Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet [Hardcover]

Ian F. McNeely (Author), Lisa Wolverton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0393065065 | ISBN-13: 978-0393065060 | Edition: 1St Edition

A dazzling intellectual history of the West served up with verve and insight by two brilliant young historians.

Here is an intellectual entertainment, a sweeping history of the key institutions that have organized knowledge in the West from the classical period onward. With elegance and wit, this exhilarating history alights at the pivotal points of cultural transformation. The motivating question throughout: How does history help us understand the vast changes we are now experiencing in the landscape of knowledge?

Beginning in Alexandria and its great center of Hellenistic learning and imperial power, we then see the monastery in the wilderness of a collapsed civilization, the rambunctious universities of the late medieval cities, and the thick social networks of the Enlightenment republic of letters. The development of science and the laboratory as a dominant knowledge institution brings us to the present, seeking patterns in the new digital networks of knowledge.

Full of memorable characters, this fresh history succeeds in restoring the strangeness and the significance of the past.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An inspiring read. (New Scientist )

A sprightly, stimulating and surprising study. (The Scotsman )

An impressively cohesive story that is full of delightful characters and fascinating details. (Austin Chronicle )

A magnificent overview of the history of knowledge production in the West. (Times Higher Education ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ian F. McNeely teaches at the University of Oregon and lives in Eugene.

Lisa Wolverton teaches at the University of Oregon and lives in Eugene.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1St Edition edition (August 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393065065
• ISBN-13: 978-0393065060
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #837,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, fully absorbing, history book that completely and satisfactorily answers the question the authors set out to answer, March 22, 2010

By 

And Then Some Publishing LLC - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet (Paperback)

Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet

Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

In this delightful, well-written, and fully documented 276-page (of text) book, with 25 pages of notes, you will discover a wonderful, fully absorbing, history book that, in my mind, completely and satisfactorily answers the question the authors set out to answer: How does history help us understand the vast changes we are now experiencing in the landscape of knowledge? Further, what are the pivotal points of institutional change and cultural transformation from the classical period to the present?

With Reinventing Knowledge you must enjoy an intellectual challenge, it is true, but if you are interested in the key institutions (i.e., the library, the monastery, the university, the republic of letters, the disciplines, and the laboratory) that have shaped and channeled knowledge in the West, this is certainly a book that will both dazzle and exhilarate your senses.

Because of my background in speech communication, I was particularly drawn to the early section in which they explain the public arenas of democratic Athens where competitive speech and writing took center stage, but were considered an inferior path to truth. There was, then, a shift to knowledge as written then, in another shift, to libraries that could produce Homer's epics as well as the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible -- which made knowledge portable. In yet another shift, monasteries arose as key knowledge institutions to not just preserve written culture of the ancient past but create new frameworks for understanding as well.

It was with the creation of universities that knowledge was again embraced and there was an emphasis on performance, use of the spoken word, and the questioning of texts. This is how the authors proceed through the book, and it makes for fascinating reading.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious historical survey of institutions of knowledge, September 6, 2010

By 

E. Jaksetic (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet (Paperback)

This ambitious book surveys the history of knowledge from ancient times to the present. More than just a historical catalogue of events and institutions, this book sets forth an argument that institutions of knowledge have changed, adapted, and evolved over the centuries, and that "knowledge has been fundamentally reinvented fully six times in the history of the West" (Book at p. 253). In setting forth their argument, the authors discuss and examine six institutions of knowledge: the library, the monastery, the university, the Republic of Letters, the disciplines, and the laboratory. The authors take an interdisciplinary approach -- using history, philosophy, biography, and sociology -- to examine those six institutions of knowledge. Each chapter on the six institutions of knowledge could be the subject of a separate book, so the reader should not expect a complete and comprehensive discussion of each of the six institutions.

Although the book is extremely ambitious in its breadth and scope, it is generally written in a fairly readable style that is accessible to the general public and non-experts. But, it is not for casual reading and requires some thought and attention from the reader to follow the book's argument. As an intellectual history, this book is interesting, informative, and thought-provoking. Although it is a good survey and worthwhile introduction to institutions of knowledge, this book should not be read as the definitive book on the subject.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good structure, tediously written, December 12, 2009

By 

Alex Tolley (Los Gatos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet (Hardcover)

The idea that knowledge is created and transmitted by different institutions is a good one and this book addresses the topic well. There is a lot of detail about each of the historical stages. Where the book falls down is that it written is so un-engaging a manner. It is downright tedious and boring in parts where details are too many and written in a dry, scholarly style, rather than a more accessible manner for the lay reader.

While it is clear that knowledge has been growing at an increasing rate, the importance of this growth on culture has been largely ignored and so we have no understanding about where we go from the present day in terms of knowledge generation, use in the population and how that will impact societies.