Loren Eiseley. The Firmament of Time (1960)

     Loren Eiseley. The Firmament of Time (1960) The text of six lectures given while Eiseley was Visiting professor at the University of Cincinnati in 1959, this book gives many hints of the political and spiritual conditions of the times. The American fear and loathing of the Soviet Union increased the threat of nuclear war, especially since at the time no one fully understood the weakness of the USSR. Thus, Eiseley expresses his gloom about humanity’s future in terms of the apparent descent into the maelstrom of nuclear war. Nowadays, we fear the terrorists, who strike without warning and detection, and the crazy tyrants such as Korea’s Kim Il Jung.

     But the relevance of Eiseley’s themes doesn’t depend on any particular historic circumstance. He argues that our development of science without spiritual and artistic values is moving us towards an inhuman future, one on which the ordinary decencies will be meaningless. Yet he hopes that the human capacity to love and transcend oneself may yet rescue us from our diminished selves. In the last lecture, Eiseley expresses himself in mystical and poetic terms rather than scientific and philosophical ones. He knows that what he has to say can make sense in no other mode. An interesting and valuable book, even though Eiseley’s style and manner don’t quite suffice for the grand reach of his themes. Worth reading at least once. **½ (2005)