Cosmic Joy and Local Pain: Musings of a Mystic Scientist

by Harold J. Morowitz

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684184435
• ISBN13: 9780684184432
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 321 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Local and global go hand in hand

Thinking locally and acting globally, or vice versa, are not any new Web-slogans. This book published in 1987, already connected the threads of what is local (physical, personal touch) to global (biological, physiological, and metaphysical). The book ends with its primary thesis: Between experiencing cosmic joy and alleviating local pain there is a path that each can follow. It it is a narrow path, it is at least wide enough to walk on, just like the finger pier I am now about to traverse, beginning the return from cosmic concerns to the responsibilities ahead" (p. 303).

A wonderful book from a great mind

Harold Morwitz spent the majority of his career teaching microbiology & biophysics at Yale university. Last I heard, he was teaching at George Mason university. This is a splendid book which explores the many intricacies of our majestic and yet fragile world. Fans of the books of the late astronomer Carl Sagan will relish the writing style and wisdom of this fine fellow; I find many similarities between he and Morowitz. The book takes you on a journey out to sea where Morowizt ponders some of life's deeper questions. He also gives a detailed description of various constructs of the earth such as the hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, etc. and how they all interact with one another. I would recommend this book to anyone with so much as a passing curiousity in science; even if he or she is not specifically interested in biology per-se. We could all learn a whole lot from this kindly gentleman, I think