The Sacred Depths of Nature, Ursula Goodenough
The Sacred Depths of Nature, Ursula Goodenough
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The Sacred Depths of Nature
How Life Has Emerged and Evolved, 2nd Edition

Author: Ursula Goodenough

Narrator: Suzie Althens

Unabridged: 6 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/06/2023

Synopsis

For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age—the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity—point to an existence that is bleak, devoid of meaning, pointless. But in The Sacred Depths of Nature, eminent biologist Ursula Goodenough shows us that the scientific world view need not be a source of despair. Indeed, it can be a wellspring of solace and hope.

This volume reconciles the modern scientific understanding of reality with our timeless spiritual yearnings for reverence and continuity. Looking at topics such as evolution, emotions, sexuality, and death, Goodenough writes with rich, uncluttered detail about the workings of nature in general and of living creatures in particular. Her luminous clarity makes it possible for even non-scientists to appreciate that the origins of life and the universe are no less meaningful because of our increasingly scientific understanding of them. Goodenough's spiritual reflections respond to the complexity of nature with vibrant emotional intensity and a sense of reverent wonder. This new edition offers a deepened consideration of emergent properties and emergent dynamics, as well as an exploration of their role as the generators of life's complexity. Goodenough also expands upon the ethic of ecomorality in a new chapter, and incorporates new quotes, figures, and poems in her analysis.

About Ursula Goodenough

Ursula Goodenough is professor emerita of biology at Washington University. One of America's leading cell biologists, she is the author of a bestselling textbook on genetics, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served as President of the American Society of Cell Biology and of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. She lives in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Amy on December 26, 2010

as someone who identifies as a religious naturalist, I consider this book to be canon; it is one book of my bible. While I am hopelessly inept at articulating the deep and transcendent reverence for nature that keeps me warm all through these winters of our cultural discontent, the unjustly named Go......more

Goodreads review by Adam on July 24, 2010

I am somewhat ambivalent about this book. I was expecting a book of Deep Ecology, featuring the author's personal spiritual reactions to scientific epiphanies. Instead, Goodenough takes it upon herself to organize all human spiritual and cultural traditions around that set of scientific epiphanies i......more

Goodreads review by Arjun on December 14, 2023

pretty good finished in 1 sitting i will warn you if you already know a lot about biology this book will probably all be review through a slightly new lens anyways i really liked the start's focus on how molecular biology is very sacred specifically the meditations on the molecular language that call......more

Goodreads review by Frank Jude on March 15, 2018

Ursula Goodenough is one of America's leading cell biologists and the author of a wonderful textbook, Genetics. She has served as President of the American Society of Cell Biology and of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. She is the current president of the Religious Naturalist Associat......more

Goodreads review by Adele on October 10, 2019

This book did not inspire and resonate with me the way A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism did when I first started exploring Unitarian Universalism. This may be because I don't have the same perspective on the big existential questions as Goodenough. I got the impression the i......more

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