Synopses & Reviews
Daniel Boorstin, former librarian of the Library of Congress, gives a fascinating history of world civilization. From astronomical development, microscopes, telescopes, medicine, vaccines, genetics and map-making, this book delves into the discoveries of our world and the freedoms those discoveries bestowed. With the breadth and depth of this study, Boorstin relieves the world of its fictitious beliefs and encourages a more modern and scientific approach to the world around us. Discovery is not the main event, but convincing people to accept the facts as a new way of life is the key to the growth of mankind.
Review
"Compellingly readable...a remarkable narrative of the grand intellectual venture of humankind, rich in fascinating, often dramatic details" The Wall Street Journal
Review
"A sumptuous, totally engaging panorama. No one who reads it will look at the chronicle of human ingenuity in the same way again. History at its best; Boorstin at his best. I loved all of it" David McCullough
Review
"A new and fascinating approach to history...rich in unknowns and surprises." Barbara W. Tuchman
Review
"A ravishing book...[with] a verve, an audacity and a grasp of every sort of knowledge that is outrageous and wonderful...I can't think of any other living writer who could have attempted, let alone accomplished it." Alistair Cooke
Review
"History written in the grand style..I cannot readily recall another book from which I learned so many new things...few indeed will be the readers who do not themselves become discoverers." The Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
An original history of man's greatest adventure: his search to discover the world around him.
Synopsis
An original history of man's greatest adventure: his search to discover the world around him. In the compendious history, Boorstin not only traces man's insatiable need to know, but also the obstacles to discovery and the illusion that knowledge can also put in our way. Covering time, the earth and the seas, nature and society, he gathers and analyzes stories of the man's profound quest to understand his world and the cosmos."
Table of Contents
Book One: TimeThe Heavenly Empire
From Sun Time to Clock Time
The Missionary Clock
Book Two: The Earth and the Seas
The Geography of the Imagination
Paths to the East
Doubling the World
The American Surprise
Sea Paths to Everywhere
Book Three: Nature
Seeing the Invisible
Inside Ourselves
Science Goes Public
Cataloguing the Whole Creation
Book Four: Society
Widening the Communities of Knowledge
Opening the Past
Surveying the Present