A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future (Paperback)

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.

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.