The Meaning of Human Existence - Softcover

Edward O. Wilson is the author of more than thirty books, including Anthill, a novel, and The Meaning of Human Existence, a finalist for the National Book Award. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, Wilson is a professor emeritus at Harvard University and lives with his wife, Irene, in Lexington, Massachusetts.

“A valedictory work... What a lively writer Mr. Wilson can be. This two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction stands above the crowd of biology writers the way John le Carré stands above spy writers. He’s wise, learned, wicked, vivid, oracular.”
- Dwight Garner, New York Times Book Review

“In his typically elegant style, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Wilson (Letters to a Young Scientist) cannily and candidly probes the nature of human existence.”
- Publishers Weekly

“This illustrious book collects all 160 photographs of renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass and astutely places Douglass’s personal interest in photography into the context of his career and legacy.... This study provides a multifaceted, unique look at one of the most influential figures of American history.”
- Publishers Weekly

“This stunning volume presents 160 photographs, some for the first time, and they not only follow Douglass throughout his life but also place him within the times he lived.... Stauffer, Zoe Trodd, and Celeste-Marie Bernier point out that Douglass saw the truth-telling aspects of photography and how it could be used as a tool in the fight against slavery, as photos both humanized African Americans and revealed the horrors of their enslavement. This tour de force is a must-have that will enhance history and reference collections.”
- Patricia Ann Owens, Library Journal, Starred review

“E. O. Wilson is Darwin’s great successor, a scientist of such astounding breadth, depth, experience, and brilliance that he offers us nothing less than a new understanding of humanity... You will see the beauty, mystery, and possibilities of human existence through the eyes of one of humanity’s greatest and most intrepid explorers.”
- Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

“[A] tough-minded little primer-cum-manifesto... Compact and readable.”
- Dan Cryer, Boston Globe

“There can be few better guides through our species’ past journey and potential for the future... A provocative and beautifully written collection of essays.”
- Tim Lenton, Nature

“No biologist has been more persistent or eloquent in correcting our misapprehensions about human origins than Edward O. Wilson... We should be grateful that Wilson, so late in his illustrious career, still appeals to reason and imagination in hopes of enlightening us about our nature and inspiring us to change our destructive ways.”
- Scott Russell Sanders, Washington Post

“Wilson asks: Does humanity have a special place in the universe? Where are we going, and why? He answers by telling science’s latest creation stories, and presenting a vision of the future both inspiring and plausible, not an easy feat to pull off... Wilson is both a wild-eyed optimist and a hard-nosed realist. What more can we ask of a prophet?”
- John Horgan, Scientific American