Synopses & Reviews
This book takes us through the seventeen major leaps in history that bring us to the development of our future. William Graham-Smith describes in each creative leap the birth of a new phase of history. From nothing came matter, a solar system, a world, life, the cerebral cortex and human communities, in the development of the capacities of human communities, choices have been made -- hunter gatherers chose to develop agricultural skills, and agriculturalists chose to develop machines. The development was chaotic, and we now live in a situation of global chaos. Our knowledge of development shows, Graham-Smith argues, that we have the potential to transform the chaos into sustainable development.