Customer Reviews

A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

At last a concise and brilliantly connected history of thought. Beginning with the "knowledge of the ancients" (which, to my pleasure, included information from ancient India, China and the Americas as well as from Egypt and the Middle East), Van Doren covers all the great theories and discoveries of the human race. Although I read it cover to cover, it would be just as useful (and enjoyable) to dig in and read it piecemeal.

The contributions of Einstein, Newton and Galileo are here, as are the ideas of Buddha, Martin Luther and Boethius. This is more than just a cataloguing of ideas and discoveries, though. Portraits of these individuals are made, and their contributions are placed in historical context. What is most remarkable, however is that van Doren has managed to squeeze all this information into a mere 412 pages.

The only shortcoming of the book is perhaps is length - but Van Doren sets out only to summarize, highlight and explain. With this in mind, he does an admirable job. The book is simply fascinating, and I highly recommend it.

Charles Van Doren undertook an ambitious project in this book, which according to its cover blurb purports to be 'a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilisation into the twenty-first century.'

There are, alas, a few things missing, as this book only has a bit over 400 pages. But that does not really detract from the thesis of the book; it is certainly a worthy outline of human history, particularly approached through the lens of intellectual achievement and the advance of knowledge.

Van Doren, as you may recall, is the Van Doren who got caught up in the quiz show scandals of the 1950s. Ironic that this fate should befall him, as his learning would obviously put to shame the current crop of would-be millionaires so popular on the television today. But, I digress.

Van Doren spent the two decades before writing this book as an editor for Encyclopedia Britannica. He has put together a worthy outline to knowledge, broad in scope and with just enough detail to satisfy the hunger and whet the appetite simultaneously.

`The voluminous literature dealing with the idea of human progress is decidedly a mixed bag. While some of these writings are impressive and even inspiring, many of them are superficial, perhaps even ridiculous, in their reiteration (especially during the nineteenth century) of the comforting prospect that every day in every way we are growing better and better.'

Van Doren does believe in progress, but not in inevitable progress. He distinguishes between general knowledge and knowledge of particulars, and explores the inter-relationship of knowledge and happiness:

`The desire to know, when you realise you do not know, is universal and probably irresistible. It was the original temptation of mankind, and no man or woman, and especially no child, can overcome it for long. But it is a desire, as Shakespeare said, that grows by what it feeds on. It is impossible to slake the thirst for knowledge. And the more intelligent you are, the more this is so.'

Van Doren explores the advance of knowledge by time periods, then divided into general discussions with a specific centre. I give as an example the outline of topics in the chapter entitled An Age of Revolutions

An Age of Revolutions
- The Industrial Revolution
- Human Machines and Mechanical Humans
- An Age of Reason and Revolution
- John Locke and the Revolution of 1688
- Property, Government, and Revolution
- Two Kinds of Revolution
- Thomas Jefferson and the Revolution of 1776
- The Declaration of Independence
- Property in Rights
- Robespierre, Napoleon, and the Revolution of 1789
- The Rise of Equality
- Mozart's Don Giovanni
- Goethe's Faust

Van Doren's own agenda and prejudice show through (a desire for the curbing of the rights of nation-states in favour of a one-world government, for instance -- without much detail about how that government would be constituted; after all, he is a realist who recognises that there's no point to such idle speculation in a history text), but he always returns to his charge of presenting the history of the whole through various parts.

His final chapter, entitled `The Next Hundred Years' examines the possible developments and societal changes (which we are already beginning to see) due to computers, chaos science, increased space exploration, genetic engineering and genome mapping, and an ever-present companion in history, war.

This is a well-written exploration of world history written with clarity and style. It makes an excellent companion piece for almost any intellectual field.

Charles Van Doren does a fine job of providing an enlightening overview to history and sociology. I've enjoyed the book twice now, given it as gifts, and recommended it to many friends and aquaintenances. I found his insight and perspective on historical characters and discoveries to be most valuable. Being a technical person, I find Van Doren helps me understand the the evolution of history...he combines events, individuals, and discoveries into (what appear to be obvious) relationships. Many times throughout the book, I would think to myself: "Now I understand!" The book comes with a delightful bonus; it provides the reader with a refreshed interest in historical events and personalities. This makes for engaging conversations... topics from Henry XIII to Marco Polo. How about: the history and significance of "zero", or the demise of the Aztecs? Further, Van Doren provides insight into the similarities and origins of different religions. It's a great book you can pick up and put down, read a little, skim a section... fun to have around even as reference.

This is an excellent history text. I've used it as a reference for years, although I haven't read it through from beginning to end at any time.

So you want to know when Newton influenced physics and wrote his books? What about Descartes? Arsitotle? It's all in there. It covers how knowledge was created and spread throughout history.

This book seemed obviously influenced by James Burke's "Connections" science series on TV. I can't think of many better influences actually, as it was one of the best learning series ever done for television.

Because of the small size of the book, it's more of an overview than a super-detailed historic tome, but I am always surprised at how much the author does cover. I've rarely found a significant scientific or knowledge discovery/event that has been missed in the text.

I highly recommend this book.

An ambitious book by Van Doren, "A History of Knowledge" presents a sweeping portrayal of knowledge and its developments from the time of the ancients to today and beyond. This portrayal is a relatively easy read, and Van Doren's style is alternatingly conversational and didactic. While it's a good book, I wouldn't recommend it unreservedly. Why? I believe that it has two key flaws.

First is its scope. Any book titled "A History of Knowledge" is bound to miss a few things while keeping the size of the book down to something that doesn't require a pickup truck to haul around, and this is no exception. However, the things that Van Doren has chosen to eliminate include all of the progress of knowledge in the Far East or the early Americas (the book would be more accurately titled: "A History of Western Knowledge"). If you're looking to see how knowledge has waxed and waned across the world through recorded history, your best bet is a more focused title (see any of Boorstin's recent three book series for a focus on technology, arts, or philosophy; or Beckman's "History of Pi" for a more mathematical insight).

The second, and arguably more serious, flaw is the increasing focus on opinion and interpretation rather than historical presentation. We've become accustomed to separating our history into two parts, one that presents it as it happened (or we believe it happened at any rate), and one that interprets and analyzes it for reflection an understanding. Van Doren hasn't done this. And while I appreciate an author's perspective, I tire of reading of his unalloyed joy in his Judeo-Christian ethic, in the victory of Capitalism over Communism, and in the superiority of democracy over ALL other forms of government. And anyone who's read any science fiction at all will cringe at the prognostications regarding the next 100 years.

It's a good, but flawed, book.

It was a good read. But I have to warn the future readers of this book: be careful, since it has a lot of mistakes. I mean, factual mistakes, not opinions I disagree with. Japan was not opened in 1868, and Lenin's supporters came to be known as 'Bolsheviks' well before his conflict with Kerensky, and Greeks did have a written tradition before the 8th century BC and, and and... Feel a bit sorry, since these problems could be easily fixed. It would be enough to give the MS to a knowledgeable editor or, better still, to few friends with good education in different areas. I like the book's approach and ideas, but I see that the author is so often wrong on what I know well (I'm Russian teaching Asian studies in a Western university). This makes me very skeptical about other statements and observations which probably do not deserve such skepticism.

This book has little place for serious historians or philosophers. However, it is an efficiently written and engaging overview of the story of human thought suitable for the rest of us. Van Doren exceeded my expectations by balancing factual exposition with his own insights and viewpoint. He respects the past enough not to taint it with modern perspectives and respects the future enough to add a disclaimer to his speculations.

This work can be easily criticized for not including everything or missing certain very important lessons of history. If one thinks his treatment of Rome is incomplete, go read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire!

A History of Knowledge must be looked at as what its intended, a broad work meeting the needs of budding intellectuals or specialized insects like myself seeking to become more renaissance in their own knowledge. That end it certainly achieves.

It must take a tremendous ego for an author to give a book such a universal title. The surprising thing is that Charles Van Doren's work comes so very close to being completely worthy of its moniker!

Obviously this is not "A COMPLETE History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future." Not even Mr. Van Doren could pull that off. Much of the knowledge of Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Micronesia, and the indigenous peoples of Australia and the Western Hemisphere is simply glossed over. The book clearly has a pro-Western, Euro-centric preference. Even an author as obviously brilliant as Mr. Van Doren can only do so much in a mere 412 pages.

Nevertheless, the text is engaging, thoughtful, stimulating, enthusiastic, concise, and very well written. For those already blessed with a traditional, liberal arts, undergraduate education the text will serve as a valued reminder of many of the great concepts to which they were exposed in college. For those without such an education, the text will serve as an even more valuable compendium of Western thought.

Well done, Mr. Van Doren! Thank you!

...the future part was a different story. More on that later.

Van Doren's 'A History of Knowledge' is a truly remarkable book. He breaks down a number of key philosophies and religions and makes them palatable to the reader and also demonstrates their influence over time. It is a very well written book - very enjoyable to read.

He is particularly good at succintly describing why the end of the Roman Empire was such a disaster for knowledge and explaining why the Church was afraid of the astronomy discoveries of the Renaissance.

Problem areas:

-He almost exclusively focuses on Western Thought. Very little Asian philosophy, except for Confucious. How can it be a History of Knowledge when it leaves out most Asian thought?

-Sometimes he blithely labels things as fact. For example, he claims that Jesus was born on December 25th while every Christian church body on the planet merely claims that it is the observed day of his birth.

-He asserts that Martin Luther wanted his religious opponents to be murdered in the Thirty Years War. I know that Luther railed against his opponents but he also railed against religious war. Perhaps Van Doren is confusing Luther's strong support for a violent response to the incredibly violent Peasant's Uprising of his younger days. That was not so much a religious war as a response to the brutal treatment the peasants received. Luther was not sympathetic to the peasants since they had burned churches and killed priests.

-Van Doren goes onto shaky ground when discussing Darwin's Theory of Evolution when he supports it by saying that breeds of dogs are a great proof of this theory. I say that this is shaky ground because different dog breeds are not new species. This same argument is used by racists who claim that the different races are fundamentally different from each other due to breeding. It was an especially poor choice of an argument.

Van Doren's book goes off track when he gets to his future section. Until I reached that section, I had been telling my wife and my friends that I had been reading a phenomenal book - wonderfully thought out and written. Then Van Doren indulges in silly speculations about the future. His predictions about computer technology completely missed the direction that we took. He is very concerned about Artificial Intelligence, a field that is not nearly as hyped as it was when he wrote his book. Unfortunately, he sounds like he's a supporting writer for the movie 'I, Robot' rather than a serious writer.

He also advocates the need for a World Government, but the arguments he makes sound flat when compared to the history that he has just written - a history that warns of the dangers of concentrations of power. What is the old saw about learning history so as not to repeat it?

So, if I were grading the first 85% of the book, it'd be a solid 5 stars. However, that last 50 pages is truly awful and the overall score is dropped.

Despite the fact that most of this book deals with problems I have with the book, I do heartily recommend the book - just not the last section.

There exist very few books quite like this one. Van Doren rushes in where others fear to tread, yet he is no fool. Rather, he quite successfully distills into a concise, single volume most of the major intellectual thoughts and events that have occurred across the millennia. Furthermore, he writes in an engaging and interesting style, producing a work both readable and extremely useful. Forgotten what the "Glorious Revolution" was all about? Ever wondered what is to be found in Einstein's theories? Don't know your Plutarch from your Petrarch? This book has the answers, and much more besides.

Van Doren's not perfect. He stumbles a bit, I think, in his handling of certain developments in the 19th and 2th centuries. In particular, his treatment of the causes of the First World War, and the important inter-war period in Europe, leaves a little to be desired. His examination of post-Rennaissance art is sparse. And his treatment of religion, while solid, seems to stop abruptly at the Protestant Reformation. Nevertheless, he absolutely shines when dealing with antiquity and the middle ages, and his book is about as good a treatment of the various subjects as you're likely to find under any one cover, or by any one author.