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rymdkejsaren's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up on a whim based on a recommendation, I don't recall from whom, and began reading. After a dozen or so pages I turned to the front and looked at the publishing date. Ah. 1968. That explains a lot.
There are certainly some interesting ideas and insights in this book. While I am sure many of them were profound and no doubt controversial at the time of publishing, many passages have not aged well. There is deep-seated misogyny, homophobia, intellectual elitism, and other problems that are difficult to ignore. While many of its main points are made as open questions, it is difficult to take seriously someone who genuinely asks if perhaps the quality of art has degraded so because we no longer have an aristocracy, who apparently were better equipped to judge the quality of art better than say, artists.
But some important points are made, particularly about the cyclical nature of history. Some of the statements of the chapters about economy and socialism aptly describe the state of some of our failing democracies of today.
I think this book is more of a curiosity than required reading. I think there are a lot of books out there that give a much more interesting perspective of history, like Guns, Germs, & Steel or The Better Angels of our Nature.
There are certainly some interesting ideas and insights in this book. While I am sure many of them were profound and no doubt controversial at the time of publishing, many passages have not aged well. There is deep-seated misogyny, homophobia, intellectual elitism, and other problems that are difficult to ignore. While many of its main points are made as open questions, it is difficult to take seriously someone who genuinely asks if perhaps the quality of art has degraded so because we no longer have an aristocracy, who apparently were better equipped to judge the quality of art better than say, artists.
But some important points are made, particularly about the cyclical nature of history. Some of the statements of the chapters about economy and socialism aptly describe the state of some of our failing democracies of today.
I think this book is more of a curiosity than required reading. I think there are a lot of books out there that give a much more interesting perspective of history, like Guns, Germs, & Steel or The Better Angels of our Nature.
richardiporter's review
4.0
Get ready for the single best man-splaining you've ever had.
Yeah, but seriously this book is good for students of history or those who want an overview that contains some moments of serious wisdom (e.g. the tension between the innovation and impetuousness of youth and the reflection and conservation of what has worked well for centuries of the old) and the obvious conservative biases of an old white guy (e.g.s the supremacy of Euro-western civilization, the importance of religion, fears of over-population especially of breeding of "the wrong kind of people" and thus the importance of birth control - for married people, to scare women with the fear of child birth and charge youthful males to t reat girls as they wished their sisters to be treated etc.)
There really are moments of brilliant synthesis and insight, wisdom, recognition of tensions and spectrums. The idea that concentration of wealth is a hugely dangerous thing and the absolute imperative to redistribute wealth - that without this itll still happen just with violence. Will is well tempered at times by his wife Ariel. And other times he is cringely-old white guy. Bear in mind this was first published in 1968 at the height of the American <> Vietnam War.
The mix, sometimes self aware of progressive views with conservatism makes the moments of un self aware conservatism and assumption based reasoning all the more disapointing. This should be read ideally AFTER Wingrow & Graeber's The Dawn of Everything to show the mistakes that are flatly wrong and where opinions creep in. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56269264-the-dawn-of-everything
Still well worth the time And this particular edition has cool audio interviews with Will and Ariel about their work.
Four stars means I liked it a lot, will likely read it again and strongly recommend it to any others with interest in the topics covered.
Yeah, but seriously this book is good for students of history or those who want an overview that contains some moments of serious wisdom (e.g. the tension between the innovation and impetuousness of youth and the reflection and conservation of what has worked well for centuries of the old) and the obvious conservative biases of an old white guy (e.g.s the supremacy of Euro-western civilization, the importance of religion, fears of over-population especially of breeding of "the wrong kind of people" and thus the importance of birth control - for married people, to scare women with the fear of child birth and charge youthful males to t reat girls as they wished their sisters to be treated etc.)
There really are moments of brilliant synthesis and insight, wisdom, recognition of tensions and spectrums. The idea that concentration of wealth is a hugely dangerous thing and the absolute imperative to redistribute wealth - that without this itll still happen just with violence. Will is well tempered at times by his wife Ariel. And other times he is cringely-old white guy. Bear in mind this was first published in 1968 at the height of the American <> Vietnam War.
The mix, sometimes self aware of progressive views with conservatism makes the moments of un self aware conservatism and assumption based reasoning all the more disapointing. This should be read ideally AFTER Wingrow & Graeber's The Dawn of Everything to show the mistakes that are flatly wrong and where opinions creep in. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56269264-the-dawn-of-everything
Still well worth the time And this particular edition has cool audio interviews with Will and Ariel about their work.
Four stars means I liked it a lot, will likely read it again and strongly recommend it to any others with interest in the topics covered.
rumbledethumps's review
4.0
At first I was put off by the authors' use of 5 words where 2 would do. "a multitude of doubts assail our enterprise." And, "some young doctor of philosophy in physics...."
But after pressing on I realized this book was like nothing I had read. It is a concise evaluation of how different actions and emotions affect history. It is strongly opinionated, but their opinions are worth wrestling with, as they do not come from a specific side of the political spectrum.
I eventually got used to their verbosity, and even began to appreciate it, and realize how effectively it expressed their ideas. "Communist governments, armed with old birth rates and new weapons...."
Highly recommended, especially for people who like to wrestle with ideas about history.
But after pressing on I realized this book was like nothing I had read. It is a concise evaluation of how different actions and emotions affect history. It is strongly opinionated, but their opinions are worth wrestling with, as they do not come from a specific side of the political spectrum.
I eventually got used to their verbosity, and even began to appreciate it, and realize how effectively it expressed their ideas. "Communist governments, armed with old birth rates and new weapons...."
Highly recommended, especially for people who like to wrestle with ideas about history.
inquiry_from_an_anti_library's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Is This An Overview?
Human behavior is affected by many factors. The values of the factors change, but the methods in history repeat, just with different details. Not much has changed in the character of people, as the desires are the same but expressed differently. Same strategies used but with different associations. Humans are evolutionary trained to be competitive for resources, for even cooperation is a tool and form of competition. Climate, geography, and nature can limit human capacity, but the limits were overcome by human ingenuity. Knowledge can be used to improve society, or decimate it. Making those who resist change as important as those who inspire change. Religion and government have been used to enable cooperation between people. Religion provides a moral code that is above even the most powerful people. Government enforces laws that provide freedom by restricting absolute freedom’s destructive capacity. Civilization is dependent on education, for civilization is not inherited.
What Are Some More Lessons Of History?
All historians are partial, for even those who think they are not, choose material and subjects based on their partiality. What normally makes history are the exceptional events, rather than most of history which is more mundane.
Moral laxity is not a sign of moral decay, but of a transitioning moral code. Religions rise and fall, only to be resurrected. Moral life used to be aided by religion, but contemporary society does not use religion.
War is the norm, and it part of the competitive process. The individual is restrained by morals and laws, but the state does not have such restraints.
Inequality is cyclical. An inevitable concentration of wealth, which can become intolerable that inspires the redistribution of wealth using various means. Dictators rise when wealth distribution is inappropriate. It was because power has been abused that lead to revolution that gave rise to democracy, which has taken its turn in misgovernance.
Caveats?
The focus is on broad categories, and describing their trends over the course of history. There is a lack of information on any specific society or era. This book prompts the reader to search for that information, and provides a way to interpret the events.
jonoberg's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
I couldn't recommend this book any less. I love history books but this one is incredibly dated. On top of that you have to wade through a moderate amount of chauvinism and overt sexism.
harinid's review against another edition
5.0
It is extremely rare to come across a book that succinctly summarises our heritage and our life as humans let alone one written by historians. The book weaves a narrative of our heritage, our history while examining it in the context of religion, politics, progress and economics. In doing each of those explorations in a few pages, the book demonstrates the cyclicality of history- a fact that we often forget, being born in a particular context. As he argues in the chapter on progress, we may have gained institutionalities, but if we haven't really changed as human beings, have we really progressed?