The Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 356)
Read in January, 2007
The book is fantastic and I highly recommend it to any interested in history! It is the first of a trilogy of books covering man's history of discovering the world and himself. The second is The Creators, a history of art and imagination. And third The Seekers, a history of Philosophy. Daniel Boorstin was Librarian of Congress for some time and also served as the director of the Smithsonian. Boorstin has a great talent of interpreting masses of information into graspable history.
The Discover...more
The Discover...more
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Read in January, 1991
recommends it for:
anyone
This is a classic. It can be read randomly so it's a good one to own and be inspired by. A must-have for entrepreneurs. I always reference the history of ice...really makes one miss the things that made America great. It's been too long since we have been cool. The first time I read this it made me feel patriotic (I read this while living in Europe) but now it's a reminder of how far away we wardered from greatness and how dangerous and damaging the great ideas charted in here can become.
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Read in January, 1989
I read this book after someone sitting next to me on a plane recommended it. A book to be read in sections, if you have short attention span like me, but a great introduction to many of Man's inventions and discoveries. Boorstin, a former Librarian of Congress was one of those amazingly smart people that also enjoyed sharing his knowledge in ways that make those of us (I mean myself) mentally challenged peoples learn things!
I really need to sit down and read this again.
I really need to sit down and read this again.
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Read in April, 2002
recommends it for:
people who want perspective.
I had no idea this Boorstin guy was well known when I stole the beat up old book from my family's bookshelf for my own perusal. I was pleasantly surprised the entire time, amazed that what I thought was a run of the mill shelf filler would be so consistently interesting an engaging. It's a neat book, one worth reading - it's been a while now and I don't remember most of what is in there, but I can tell you that I'll never think of clocks the same way again.
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
anyone interested in western history
"Western Civilization" in a single volume! This book is a great summary of the major "discoveries" made by western explorers/scientists. It's been many years since I read it, but what I recall is that I was glad to have done so, that it was a great overview. An excellent book for someone starting out as an armchair historian. Boorstein's style is quite readable, if I recall correctly. If it weren't, I wouldn't have made it through this weighty tome.
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Read in June, 1996
One of the all time great books about everything that should be learned by everyone! Boorstin's ability to present this material in an exciting and understandable way was just incredible to me. I tried to imagine myself doing the research and writing of such a book and I couldn't even conceive of it being possible. Reading abook like this makes you want to read more and more about so many topics (the only drawback is how overwhelming it becomes!)
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Read in January, 1991
This is one of my favorite books. It a meta-history book, a look at not just periods, names and dates, but how ideas, innovations, and discoveries built on a pyramid of shared discoveries down through the ages. "How was time discovered? What were the myriad means and methods of calculating time? Why was the measurement of time necessary for the development of maps?" It is a delightful, chronological romp through the archives of discovered knowledge.
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A dense but informative book on the author's view of the individuals and their discoveries that changed the world. The author gives in-depth explanations on technological topics such as how humanity learned to mark the passing of time and determine ships' positions at sea, as well as highlighting the voyages of those who discovered new worlds. Concomitantly, the author examines how and why certain civilizations advanced as others receded.
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Read in March, 1997
The breadth of scholarship is somewhat mind-boggling. A pity the writing cannot make a similar claim; oftentimes it is awkward and rarely is it fluid. The amount of information packed in this book however, is reason enough to read it. In a sense it is a one-book survey of intellectual history and not much gets left out. Though concentrating on Europe, he also examines fairly well the Muslim and Chinese worlds.
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I loved this book & the companion piece The Creators. Both of these were filled with amazing information which I didn't know and was surprised to learn. He takes the first person, or people that did something such as navigators, or artists and explains how remarkable their discovery was in their lifetime and what impact it has on us today. Easy to read and not as stuffy as many history books are.
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
This dense book is fabulous. I learned a lot. One of those books where I have written in all of the last pages on stuff I want to go look up elsewhere.
I won't get rid of this one, one for the shelf.
The only part I did not understand or see relevance was the bit about the clowns. Seems it would have been more appropriate for his later addition "the entertainers"
I won't get rid of this one, one for the shelf.
The only part I did not understand or see relevance was the bit about the clowns. Seems it would have been more appropriate for his later addition "the entertainers"
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If you would like to know how we've arrived at our present concept of the world AND if I could recommend only one book to you on the subject, The Discoverers would be my hands-down choice. This is a dense book which took me [and many people I know who've also read it] six months to finish. You need a dictionary while you read it.
This book is well worth the effort.
This book is well worth the effort.
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Read in September, 2006
This book helped me appreciate the great intellectual leaps necessary to grasp ideas that we take for granted today. Fundamental things like the nature of time, and the structure of the solar system. This book was suggested for it's description of Charles Darwin, but it offers much more than that. Charles Darwin is actually only a tiny part of this book.
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Read in January, 1998
This book is fantastic. It's explains the history of all sorts of inventions, such as the clock and eye glasses, etc., and it's impact on civilization. At over 1000 pages it's a bit daunting, but it is worth the time. I think I may just have to read it again. There's no way I'd remember even a morsel of it 10 years later.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2002
recommends it for:
history lovers
This is one of my favorite history books of all time. Boorstin's approach of doing a survey through time from the point of view of people who discover important things makes for a very engaging read. This was a book I just couldn't put down: I went through its thousand-plus pages in only a few days.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 1995
A really good tour of history. Lots of interesting historical facts often overlooked by textbooks. I thought the chapters about medical discoveries did drag on a bit, but I'm not personally too interested in all that. Definitely worth the read and a good book if you like chapter jumping.
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Very informative book that tells you things that you might have wanted to know but had no idea where to go to find them out. For example, how did people figure out how to measure time properly. I have some bones to pick, e.g. "the discovery of the social sciences" is a little flat-footed.
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Interesting history of those who explored... whether it was new lands, the human body, the realms of the printed word... it's a wide ranging work that's makes for a very interesting (there's that word again) experience. If you like any sort of history you will probably enjoy this book.
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This is the first book of a Trilogy ("The Creators" and "The Seekers" are the other two). All are very well researched and written. Sure, we learned about most of this is school, but Boorstin's narrative adds enough detail and anecdote to pump up the interest level.
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Definitely an interesting book. Fascinating history of the numerous discoveries made. And if I had an awesome memory, I could spout off hundreds of cool facts. The book seemed to run on a bit at times, but I guess not everything will be interesting to everyone.
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