Thursday, March 4, 7:30 p.m.

The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature  BUY NOW

In his most important book to date, award-winning author Timothy Ferris—“the best popular science writer in the English language today” (Christian Science Monitor)—makes a passionate case for science as the inspiration behind the rise of liberalism and democracy. Ferris argues that just as the scientific revolution rescued billions from poverty, fear, hunger, and disease, the Enlightenment values it inspired has swelled the number of persons living in free democratic societies from fewer than one percent of the world population in 1600 to over a third today.

Ferris deftly investigates the co-evolution of these scientific and political revolutions. A sweeping intellectual history, The Science of Liberty is a stunningly original work that transcends antiquated concepts of left and right.

Timothy Ferris, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee, is the author of 12 books, including The Whole Shebang, Coming of Age in the Milky Way, and The Mind's Sky. He is currently professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.