From the first steps towards civilization among prehistoric peoples, this visual encyclopedia moves on to explore the early societies of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and their history-making achievements such as the invention of writing.

From the first steps towards civilization among prehistoric peoples, this visual encyclopedia moves on to explore the early societies of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and their history-making achievements such as the invention of writing.

Space-age science and stone-age politics make an extraordinarily dangerous mixture. It seems probable that in the future, the rapidity of scientificand technological change will produce ethical dilemmas and social tensions even more acute than those we experience today. It is likely that the fate of our species (and the fate of the biosphere) will be made precarious by the astonishing speed of scientific and technological change unless this progress is matched by the achievement of far greater ethical and political maturity than we have yet attained.