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Summary: Loved this book
Review: Loved this book. Trying to condense the history of human knowledge into a single coherent and engaging book is a feat that few could achieve. You may not agree with all of Van Doren's selections or perspectives but then every scholar would make somewhat different selections in trying to pull together, condense, and analyze a topic of this scope. The first chapter or so starts a little slow for some but hang in there, it only gets better.
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Summary: A Practical Overview of the History of Ideas
Review: This book has little place for serious historians or philosophers. However, it is an efficiently written and engaging overview of the story of human thought suitable for the rest of us. Van Doren exceeded my expectations by balancing factual exposition with his own insights and viewpoint. He respects the past enough not to taint it with modern perspectives and respects the future enough to add a disclaimer to his speculations. This work can be easily criticized for not including everything or missing certain very important lessons of history. If one thinks his treatment of Rome is incomplete, go read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire! A History of Knowledge must be looked at as what its intended, a broad work meeting the needs of budding intellectuals or specialized insects like myself seeking to become more renaissance in their own knowledge. That end it certainly achieves.
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Summary: An Excellent Comprehensive of Human Knowledge
Review: I loved this book! The author has a wonderful ability to bring out the depths of his knowledge in a dynamic way so as to respect the overall theme: "A general history of human knowledge". His insights are compassionate and honest. I disagree with him that the "Warm and Fuzzy" computers of the future will not lend a helping had to human nature. To the contrary I believe that such computers will have tremendous potential to change humanity. Time will tell. I DO agree however with his view that computers have no instict or desire to revolt or take over the world. Anyhow, I respect his views on this and many other subjects. Great book... Lighten up Herbie Stemple fans.
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Summary: Interesting for the type of subject matter
Review: I found the book to be quite interesting even though I'm don't usually read non-fiction. I just have one question - is this the infamous Charles Van Doren from the Quiz Show scandal?
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Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is a text book example of what Theodore Roosevelt wanted when he asked Historians to write more illistrative, and engaging dialoge, not just boring bland historical fact. The author so impressed me that upon completion of his book I phoned him to give thanks. We talked for 20 or 30 minutes. He seems to be a good guy, and is a great historical writer!
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Summary: Gives continuity to my sense of human history
Review: This book was one of the most enjoyable and lucid histories I have read. It gives continuity to my sense of history, which was rather patchy. VanDoren does take some chances with his opinion, but I would not want to read a book in which the author doesn't make some outrageous statements. The main weakness of the book is the last chapter, in which VanDoren continually admits that it is impossible to predict the future, but then goes on and does it anyway. Some of the things he says he admits belong in comic books. I would say he was right. I liked this book very much, and you should buy it if you want to learn about history from a text that is not dry and boring, as most others i have read are.
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Summary: Western Civ redux
Review: Van Doren writes in a very engaging style, and manages to say quite a bit about the finer aspects of Western thought and history, especially considering the relative size of this book. I'd recommend this to high school or college students, or anyone who wants to go over Western Civ again. If you've got a pretty good grasp of history, I wouldn't bother with it, though.
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Summary: provocative, fresh and coherent analysis
Review: We used this as a textbook for my world studies class four years ago in high school. I think it is the best history text I have read. I found it extremely engaging and intelligent. I did not find van Doren pompous at all, as some of the worst reviews seem to indicate. The tone is not of pomposity; he seems to challenge history, stirring it up in an attempt to find a fresh analysis. In the process he certainly leaves some details out. But I think van Doren took a lot of intellectual risks, and that his analysis was both rigorous and provocative. As for his commentary on the scientific method, it should be noted that the author has a masters in astrophysics from Columbia. I don't remember him saying that science is more about math than concepts (as one reviewer said), but I think he is correct in a way. Even Einstein complained that there was more memorization of mathematical methods than he had originally thought. But certainly van Doren has enough of a scientific background to talk intelligently about the contributions of scientists.
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Summary: uh boy <groan> doesn't even pass for toilet reading
Review: To get a glimpse of the arrogance and ignorance of Charles Van Doren, just read the last section of the book on the upcoming "computer revolt." Enough said.
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Summary: Useless trash, boring and trivial
Review: I can't believe I was seduced. The text rambles to no point. There are no footnotes for his sometimes outrageous assertions, no source to challenge. The chapter "What the Romans Knew" discussed law, citizenship and roads. Each of these was given a few paragraphs at most. What about trade, navigation and legions? I won't go on...I literally ripped the book in two.
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