Britannica Guide to the Ideas That Made the Modern World: The People, Philosophy and History of the Enlightenment

by Encyclopædia Britannica

In the early years of the twenty-first century, ideas first proposed over two hundred years ago could not be more compelling. The Enlightenment of the seventeenth century in response to upheaval and uncertainty laid the foundation stone for modern society. A vital primer on the philosophers, thinkers, and scientists-including Isaac Newton, John Locke, Voltaire and Spinoza-whose thoughts and ideas created the modern world.

Genres: History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 8, 2008

Reviews

[Therese · Rating 2 out of 5]

A.C. Grayling's intro was a good overview, basically the only redeeming feature. The main text was a big disappointment, very vague and poorly documented. It read like a committee document that had been edited to death with many rounds of people taking out specific information in order to shorten and condense it. Read the intro and forget the rest.

[Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative guide to important ideas which improved the world, from enlightenment to modernisation. Many key figures, texts, concepts were cited but the only problem I had was that they felt too rushed to get everything across, which made it hard to read since a lot of the figures and their works were mentioned once only.

[Lils · Rating 4 out of 5]

book covers a general idea of various topics, key figures and historical timeline
certain areas can be rather dense and dry, depending on individual's interest but I've found it, generally, interesting and enjoyable to read
highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in understanding the origins of ideas and order of things around us

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer on the Enlightenment. It is prohibitively difficult to understand today's political landscape without knowing something about Enlightenment thinking.

[Fiona Ottley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, but at least I know now who all the main enlightenment writers were.