Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

This author really knew the audience he was addressing. This finely written (and edited) book was a pleasure from the beginning. I am aware the length of this tome was in the author's mind, but he must have known that his time and space limitations acted as a tease for the reader who wanted to know more. The bibliography and footnotes were excellent, but it sure would have been nice to have read expansions in this author's own style. Furthermore, this author, while obviously extremely well educated in all the subjects in the book, chose not to take himself too seriously in his presentation, sprinkling lighthearted remarks and observations along the way--further adding to the reading pleasure.I have gifted copies of this book to several and have recommended it to many more. I thank the author.

It is quite impossible for any one person to say with absolute authority exactly what are all the ideas, concepts, innovations and insights that lead the human forward in the advancement of civilization through the activities of harnessing nature,establishing just laws, instituting the best educational curriculum for social progress, and understanding what psyche is; but the author has taken up the challenge and done exceptionally well. This book is not really a story that starts at some beginning of time and then brings the reader up to a conclusion at our own contemporary time, but instead, is a referential body of the episodes in human history that allowed successive generations of man to build the next future upon and from which then brought forth the steady rise of human betterment. Mr. Watson begins with the civilization of Sumer and proceeds to the last pages with the great scientific breakthroughs of modern physics and American law at the beginning of the 20th century. This is history told in a different light and is one worth reading. One can pick any chapter or any paragraph at random if so desired and find themselves enriched. Or, one can read from beginning to end without interruption. When it is customary for historical work to usually highlight the actions of presidents, titans of commerce, military generals and admirals, campaigns of conquests and the corresponding rise and fall of political systems and their empires, Mr. Watson traces a very different path here and the reader is well rewarded. Does he include all the important philosophers and scientists, engineers and artists and men of medicine? No. But that is not really a shortcoming. He does an adroit job of showing how the rise of man's intellect and improvement in living has been a steady progression of brilliant steps which subtly reveals just what a marvel is the human mind, just what an amazing species are we humans, able to look at the world and pluck out of the imaginative well that is the mind some element that when utilized changes the whole of our world, usually for the good. This book is easy to read, made for any age and lays forth an encouragement that the reader will continue to delve deeper into human history and to pay more attention to those who are often forgotten or ignored in the usual quest of national pride to place triumphant heroes on pedestals to be deified by the common person or to be idolized by some future grandiose politician. I cannot possibly think that any one can truly find fault with the scope and perspective and general aim of this book and what it strives to accomplish.

“Ideas”, by Peter Watson, is a remarkable book, and not one to be approached lightly. At 800+ pages it is encyclopedic in content. Rather than being organized alphabetically, it is organized around 36 broad ideas, each with its own chapter. It is well indexed, with one index devoted to names and places, another to ideas. Even so, the scope is so vast, key names are missing in the index, an example being Copernicus.The best way to approach the book is probably by reading a specific chapter of interest. An example might be chapter 23 titled “The Genius of Experiment”, which is about the scientific revolution, and which does indeed give considerable credit to Copernicus. Having said that, chapter 23 is just one of 36 chapters, so its treatment of the scientific revolution is necessarily brief. Much more thorough treatments of the rise of modern science can be found elsewhere, for instance in “A History of Science” by W.C. Dampier first published in 1929.A fascinating aspect of Watson’s book is that it highlights the unevenness of the development of ideas, both geographically and over time. It is a refreshing departure from the “Western Civilization” approach to so many of its topics. There is a lot of discussion of things outside the Levant-Greece-Rome-Europe corridor so prominent in so many treatments. In chapter 3 titled “The Birth of the Gods, the Evolution of House and Home”, for instance, we learn that the domestication of plants and animals occurred independently in 2 areas of the world for certain, and probably 7. The certain 2 are the Fertile Crescent and Mesoamerica. The probably 5 are New Guinea, China, sub-Saharan Africa, the Andes, and eastern North America.If you are fascinated by history and ideas, this is a great book to have at your fingertips. It is remarkable that Watson could have assembled, organized, and presented so much information. In the small bits that I know something about, Watson is spot-on!

Oh, the length of it! 30+ chapters, each one packed with detail -- it was so daunting that our Book Club divided it up, each one taking several chapters to read and then present salient points to the group. But once I started reading my "assignment," I couldn't stop. It's fascinating. Watson reviews the development of major ideas over time that have greatly influenced civilizations, and "connects the dots" for us in enlightening ways.

Great book, very informative