A history of knowledge : past, present, and future

A one-voume reference to the history of ideas that is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century. Massive in its scope, and yet totally accessible, A HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also explores the social conditions, political climates, and individual men and women of genius that brought ideas to fruition throughout history. "Crystal clear and concise...Explains how humankind got to know what it knows." Clifton Fadiman Selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the History Book Club Publishers Weekly Van Doren's provocative, encyclopedic guide to great thinkers, concepts and philosophical trends was a BOMC and History Book Club selection in cloth. (Apr.) Cover ......Page 1 Title Page ......Page 2 Copyright......Page 3 Contents......Page 6 Author to Reader......Page 14 1. Wisdom of the Ancients......Page 25 2. The Greek Explosion......Page 51 3. What the Romans Knew......Page 82 4. Light in the Dark Ages......Page 108 5. The Middle Ages: The Great Experiment......Page 120 6. What Was Reborn in the Renaissance?......Page 149 7. Europe Reaches Out......Page 190 8. The Invention of Scientific Method......Page 206 9. An Age of Revolutions......Page 235 10. The Nineteenth Century: Prelude to Modernity......Page 265 11. The World in 1914......Page 306 12. The Twentieth Century: The Triumph of Democracy......Page 319 13. The Twentieth Century: Science and Technology......Page 343 14. The Twentieth Century: Art and the Media......Page 378 15. The Next Hundred Years......Page 397 Index......Page 435 About the Author......Page 443 Back Cover......Page 444 A one-volume reference to the history of ideas that is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century. Massive in its scope, and yet totally accessible, A HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also explores the social conditions, political climates, and individual men and women of genius that brought ideas to fruition throughout history. "Crystal clear and concise...Explains how humankind got to know what it knows." Clifton Fadiman Selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the History Book Club Here is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century. A History of Knowledge covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also explores the social conditions, political climates, and individual men and women of genius that brought ideas to fruition throughout history. --from publisher description BY THE TIME written history began, some fifty centuries ago, mankind had learned much more than our primitive ancestors knew.