Fernando Reich poses new ways of considering time and humanity in the contemplative prose poetry book The Ape Who Gazed Beyond.

The book is inspired by quantum physics and some of its strange manifestations, like quantum entanglement, but its central conceit is that humanity is influenced as much by the future as the past. Rather than promoting a strict scientific or logical case for this interpretation, the idea is used as impetus for a thoughtful exploration of humanity.

Short chapters feature scenes from history, like the first recognition of fire as a tool, the introduction of language, and the birth of agriculture. Later, more abstract concepts appear, like intuition, viewed as “a letter from the future,” or science and its discoveries of “something that was already there, waiting for its name.” Technology and artificial intelligence, and even time itself, are examined, with a concluding message that “we do not come only from the past. We come from the possible.”

Epic in scope and ambition, the writing is most notable for its memorable metaphors, imagery, and descriptions (growing is “not only learning. It is remembering forward,” and agriculture was “an act of everyday prophecy”).

Additionally, the writing creates an intimate sense of what it might have been like to witness formational events. For example, the standout chapter “The Ape Who Looked Ahead,” describes “a gaze that, for the first time, did not search for what was, but for what could be.” Later, a chapter on writing captures a moment when the bold idea that “a thought can outlive the body” was inspired.

At times, the text drifts overlong, in contrast to its best examples of a balance between being descriptive and concise, and its central concept of two-way time requires a leap of faith over logic. But while the subject matter can be abstract, it’s also grounded in human experience.

Meditative and thought-provoking, The Ape Who Gazed Beyond is a book to spend time with—no matter what your definition of time may be.

Also available as an ebook.