Evolutions: Fifteen Myths That Explain Our World

大爆炸 – 生命起源 – 發展人類意識

　　奧倫‧赫爾曼融合科學性思考及文學，將此書化為一本通俗易懂又極富科學教育意義的民間故事。



　　我們不再認為世界的起源如同中國開天闢地的故事所說，是從一顆雞蛋孵化出來的；或是像毛利人認為是由充滿愛的擁抱一分為二而來；抑或是像希臘人所記載的，善妒的婚姻之神希拉與風流成性的天神宙斯之間一來一往的神話。我們現在用基因與自然選擇來論述恐懼與慾望，並用物理學來定義宇宙的運作。



　　此書用最新的科學思考模式解釋了關於宇宙和太陽系的誕生，並以單細胞開始出發到人類足以思考的旅程，喚醒了我們對周遭世界與內心世界的驚奇感官與恐懼，而作者利用現代科學創造出令人癡迷的嶄新神話。書中以地球與月亮為視角開展宇宙觀並敘述了母性；恐慌的線粒體向世界展現了性與死亡；從一隻章魚的記憶中出現了曾感受孤獨的意識；還有人類在與真理的對抗中進化，因而誕生了語言。科學可能無法解決現今存在的所有難題，但就像古老的傳說一樣，科學的不斷進化足以幫助我們無止境的探索奧秘。（文 / 博客來編譯）

A brilliant lyrical exploration of how modern science illuminates what it means to be human, from the award-winning author of The Price of Altruism

We no longer think, like the ancient Chinese did, that the world was hatched from an egg, or, like the Maori, that it came from the tearing-apart of a love embrace. The Greeks told of a tempestuous Hera and a cunning Zeus, but we now use genes and natural selection to explain fear and desire, and physics to demystify the workings of the universe.

Science is an astounding achievement, but are we really any wiser than the ancients? Has science revealed the secrets of fate and immortality? Has it provided protection from jealousy or love? There are those who believe that science has replaced faith, but must it also be a death knell for mythology?

Evolutions brings to life the latest scientific thinking on the birth of the universe and the solar system, the journey from a single cell all the way to our human minds. Reawakening our sense of wonder and terror at the world around us and within us, Oren Harman uses modern science to create new and original mythologies. Here are the earth and the moon presenting a cosmological view of motherhood, a panicking mitochondrion introducing sex and death to the world, the loneliness of consciousness emerging from the memory of an octopus, and the birth of language in evolution summoning humankind’s struggle with truth. Science may not solve our existential puzzles, but like the age-old legends, its magical discoveries can help us continue the never-ending search.

Oren Harman’s book The Price of Altruism won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He is a renowned professor of the history of science and the Chair of the Program in Science Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University.