…The Ascent of Man?  Jacob Bronowski died not long after he created this groundbreaking BBC documentary series about science and culture, and I remember watching it years ago (while I was in high school or college).  Anyway, I was very excited to learn that it’s now out on DVD (a little pricey at $149.99 for 13 one-hour episodes, but it’s also available much more reasonably through Netflix), and so Allison and I are enjoying watching it together.

Bronowski is a sort of British pre-Sagan popularizer of science (Ascent was released in 1972); passionate, intense, and confident in his material.  He’s also endearingly nerdy, with a slight rhotacism (i.e. a difficulty pronouncing r’s) and disconcerting but eloquent hand gestures.  And only Bronowski could pull off a pocket square in a leather jacket.

Anyway, if you’re a science buff, I highly recommend The Ascent of Man.  If you’ve watched it, I hope you’ll post your thoughts here.

Tags: ascent of man, jacob bronowski

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 am and is filed under history, science, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.