the universe, but what i got was something you would learn in a middle school class. I am glad that Isaac Asimov exposed some of the fallacies behind creationist arguements in saying the earth is only several thousand years old. I am a freshman in high school and everything this book I already knew, maybe I am advanced but I don't that. I was also glad that he covered the Stanley Miller experiment where he was able to spontaneously "create" proteins in a simulated early earth enviroment. Of course if you have very little knowledge of evolution, the history of civilization, chemistry, and physics, by all means BUY THE BOOK!