The author, Gaia Vince, is a science journalist and broadcaster, and the first woman to win the Royal Society Science Book Prize for her debut book, “Adventures in the Anthropocene.” The book is arranged in an organized way, which helped my brain (somewhat) click into the points Vince makes. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvellous.Ĥ+ - ‘Transcendence’ is a scientific discourse on humankind’s evolutionary development as well as a look into possible ways that we might in the future overcome (transcend) limitations, especially the obstacles that we have created for ourselves. She explains how, through four key elements – fire, language, beauty, and time – our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time.

What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution – a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones – caused a cultural explosion. In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, a winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books shows h ow four tools have enabled humans to control the destiny of our species.

Transcendence gaia vince review