Happy Monday!
This week’s book is
I found this on my grandfather’s bookshelf and just by the first page was captivated. Throughout the whole book I was just saying wow at our shared history.
Estimated reading time: 1 minutes, 32 seconds.
Here’s my top 10 takeaways:
Progress
Unlike Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians, were not interested in preserving the ways of their ancestors.
Their many raids and battles with foreign people had opened their eyes to new ideas and taught them to relish variety and change.
At this point, and in this part of the world, history began to progress at a much greater speed, because people no longer believed that the old ways were the best.
From now on, things were constantly changing and ever improving.
2. Purpose Beginnings
The Athenians were not looking for an easy, comfortable life, but one which had meaning.
A life of which something remained after one’s death, something of benefit to those who came after.
This is the bedrock of human purpose.
3. Ages
The Middle Ages is given its name for no other reason than that because it falls between antiquity and modern times.
Dark Ages is the period which followed the collapse of the Roman empire when very few people could read or write and hardly anyone knew what was going on in the world.
4. Indulgences
Two Medici popes planned to build a new church that would cost a great deal of money.
Where this money came from mattered less to the popes of the day than getting hold of it and completing their wonderful church.
Priests and monks collected money and made the faithful pay for the forgiveness of their sins and called them ‘indulgences’.
5. Old vs New
In the Enlightenment, the people who held ideas wanted to combat the darkness of superstition with the pure light of reason.
Tolerance, reason, and humanity were the three fundamental principles of the Enlightenment.
6. Nature
Mastering the mathematics of nature enabled people not only to understand the forces of nature, but to use them.
They were now harnessed and put to work for mankind. Think about fire.
7. Rome
Rome’s founder and first king was called Romulus.
The first roman emperor was Augustus.
The last emperor was Romulus Augustus.
Curious coincidence.
8. China’s Example
China is the only country in the world to be ruled for hundreds of years, not by the nobility, nor by soldiers, nor even by priesthood, but by scholars.
9. Novelty
If you want to do anything new, you must first make sure you know what people have tried before.
If we are able to see farther is because we stood on the shoulders of giants.
10. Perspective
The great questions of history are decided not by speeches but by blood and iron.
History is written by the winners.
“What I have always loved best about the history of the world is that it is true. That all the extraordinary things we read were no less real than you and I are today.”
— E.H. Gombrich
Until next week,
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