Meaning of Human Existence (Wilson) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
The sections about ants remind you 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 Carre stands above spy writers. He's wise, learned, wicked, vivid, oracular…Mr. Wilson remains a warmly skeptical and provocative figure on the page.... The Meaning of Human Existence is not always this good. At times, it sounds like a commencement speech or a lesser Bill Moyers special. (“In this part of our journey, I propose to come full circle....”) Mr. Wilson’s prose has, over time, lost a bit of its elastic snap.
Dwight Garner - New York Times


In his typically elegant style, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winner Wilson...probes the nature of human existence.... Wilson pleads that we show tolerance to our fellow humans and mercy to the world around us:... “We alone have measured the quality of mercy among our own kind. Might we now extend the same concern to the living world that gave us birth?”
Publishers Weekly


Wilson...asks the question that is the logical extension of his life's work: What does it mean to be human?... [He cautions] us against engineering the planet exclusively to serve human needs, a gloomy dystopia he refers to as the "Age of Loneliness." This book will be of interest to the general reader. —Jeffrey J. Dickens, Southern Connecticut State Univ.
Library Journal


According to Wilson our species was created not by a supernatural intelligence but by chance and necessity.... For readers wondering where religion fits into this, the author....[concedes] that a religious instinct does exist...[but] tribalism is far stronger. A little book with a big message, bound to produce discussion among scientists and discomfort in devout churchgoers.
Kirkus Reviews