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Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud
by
Peter Watson's hugely ambitious and stimulating history of ideas from deep antiquity to the present day—from the invention of writing, mathematics, science, and philosophy to the rise of such concepts as the law, sacrifice, democracy, and the soul—offers an illuminated path to a greater understanding of our world and ourselves.
Paperback, 848 pages
Published
September 26th 2006
by Harper Perennial
(first published May 12th 2005)
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
I have finally finished this tome. Over the 18-months it took to read I have from time to time added précis to this review, but now I have finished I have removed them. This book is a thousand pages of dense reading and nothing best summarizes its magnificence than the quotations from the fronts-piece:
There are no whole truths;.
All truths are half-truths.
It is trying to treat them as
Whole truths that plays the devil.
(Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues. 1953.)
While it may be hard to live with gene ...more
There are no whole truths;.
All truths are half-truths.
It is trying to treat them as
Whole truths that plays the devil.
(Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues. 1953.)
While it may be hard to live with gene ...more
Ideas by Peter Watson
Wow! It doesn't get more ambitious than this. This is a book about the history of ideas. How can anyone tackle such an ambitious topic in one book? Well, somehow someway Peter Watson does exactly that. The author jumps from one interesting topic to another with mastery: language, science, weaponry, religion, society, economics, inventions, music...
It was an investment in knowledge. An investment that pays off at the end. I can't remember the last time, I've learned so much ...more
Wow! It doesn't get more ambitious than this. This is a book about the history of ideas. How can anyone tackle such an ambitious topic in one book? Well, somehow someway Peter Watson does exactly that. The author jumps from one interesting topic to another with mastery: language, science, weaponry, religion, society, economics, inventions, music...
It was an investment in knowledge. An investment that pays off at the end. I can't remember the last time, I've learned so much ...more
This book, beginning with pre history and ending at modernism, is nothing less than the summation of entire intellectual accomplishment of mankind. Worth reading !!!
Nov 17, 2012
Vandita
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history-geopolitics
What a tome ! Weight wise, content wise, scope wise and depth wise. I don't remember when was last that I read a book which had so much to offer.. each page crammed with insights, facts, analysis that reading 3 pages in one go satiates the mind. The book of 'ideas' defines the 'ideas' since the birth of mankind and civilisation, as broadly as one can: as the sub title says ' a history of thought and invention, from fire to freud'.
The sheer expanse of ideas explored and the depth of this explora ...more
The sheer expanse of ideas explored and the depth of this explora ...more
Second review (finished 1/27/2013)
I read this book off and on during 2012 and the first part of 2013. It was even better the second time I read it.
March-ish I took a few days off from life and checked into a spa in Sonoma, and this was the only book I brought to read in between massages and soaking in spring water. Come to think of it, this is probably the one book I would bring to a desert island if I had to limit it to one book.
Then October-ish I picked it up again and started re-reading the s ...more
I read this book off and on during 2012 and the first part of 2013. It was even better the second time I read it.
March-ish I took a few days off from life and checked into a spa in Sonoma, and this was the only book I brought to read in between massages and soaking in spring water. Come to think of it, this is probably the one book I would bring to a desert island if I had to limit it to one book.
Then October-ish I picked it up again and started re-reading the s ...more
1118 pages of a lot of things.
My first suggestion would be to change the title of the book to "Ideas: A history from European perspective" since the book is very Eurocentered and one-sided.
After part 3 there is barely any mention of great culture, education and inventions of Islamic, Asian and African worlds. The majority of book is focused on the redundant idea of Europe and great western military and intellectual achievements. Although doing a very good job of categorizing the periods of his ...more
My first suggestion would be to change the title of the book to "Ideas: A history from European perspective" since the book is very Eurocentered and one-sided.
After part 3 there is barely any mention of great culture, education and inventions of Islamic, Asian and African worlds. The majority of book is focused on the redundant idea of Europe and great western military and intellectual achievements. Although doing a very good job of categorizing the periods of his ...more
If someone asked me what the greatest book I've ever read was, I'd tell them I didn't want to answer that question, but if pressed, this would be it. Boorstin's The Discoverers got me interested in what they call 'Intellectual History', but this book cemented it as my number one sub-field of history. I will now read any book I find described as such, and I have Peter Watson to blame.thank.
Let me put it another way: an ex-girlfriend got this book for me as a christmas gift. It was probably the be ...more
Let me put it another way: an ex-girlfriend got this book for me as a christmas gift. It was probably the be ...more
Ambicioso ensayo que no llega a germinar: este libro no es la historia de las ideas de la humanidad, sino de Peter Watson. Se trata de una exposición de las principales corrientes de pensamiento de la humanidad, desde un prisma progresista, nihilista, antioccidental y anglocéntrico. No obstante, el estilo es brillante: de un párrafo a otro, el fluir del texto es increíble, a pesar de sus más de mil páginas.
Amazing.
My rating for this book reflects how much I enjoyed it. I am conscious of my own limited knowledge to be really able to say whether this is the history of ideas it sets out to be - but at the very least it is an excellent piece of writing based on an almost inconceivably wide set of sources. This is a huge book, and if you love to think broadly then definitely worth the investment in time to read.
There are a couple of niggles - it does seem to have a bias to western European orientated ideas and ...more
There are a couple of niggles - it does seem to have a bias to western European orientated ideas and ...more
I'm sure even 700+ pages on the history of human ideas does not complete the entire picture, but this book does a fantastic job of putting civilization in perspective. Ideas is full of fantastic conversation material, and illustrates history not just by highlighting particular dates and wars, but by explaining the various sea changes along the timeline of human progress. While reading, I felt strangely connected to my fellow humans with the sense that 'we're all in this together' - and also real
...more
Content-wise, it's fantastic; incredible that one person could write such an exhaustive treatment. It's a true intellectual history, not just a history of philosophy--where philosophy affects everyday thought, it's covered, where it doesn't, it's merely acknowledged. It also presents a compelling thesis about the most important ideas and defends it well, but resists oversimplification.
The only problem is that, while I can't say it's badly written, it certainly required a lot of re-reading. Obsc ...more
The only problem is that, while I can't say it's badly written, it certainly required a lot of re-reading. Obsc ...more
A good survey with some of the latest data and analysis. Not a bad book all-in-all but not enlightening...I've read most of this in other books over the years...but this is a survey piece so that should be expected. I was never, genuinely, engaged by the book but don't have anything bad to say about it. I believe this is a book for younger readers (20 somethings) that have not spent a lifetime reading. For them there would be lots of interesting directions to pursue in the future but for those,
...more
Dec 16, 2010
umberto
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history,
to-resume-reading
This book looked a bit too academic for me when I first saw some copies sold in various bookstores in Bangkok some years ago. Then I decided to read it because of its title concerned with 'A History from Fire to Freud', therefore, I think I should know and understand more from what Peter Watson searched and wrote for his readers to try reading on our intellectual developments in the East and the West.
I like this part in the Author's Note (p. xix):
In a work such as Ideas it is comforting to thi ...more
I like this part in the Author's Note (p. xix):
In a work such as Ideas it is comforting to thi ...more
I borrowed this book from the library as an e-book. Much of what I read in it varied from interesting to fascinating. It was a slow read partly because of the length. But I did have trouble following the flow as the general impression for me was that it jumped around. It was generally chronological and within any particular sub-topic it gave me plenty of things to think about in the evolution of ideas. Purely for the material I would give it 5 stars but I had to check it outat least five times f
...more
I've never been big on reading history, but this book is different. Well documented with the best current sources from many different disciplines. Where there are differing theories about a given topic The book explains them, points out the dominant ones, and leaves the conclusions to the reader.
I read the book cover to cover. I keep a copy on my current e reader to refer back to when a particular political, philosophical, or theological discussion comes up and triggers a new thought.
I also pur ...more
I read the book cover to cover. I keep a copy on my current e reader to refer back to when a particular political, philosophical, or theological discussion comes up and triggers a new thought.
I also pur ...more
Literary Merit: 2.95 stars
Sister and I got this ages ago, ( I am writing a review now, detailed review will be updated soon) upon recommendations. It is well composed, interesting and well written, I began to like this as I read along the different chapters and then I began to realize that it is heavily opinionated. The author has led his beliefs on religiosity, God and politics come in between when narrating history and thus the value neutrality of this texts finishes right there. If you really ...more
In spite of its writing style, which is so academic that I have to underline or highlight to keep myself paying attention, this is a truly exciting book, as ambitious as the title implies.
I read it in bursts --between fiction and poetry reads--because it's too heavy to retain the information if I put in long stretches.
If you liked, you could read just the parts that interested you-- though to some extent each chapter builds on the one before.
This book is like a cheesecake. Sitting down to tackle the whole thing at once probably isn't going to end well. You have to consume small pieces here and there in order to digest it properly.
That said, it's an incredibly informative and comprehensive work with a pretty engaging style. I'm glad I read it, and at this point I'm glad I finished it and I can finally start reading something else!
That said, it's an incredibly informative and comprehensive work with a pretty engaging style. I'm glad I read it, and at this point I'm glad I finished it and I can finally start reading something else!
Oct 11, 2011
Pauline
is currently reading it
Have made it to part two and now on chapter five, 'Sacrifice, Soul, Saviour: the spritual breakthrough'. This book reminds me of everything I loved about uni when I was seventeen. I'm being escorted through the millenia by a gentleman and a scholar, getting a little window into the mysteries of how we came to be who we are today, and nourishing a little dream of academia.
Took me a long time to get through this book, but it gives a very thorough account of the history of the world by considering the history of ideas and the human intellectual development.
If you're just interested in world history, then Guns, Germs and Steel might be a better start. If you want to have a full account of how human thought and culture developed, this is an excellent book.
If you're just interested in world history, then Guns, Germs and Steel might be a better start. If you want to have a full account of how human thought and culture developed, this is an excellent book.
You can't finish this. The only possible thing to do is to stop in some moment. This is history non-fiction as hardcore as it gets.
Other books cover this topic better. Poor binding on my copy.
The part I value the most about this book, is how it enables you to grasp the livelihood of cultures' charge and the vastness of phenomena it inspirits.
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One of the most comprehensive books I ever read. It is impossible to imagine how one author could collect this much knowledge. If you want to understand history from the perspective of thought and ideas this the best you can get. History not thought from the perspective of great men but from ideas. Why was the discovery of America so important for European thought? When was individualism discovered? Who was the last person to know everything? Do the rules of the heavens apply to the world of peo
...more
This is a history of the world but told in ideas rather than events like wars and kingdoms. It traces how one idea leads to another. Incredibly long and detailed, with hundreds, if not thousands, of names and episodes woven together, of philosophers, scientists, and artists who came up with and evolved ideas. Talks about different civilizations until middle ages, when it begins to focus almost exclusively on Europe. Suggests that the period of 1050 -1250 in Europe formed a turning point and was
...more
I cannot deny history like this book combined with idea and innovation is just the magic I want, reading this book is like messaging the brain, it helps me to build a much more clear timeline of the past with knowledge of why.
Comprehensive accessible history
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Peter Watson was educated at the universities of Durham, London and Rome, and was awarded scholarships in Italy and the United States.
After a stint as Deputy Editor of New Society magazine, he was for four years part of the Sunday Times ‘Insight’ team of investigative journalists. He wrote the daily Diary column of the London Times before becoming that paper’s New York correspondent. He returned t ...more
After a stint as Deputy Editor of New Society magazine, he was for four years part of the Sunday Times ‘Insight’ team of investigative journalists. He wrote the daily Diary column of the London Times before becoming that paper’s New York correspondent. He returned t ...more
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