The Unexpected Universe
by Loren Eiseley
List Price:
Our Price: $9.33
You Save: $7.62 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Loren EiseleyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1972-10-18
ISBN: 0156928507
Number of pages: 252
Publisher: Mariner Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780156928502
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Unexpected Universe
Book Review: A moving meditation by a deeply poetic observer of the natural world
Summary: 5 Stars
There are a number of writers of works for the general public on scientific subjects ( Oliver Sachs, Lewis Thomas, Alan Lightman come first to mind) who in exploring their subjects provide profound and poetic insight into human nature and the human situation. Eiseley is such a writer also , and at times he writes passages of exquisite beauty. He often takes off from his own personal observation and in the course of reflection teaches truths about the natural world and the overall development of mankind.
He is no naive optimist and his brilliant essay in this volume comparing two of his great naturalist heroes, Darwin and Thoreau he speaks about the cruel and wasteful sides of the natural world. Even more he emphasizes the surprises the close observer of the natural world is often confronted by, the 'Unexpected Universe' of his title. Eiseley sees the mystery that is constantly the byproduct of close observation of nature.
"The evolution of a lifeless planet eventually culminates in green leaves. The altered and oxygenated air hanging above the continents presently invites the rise of animal apparitions compounded of formerly inert clay.
Only after long observation does the sophisticated eye succeed in labeling these events as natural rather than miraculous. There frequently lingers about them a penumbral air of mystery not easily dispersed.We seem to know much, yet we frequently find ourselves baffled.Humanity itself constitutes such a mystery, for our species arose and spread in a time of great extinctions. We are the final product of the Pleistocene period's millenial winters, whose origin is still debated.Our knowledge of this ice age is only a little over a century old, and the time of its complete acceptance even less. Illiterate man has lost the memory of that huge snowfall from whose depths he has emerged blinking."
In this context many of the best passages of this book relate to Eiseley's musings on prehistoric life and development of mankind. Some might find in this emphasis a hindrance to religious faith, but in one exceptionally telling passage of the book he shows the kind of friendly connection between scientific observation and religious faith which many of us would like to affirm.
"It is not sufficient any longer to listen at the end of a wire to the rustlings of the galaxies;it is not enough even to examine the great coil of DNA in which is coded the very alphabet of life. These are our extended perceptions.But beyond lies the great darkness of the ultimate Dreamer, who dreamed the light and the galaxies. Before act was, or substance existed, imagination grew in the dark. Man partakes of that ultimate wonder and creativeness. As we turn from the galaxies to the swarming cells of our own being, which toil for something , some entity beyond their grasp, let us remember man, the self- fabricator who came across an ice age to look into the mirrors and the magic of science. Surely he did not come to see himself or his wild visage only. He came because he is at heart a listener and search for some transcendent realm beyond himself."
Cosmology Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Cosmology Books
Planet Quest: The Epic Discovery of Alien Solar Systemsby Ken Croswell
Oxford Univ Pr; Published: 1999-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $162.96
Mind Over Matter: Conversations with the Cosmosby K. C. Cole
Mariner Books; Published: 2004-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.46
Price in other shops:
Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System Revised Edition Instructors Manualby Author Unknown
Academic Press; Published: 1998-06-18; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Cosmography: A Posthumous Scenario for the Future of Humanityby R. Buckminster Fuller, Kiyoshi Kuromiya
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1992-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $84.94
The Universe in a Nutshellby Stephen William Hawking
Baker and Taylor; Bantam; Published: 2001-11-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Three Roads to Quantum Gravityby Lee Smolin
Basic Books; Published: 2001-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.59
Price in other shops:
The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Designby Leonard Susskind
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2005-12-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for Godby Carl Sagan
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-11-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensionsby Lisa Randall
Ecco; Published: 2005-08-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.98
Price in other shops:
Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe (P.S.)by Simon Singh
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The immense journeyby Loren C Eiseley
Random House; Published: 1957; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.87
Darwin's Century: Evolution and the Men Who Discovered Itby Loren Eiseley
Anchor; Published: 1961-06-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.47
The Man Who Saw Through Time (The Scribner Library Lyceum Editions SL429)by Loren Eiseley
Charles Scribner's Sons; Published: 1973-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $290.29
The Lost Notebooks of Loren Eiseleyby Loren Eiseley
University of Nebraska Press; Published: 2002-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.45
Price in other shops:
All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Lifeby Loren Eiseley
Bison Books; Published: 2000-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.85
Price in other shops:
The Night Countryby Loren Eiseley
Bison Books; Published: 1997-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops:
The Invisible Pyramidby Loren Eiseley
Bison Books; Published: 1998-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.17
Price in other shops:
The Firmament of Timeby Loren Eiseley
Bison Books; Published: 1999-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.13
Price in other shops:
The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Natureby Loren Eiseley
Vintage; Published: 1959-01-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.96
Price in other shops:
The Star Throwerby Loren Eiseley
Mariner Books; Published: 1979-09-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.22
Price in other shops: