
Vida, la gran historia
Destino, 2019 | Life, the Great Story
Translations
China, Guomai; France, Leduc / Albin Michel; Italy, La nave di Teseo; Poland, Znak; Portugal, Temas e Debates/Leya; Romania, TREI
Press
“Arsuaga is one of the world's leading experts on human evolution, as well as a prestigious scientist and a natural born communicator.” Ixone Díaz Landaluce, ABC
“We love that wise people explain things to us when they do it in an interesting and affordable way. That is what makes Arsuaga’s new book such a wonder: a luminous treatise on life, the universe and human existence.” Víctor M. Amela, La Vanguardia
“His life testament.” Sergio González, El Mundo
“A look into our past to predict our future, giving us a complete analysis of the uncertain paths that we, as human species, will follow.” J. Ors, La Razón
Synopsis
***8th reprint***
Paleontology describes the history of life on earth and chronicles evolutionary events in distinctly narrative terms. This book tells that story, covering over three thousand five hundred million years and going further still, seeking out explanations.
Faced with any big historical fact, it’s perfectly natural to wonder whether it’s the result of an inexorable process, or whether things might have turned out quite differently or perhaps never even happened at all. Clearly, this line of reasoning can be applied to evolution too. Was life on Earth inevitable? Was it bound to result in an intelligent and technologically advanced species in the end? Was it just a matter of time (and a very long wait - more than three and a half thousand million years)? How much in our evolutionary history was pure chance and how much was inescapable?
There are obvious philosophical implications to these questions. How would you react to the news that - as science fiction would have us believe - the universe is teeming with life and there are civilizations just like ours on countless other planets? How would you feel about finding out we’re not so special after all, certainly not the centre of the universe, but just one little corner tucked away among dozens of others? Alternatively, what if scientists concluded it’s virtually impossible for life to exist anywhere other than Earth (given that conditions are so exacting and the likelihood of them being realized is so infinitely remote)? What if they told you that once life had developed here (the only place it could), it was simply a matter of course that a human being would one day appear? If that turns out to be true, the human race once again takes centre stage, despite the fact that our planet revolves around a humble yellow star perched on the periphery of a galaxy that is just one of hundreds of billions of others in the visible universe.
- La muerte contada por un sapiens a un neandertal
- La vida contada por un sapiens a un neandertal
- El sello indeleble. Pasado, presente y futuro del ser humano
- El primer viaje de nuestra vida
- Breve historia de la Tierra (con nosotros dentro)
- El reloj de Mr. Darwin
- Mi primer libro de la Prehistoria. Cuando el mundo era niño
- La saga humana
- Al otro lado de la niebla
- El mundo de Atapuerca
- Los aborígenes
- Amalur
- El enigma de la esfinge
- El collar del neandertal
- La especie elegida
MB Authors
- Pepa AGUAR
- Pablo ARANDA
- Juan Luis ARSUAGA
- Manuel ASTUR
- Flavita BANANA
- Joan BARRIL
- Nuria BARRIOS
- María BASTARÓS
- Felipe BENÍTEZ REYES
- Joan-Daniel BEZSONOFF
- BLACKIE BOOKS
- Joana BONET
- Juan BONILLA
- Emilio BUESO
- Leonardo CANO
- Pablo CARBONELL
- Martín CASARIEGO
- Nicolás CASARIEGO
- Paula CIFUENTES
- Juan CUADRA
- Mario CUENCA SANDOVAL
- Malén DENÍS
- Elizabeth DUVAL
- Maria ESCALAS
- Cristina FALLARÁS
- Eneko FERNÁNDEZ
- Laura FERRERO
- Josep Maria FONALLERAS
- Albert FORNS CANAL
- Miguel GALLARDO
- Olivia GALLO
- Xenia GARCÍA
- Ignacio GARCÍA-VALIÑO
- José A. GARRIGA VELA
- David B. GIL
- Santi GIMÉNEZ
- Marcos GIRALT TORRENTE
- Enric GONZÁLEZ
- Ismael GRASA
- Luci GUTIÉRREZ
- Javier GUTIÉRREZ
- Najat El HACHMI
- Alicia KOPF
- Use LAHOZ
- Lucía LIJTMAER
- Shaina Joy MACHLUS
- Ignacio MARTÍNEZ DE PISóN
- Ramon MAS
- Ana MERINO
- Luna MIGUEL
- Amarna MILLER
- Miquel OBIOLS
- Bruno ORO
- Miqui OTERO
- Anna PACHECO
- Vicenç PAGÈS JORDÀ
- Enric PARDO
- Concepción PEREA
- Juan Manuel DE PRADA
- Jordi PUNTÍ
- Llucia RAMIS
- Antonio J. RODRÍGUEZ
- Félix ROMEO
- Carmen ROMERO
- Xavier RUBERT DE VENTÓS
- Gemma RUIZ
- Juanjo SÁEZ
- Gabriel SALVADÓ
- Màrius SERRA
- Rubén SERRANO
- Ramon SOLSONA
- José Miguel TOMASENA
- David TRUEBA
- Juan VICO
- Enrique VILA-MATAS
- Rosario VILLAJOS
- Rolando VILLAZÓN
- Pedro ZARRALUKI