Discoverers

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Summary: Should be required reading for High School and College
Review: I can only echo what some of the others have said. Although some 16 years old it is as timeless as history itself. Beautiful mix of discovery, invention, and religion.

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Summary: All-time favorite book
Review: I've read a lot of books in my 46 years, and this may well be my all-time favorite. I could not put it down. Fascinating, delightful. Beautifully writtten.

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Summary: An historical epic.
Review: Boortin's historical odyssey is a tour de force for students and scholars alike. The author's engaging, succinct narrative is as enthralling as his myriads of anecdotes are appealing.

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Summary: Feed Your Head
Review: Like others I really enjoyed this book. The author obviously did his research and presents an interesting history of discoveries leading to major paradigm-shifts, as well as detailed accounts of the barriers the discoverers faced. The book, however, is extremely broad and sometimes moves on from an interesting topic too quickly. The reference notes in the back are the best part of the book. If there's a topic that grabs you, Boorstin gives you his sources and other books that deal with it more specificly. Also this is a decidedly western and modern view of history since it has been shown elsewhere that many of our "dicoveries" were actually "re-discoveries" based upon older sources. Pythagoras himself acknowledged that much of his work in mathematics is based on Egyptian sources. I would still recommend this book for anyone interested in how we arrived at our current view of the world.

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Summary: Most eye-opening book I've ever read
Review: I was never a "history buff" in school, but this would be an amazing text book to psyche up any student.The thing I find most fascinating about it, is how Boorstin demonstrates the fact that human nature has not changed in recorded history; the "Discoverers" in this book faced exactly the same social pressure and obstacles we do now. With all the hype that "technology is changing everything", and "nothing is as it was before", I found how these brilliant visionaries overcame the "change is bad" mentality, and literally changed the world. An incredibly inspirational book!

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Summary: Brain Food!!
Review: This is one of those books that you wish you could read for the first time all over again. Boorstin is a master of description. He gives the reader a wealth of interesting, oftentimes facinating, information concerning pivotal events in human history without falling prey to the arcane, mind-numbing language of the cloistered academic. Like other reviewers of this book I have given several copies away in the hopes of having other people around to share my enthusiasm with. Boorstin is a treasure and I feel priviledged to be able to sit down and absorb his lifetime of research and hard work at my leisure.

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Summary: By far the most accessible & rich rendition of history
Review: As a reader I find myself quickly reassured by Boorstin's command of both psychology and history. Whereas the Discoverers is broad and sweeping (dare I say it, American) project, Boorstin proves the sheer wealth of human endeavour through the ages articulated with a keen awareness of philosophy. The book has a remarkably accessible reading age without trivialising the content.

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Summary: Excellent book that takes you to before discoveries occur.
Review: This book is still one of my favorites. I've bought and given away this book numerous times and need another copy. I really liked how the book puts you into the timeframe and mentality of the era before a discovery occurs that changes it all. Packed with information.

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Summary: Common now, previously extraordinary, before then unknown...
Review: Boorstin succinctly sums up some of the most amazing discoveries, and how they have changed the world. Things we take for granted today like precision time pieces are rather recent developments. Precision time pieces were necessary to accurately determine longitude. Before then, long distance precision sailing was impossible. This is just one example of the new insights you will gain about knowledge or instruments we take for granted today.

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Summary: Wonderful book, but not for everyone...
Review: Like others here I found the book fantastic and quite effective in sustaining our interests. However, there are parts that are simply not for the novice reader. People who lack a reference frame in history (which includes many people who never went beyond what they learned in high school) will have difficulty following the web he weaves. Also, some aspects of the book will clearly appeal to everyone (e.g. clocks, evolution) but others are somewhat uncommon and a bit more difficulty to follow, such as his treatment of topology. In fact, some of the connections he makes on that subject are not so evident... Therefore I recommend the book, but I would warn those who try to use it as an introductory text.