Uncommon Sense: Understanding Nature's Truths Across Time and Culture - Hardcover

[Aveni] writes with a mastery and polish that is wonderfully accessible.
"The New York Times Book Review"

Aveni writes accessible prose, and even somewhat technical explanations of systems or events are made easily comprehensible to the non-scientist. All explanations of what we observe, even scientific ones, may be seen as metaphors, or stories that we tell in order to make sense of what we observe. But, Rashomon-like, this book reminds us that stories can be told in a number of different ways, and that determining the truth depends on where you are, and when.
Tonia L. Payne, "Isle"
"

Anthony Aveni is a passionate scholar and a vivid, engaging writer. "Uncommon Sense" shows that he is a polymath, too, with an astounding range of interests and knowledge. Like Jared Diamond, Aveni is a brilliant synthesizer, and a delightful one. From cosmology to evolution to mythology to historical and personal anecdotes, "Uncommon Sense" explores the very essence of religion, science and truth across many cultures, from the vantage point of an uncommonly spacious mind."
Oliver Sacks"

"["Uncommon Sense"] explores the patterns created by humans of many cultures and time periods?the maps we make, the star charts we follow, the ordering of the universe and our place in it. . . . Aveni discusses the endless fascination people have with decoding old mysteries; looking for scientific proof of events in religious texts; finding hidden, secret patterns that were unknown before or unexplained or lost in antiquity. . . . Humans are pattern creators, or maybe we re just seekers, with an unquenchable thirst for finding patterns in nature s chaos. That is the essence of this fascinating book I ll be thinking about for years to come."
About.com

"

"[Aveni] writes with a mastery and polish that is wonderfully accessible."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Aveni writes accessible prose, and even somewhat technical explanations of systems or events are made easily comprehensible to the non-scientist. All explanations of what we observe, even scientific ones, may be seen as metaphors, or stories that we tell in order to make sense of what we observe. But, Rashomon-like, this book reminds us that stories can be told in a number of different ways, and that determining 'the truth' depends on where you are, and when."
--Tonia L. Payne, Isle

"Anthony Aveni is a passionate scholar and a vivid, engaging writer. Uncommon Sense shows that he is a polymath, too, with an astounding range of interests and knowledge. Like Jared Diamond, Aveni is a brilliant synthesizer, and a delightful one. From cosmology to evolution to mythology to historical and personal anecdotes, Uncommon Sense explores the very essence of religion, science and truth across many cultures, from the vantage point of an uncommonly spacious mind."
--Oliver Sacks

"[Uncommon Sense] explores the patterns created by humans of many cultures and time periods?the maps we make, the star charts we follow, the ordering of the universe and our place in it. . . . Aveni discusses the endless fascination people have with decoding old mysteries; looking for scientific proof of events in religious texts; finding hidden, secret patterns that were unknown before or unexplained or lost in antiquity. . . . Humans are pattern creators, or maybe we're just seekers, with an unquenchable thirst for finding patterns in nature's chaos. That is the essence of this fascinating book I'll be thinking about for years to come."
--About.com

Aveni explores the common and conflicting ways that ancient and contemporary societies have searched for literal truth about mysteries of the natural world from dinosaurs to the Star of Bethlehem, in ten fascinating essays on topics that have obsorbed scientists, religious figures, and ordinary citizens over the centuries.