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The Ascent of Man by J Bronowski was developed from the thirteen-part BBC television series written by Jacob Bronowski, and traces the development of science as an expression of the special gifts that characterise man and that have made him unique among animal species. It journeys back through intellectual history in order to find 'the great monuments of human invention.' The author's informal history ranges throughout most of the western world, reaching into such out-of-the way places as Easter Island, Machu Picchu, Newton's library and Gauss's observatory, the Alhambra and the caves of Altamira. In each location, Bronowski considers the qualities of thought and imagination that compelled man first to analyse the physical world, and then to explore the invisible laws and structures above and beneath its surface.