Fire and Civilization

Author: Goudsblom
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: A "cool book about mountains," it tells how humans have treated fire and time from their origins to the present, as well as the close relationship between fire and the progress of human civilization. This is a classic, thematic, multidisciplinary history book that will serve as a guide for those interested in important issues in world history: How did human civilization begin? What systems pervade human society? Besides domesticating birds and animals, what other forms of "domestication" created human history? The author essentially writes a fascinating and extraordinary work on the relationship between the rise of civilization and human control over fire. Through ecological and historical research, the author powerfully demonstrates that even before the development of language skills or tool-making, the use of fire distinguished humans from their ancestors and, without a doubt, from other creatures. His research points to two factors: fire as an element of civilization—used for cooking, chemistry, heating, lighting, and actually triggering the Industrial Revolution; and burning fire—as a source of fear, punishment, destruction, arson, war, disease, and death caused by pollution. In the current global energy crisis, humans need to reassess fire. From ancient open flames to modern fire—nuclear energy, mountains remain a core issue in human civilization. A "cool book about fire," it tells how humans have treated fire and time from their origins to the present, as well as the close relationship between fire and the progress of human civilization. This is a classic, thematic, multidisciplinary history book that will serve as a guide for those interested in important issues in world history: How did human civilization begin? What systems pervade human society? Besides domesticating birds and animals, what other forms of "domestication" created human history? The author essentially writes a fascinating and extraordinary work on the relationship between the rise of civilization and human control over fire. Through ecological and historical research, the author powerfully demonstrates that even before the development of language skills or tool-making, the use of fire distinguished humans from their ancestors and, without a doubt, from other creatures. His research points to two factors: fire as an element of civilization—used for cooking, chemistry, heating, lighting, and actually triggering the Industrial Revolution; and burning fire—as a source of fear, punishment, destruction, arson, war, disease, and death caused by pollution. In the current global energy crisis, humans need to reassess fire. From ancient open flames to modern fire—nuclear energy, fire remains a core issue in human civilization.