You
A Natural History
Price: 595.00 INR
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ISBN:
9780190944667
Publication date:
08/10/2018
Paperback
248 pages
Price: 595.00 INR
We sell our titles through other companies
Disclaimer :You will be redirected to a third party website.The sole responsibility of supplies, condition of the product, availability of stock, date of delivery, mode of payment will be as promised by the said third party only. Prices and specifications may vary from the OUP India site.
ISBN:
9780190944667
Publication date:
08/10/2018
Paperback
248 pages
William B. Irvine
Rights: OUP USA (INDIAN TERRITORY)
William B. Irvine
Description
What are you? Obviously, you are a person with human ancestors that can be plotted on a family tree, but you have other identities as well. According to evolutionary biologists, for example, you are a member of the species Homo sapiens. To a microbiologist, though, you are a collection of cells, each of which has its own cellular ancestry. A geneticist might point out that besides these identities, you can be understood as a gene-replication machine, which can be plotted on a "genetic tree." Finally a physicist will give a rather different answer to the identity question: you can be understood as a collection of atoms, each of which has a very long history. Some have been around since the Big Bang, and others are the result of nuclear fusion that took place within a star. Not only that, but most of your atoms belonged to other living things before joining you. From your atoms' point of view, then, you are just a way station on a multibillion-year-long journey.
You: A Natural History offers a multi-disciplinary investigation of your hyper-extended family tree, going all the way back to the Big Bang. And while your family tree may contain surprises, your hyper-extended history contains some truly amazing stories. As the result of learning more about who and what you are, and about how you came to be here, you will likely see the world around you with fresh eyes. You will also become aware of all the one-off events that had to take place for your existence to be possible: stars had to explode, the earth had to be hit 4.5 billion years ago by a planetesimal and 65 million years ago by an asteroid, microbes had to engulf microbes, the African savanna had to undergo climate change, and of course, any number of your direct ancestors had to meet and mate. It is difficult, on becoming aware of just how contingent your own existence is, not to feel very lucky to be part of our universe.
About the Author
William B. Irvine is Professor of Philosophy at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He describes himself as a twenty-first century Stoic with an intense interest in science. Dr. Irvine is the author of the bestselling A Guide to the Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (2008) and numerous other books.
William B. Irvine
Table of contents
Introduction: Your Multiple Identities
Part 1. Your Deep Ancestry
Chapter 1. Your People
Chapter 2. You and I Are Related
Chapter 3. You Have a Great Throwing Arm
Chapter 4. Your Place on the Tree of Life
Chapter 5. Your Sex Problem(s)
Chapter 6. The Neanderthal in Your Family Tree
Chapter 7. The Code(s) by which You Live
Chapter 8. Your (Alien?) Roots
Part 2. The Cellular You
Chapter 9. You Are Complex
Chapter 10. Your Ancestors Were Boring
Chapter 11. Your "Cellmates"
Chapter 12. Your "Boarders"
Part 3. The Atomic You
Chapter 13. You Are What You Eat, Ate
Chapter 14. Your Windblown Past
Chapter 15. Your Cosmic Connection
Chapter 16. Pulling Yourself Together
Part 4. Your Place in the Universe
Chapter 17. You Are a Gene Machine
Chapter 18. You Are (Merely) Part of Life
Chapter 19. Your Many Afterlives
Chapter 20. Why Are You Here?
Notes
Works Cited
Index
William B. Irvine
Features
- Only book on the market that both explores and attempts to interweave your various identities -- as a member of a species, a collection of cells, a collection of atoms, etc.
- Unites scientific questions with philosophical questions that arise concerning the meaning of life
- Offers a multi-disciplinary investigation of humanity's hyper-extended family tree, going all the way back to the Big Bang
William B. Irvine
Description
What are you? Obviously, you are a person with human ancestors that can be plotted on a family tree, but you have other identities as well. According to evolutionary biologists, for example, you are a member of the species Homo sapiens. To a microbiologist, though, you are a collection of cells, each of which has its own cellular ancestry. A geneticist might point out that besides these identities, you can be understood as a gene-replication machine, which can be plotted on a "genetic tree." Finally a physicist will give a rather different answer to the identity question: you can be understood as a collection of atoms, each of which has a very long history. Some have been around since the Big Bang, and others are the result of nuclear fusion that took place within a star. Not only that, but most of your atoms belonged to other living things before joining you. From your atoms' point of view, then, you are just a way station on a multibillion-year-long journey.
You: A Natural History offers a multi-disciplinary investigation of your hyper-extended family tree, going all the way back to the Big Bang. And while your family tree may contain surprises, your hyper-extended history contains some truly amazing stories. As the result of learning more about who and what you are, and about how you came to be here, you will likely see the world around you with fresh eyes. You will also become aware of all the one-off events that had to take place for your existence to be possible: stars had to explode, the earth had to be hit 4.5 billion years ago by a planetesimal and 65 million years ago by an asteroid, microbes had to engulf microbes, the African savanna had to undergo climate change, and of course, any number of your direct ancestors had to meet and mate. It is difficult, on becoming aware of just how contingent your own existence is, not to feel very lucky to be part of our universe.
About the Author
William B. Irvine is Professor of Philosophy at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He describes himself as a twenty-first century Stoic with an intense interest in science. Dr. Irvine is the author of the bestselling A Guide to the Good Life: the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (2008) and numerous other books.
Table of contents
Introduction: Your Multiple Identities
Part 1. Your Deep Ancestry
Chapter 1. Your People
Chapter 2. You and I Are Related
Chapter 3. You Have a Great Throwing Arm
Chapter 4. Your Place on the Tree of Life
Chapter 5. Your Sex Problem(s)
Chapter 6. The Neanderthal in Your Family Tree
Chapter 7. The Code(s) by which You Live
Chapter 8. Your (Alien?) Roots
Part 2. The Cellular You
Chapter 9. You Are Complex
Chapter 10. Your Ancestors Were Boring
Chapter 11. Your "Cellmates"
Chapter 12. Your "Boarders"
Part 3. The Atomic You
Chapter 13. You Are What You Eat, Ate
Chapter 14. Your Windblown Past
Chapter 15. Your Cosmic Connection
Chapter 16. Pulling Yourself Together
Part 4. Your Place in the Universe
Chapter 17. You Are a Gene Machine
Chapter 18. You Are (Merely) Part of Life
Chapter 19. Your Many Afterlives
Chapter 20. Why Are You Here?
Notes
Works Cited
Index
