"Evolutions is a breathtaking race through the immense scope of time and space that is our universe. The processes of evolution are at times so huge and ungraspable for the mind--so magical--that they can perhaps only be fathomed through the language of myth . . . Brilliant." --Karin Altenberg, The Wall Street Journal
Rare is it to open a science book whose first page tells you it will be an absolute joy to read . . . [Evolutions] is a book about scientific facts and theories, it is also a work of art. The discoveries presented in Evolutions are mind-blowing in themselves, but it is Harman's skill in blending contemporary science and traditional storytelling that makes this book truly brilliant. --Randy Rosenthal, New York Journal of Books
How often do we encounter scientific writing that reads like poetry, and that is philosophical as well as informative? . . . Enlightening, provocative and well-informed . . . Harman is a marvelous intellectual companion. --David B. Green, Haaretz
[Evolutions] is a science text like no other . . . Although Harman follows a standard progression, from the creation of the universe and planet Earth through the emergence of life up to modern humans, he does so quickly via a series of 15 vignettes that are more poetry than pedagogy . . . Ideal for readers who find traditional science books lacking in philosophy. --Library Journal
In this daring, learned, and humane book, Oren Harman attempts to create for a modern scientific understanding of the universe the myths in which, for as long as we can remember, human beings have always encoded their deepest perceptions of the truth. What emerges is a revelatory restoration of wonder. --Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
Evolutions is a dazzling voyage of the imagination, the story of our origins from the Big Bang to planets to life, told in the language and style of an epic poem. Intelligent, provocative, playful, and beautifully written. --Alan Lightman, Professor of the Practice of the Humanities, MIT, and author of Einstein's Dreams
"Brilliantly conceived stories of the evolution of our universe and ourselves. With impressive erudition, Oren Harman shows the impossibility of a science free from myths and metaphors. --Denis Noble, Fellow of the Royal Society and author of The Music of Life
Evolutions is brilliant. It is a wholly original contribution to the way science ought to become part of the way we think about the universe and talk about the meaning of life. Harman weaves in astonishing erudition lightly. In elegant language, he gives the reader an accessible model of how science ought to contribute to our sense of values and the way we think about ourselves. Harman bypasses all the cliches that pit science against religion and juxtapose fact and myth. A moving and provocative achievement. --Leon Botstein, President of Bard College
Oren Harman is a scientist with a literary soul, a dreamer with a scientist's rigor, and a historian consumed above all by our present. In Evolutions he explores the mysteries and miracles of science in majestically human terms, showing what science so often leaves out--the love, passion, and discovery in life as we actually know it. --Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Oren Harman brilliantly adapts the story-telling form of myth to present the evolutions that have shaped our physical world and its living inhabitants--from the origins of the universe through the advent of sex and on to vision and consciousness. He affectionately personalizes Nature--his Sun and Moon speak to each other--making it accessible without distorting it. He matches scientific erudition with a humanist's sensibilities and a poet's flair for language. A remarkably original and eloquent book. --Daniel J. Kevles, Stanley Woodward Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University
In Evolutions, Oren Harman captures the poetic and emotional depths of processes uncovered by modern science such as the big bang, sex and death, multicellularity, consciousness, language. More bizarre, more incredible than the ancient myths, the myths of science told by Harman are based on exacting and arduous research yet go to the roots of human perceptions and emotions making explicit the sense of beauty and awe that drives scientific activity. It is a book that will bring the poet to science, and the scientist to poetry. --Eva Jablonka, author of Evolution in Four Dimensions
