55 pages • 1 hour read
Edward O. WilsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Without science, humans are forced to guess about the mysteries of the natural world. With science, humanity has learned a prodigious amount about how the universe works and how to make use of that knowledge. Science is a set of techniques of thought and tools of measurement that uncover aspects of nature previously unimagined. Through science, visible light has been found to be a mere sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum of radiant energies that pour down onto the earth, allowing humans to observe subatomic particles and the birth of distant stars. Visual and auditory signals that only animals can sense—high-frequency sounds emitted by bats to locate their prey, electric fields generated by fish to sense their way through dark oceans, and many other examples—have been detected and used to study creatures and their perceptions.
This great variety of sensory capabilities arises because animals have evolved to use precisely the information receptors they need to survive in their specific environments. For humans, three factors prepare the way to venture past evolved needs and abilities to invent civilizations that lead to scientific discoveries: human curiosity, the ability to abstract general principles from nature, and the invention of mathematics, which mirrors nature with uncanny precision, providing accurate answers to anyone regardless of cultural origin or gender.
By Edward O. Wilson
Half-Earth
Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life
Edward O. Wilson
Letters to a Young Scientist
Letters to a Young Scientist
Edward O. Wilson
On Human Nature
On Human Nature
Edward O. Wilson
The Diversity of Life
The Diversity of Life
Edward O. Wilson
The Future of Life
The Future of Life
Edward O. Wilson
The Meaning of Human Existence
The Meaning of Human Existence
Edward O. Wilson
The Social Conquest of Earth
The Social Conquest of Earth
Edward O. Wilson