Charles Van Doren undertook an ambitious project in this book,
which according to its cover blurb purports to be 'a compendium of everything
that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from
the beginning of civilisation into the twenty-first century.'
There are, alas, a few things missing, as this book only has a bit over 400
pages. But that does not really detract from the thesis of the book; it is
certainly a worthy outline of human history, particularly approached through the
lens of intellectual achievement and the advance of knowledge.
Van Doren, as you may recall, is the Van Doren who got caught up in the quiz
show scandals of the 1950s. Ironic that this fate should befall him, as his
learning would obviously put to shame the current crop of would-be millionaires
so popular on the television today. But, I digress.
Van Doren spent the two decades before writing this book as an editor for
Encyclopedia Britannica. He has put together a worthy outline to knowledge,
broad in scope and with just enough detail to satisfy the hunger and whet the
appetite simultaneously.
`The voluminous literature dealing with the idea of human progress is
decidedly a mixed bag. While some of these writings are impressive and even
inspiring, many of them are superficial, perhaps even ridiculous, in their
reiteration (especially during the nineteenth century) of the comforting
prospect that every day in every way we are growing better and better.'
Van Doren does believe in progress, but not in inevitable progress. He
distinguishes between general knowledge and knowledge of particulars, and
explores the inter-relationship of knowledge and happiness:
`The desire to know, when you realise you do not know, is universal and
probably irresistible. It was the original temptation of mankind, and no man or
woman, and especially no child, can overcome it for long. But it is a desire, as
Shakespeare said, that grows by what it feeds on. It is impossible to slake the
thirst for knowledge. And the more intelligent you are, the more this is so.'
Van Doren explores the advance of knowledge by time periods, then divided
into general discussions with a specific centre. I give as an example the
outline of topics in the chapter entitled An Age of Revolutions
An Age of Revolutions
- The Industrial Revolution
- Human Machines and
Mechanical Humans
- An Age of Reason and Revolution
- John Locke and the
Revolution of 1688
- Property, Government, and Revolution
- Two Kinds of
Revolution
- Thomas Jefferson and the Revolution of 1776
- The Declaration
of Independence
- Property in Rights
- Robespierre, Napoleon, and the
Revolution of 1789
- The Rise of Equality
- Mozart's Don Giovanni
-
Goethe's Faust
Van Doren's own agenda and prejudice show through (a desire for the curbing
of the rights of nation-states in favour of a one-world government, for instance
-- without much detail about how that government would be constituted; after
all, he is a realist who recognises that there's no point to such idle
speculation in a history text), but he always returns to his charge of
presenting the history of the whole through various parts.
His final chapter, entitled `The Next Hundred Years' examines the possible
developments and societal changes (which we are already beginning to see) due to
computers, chaos science, increased space exploration, genetic engineering and
genome mapping, and an ever-present companion in history, war.
This is a well-written exploration of world history written with clarity and
style. It makes an excellent companion piece for almost any intellectual field.
