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1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus 200 reviews
Charles C. Mann
Vintage, 2006
engaging, thought provoking, stimulating, a great read!
+ Over the top
+ Well Researched, Fascinating, and a Real Eye-Opener
+ Fun although not gospel
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Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea 133 reviews
Charles Seife
Penguin (Non-Classics), 2000
Nothing... Something to get excited about
+ Seife Deciphers the Cipher
+ Not a math lover but I still enjoyed the book!
I'll admit, writing a book about nothing and making it exciting is probably a challenging thing to do. This is going to be a rather odd thing to bring up at the start of the review, but I have to ask did people read a different book than I did? Seriously, I read through just about every negative ...
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The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer10 reviews
Georges Ifrah
Wiley, 2000
math history you can use
+ The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer
+ A great book to browse through
I am a teacher and I love this book. I use it to teach counting systems to young children. I like having access to all kinds of math of the past. How to write it, how it was used, the subtleties of each language. I personally love it for myself as well - I am a math teacher and this is the best I ...
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Stolen Legacy 79 reviews
George G. M. James
African American Images, 2002
A study of the DNA of ancient Greeks shows they were black African
+ The Greeks Copied Egyptian Knowledge (and Northern Europe had NOTHING to do with creating Greek Civilization)
+ Color blind
+ Missing the point
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The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History9 reviews
J.M. Blaut
The Guilford Press, 1993
Pops a Few European Balloons
+ Refuting Eurocentrism
+ Excellent read.
This is a good critique of the assumptions made by Eurocentric historians over the years about the superiority of Europe as compared to the inferiority of the rest of the world. Blaut effectively examines and explodes each theory dispassionately but thoroughly. Finally he comes up with his own ...
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The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World2 reviews
Thames & Hudson, 2004
A focus on extraordinary world inventions
+ good choices
Thames and Hudson's 'Seventy' series provides a blend of discipline contributions in including essays by scientists, historians and more, along with a focus on extraordinary world inventions to tackle all the technological facets which have made modern society so important. Hundreds of photos and ...
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Eight Eurocentric Historians 10 reviews
J.M. Blaut, James M. Blaut
The Guilford Press, 2000
Useful and inspiring criticism of Eurocentrism in history
James Blaut's "Eight Eurocentric Historians" is part 2 in his three-part series on what he calls the 'colonizer's model of the world', that is, the Eurocentrism of many historians, anthropologists and social scientists when discussing the sources of Europe's rise to power and its influence on the ...
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How The West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation Of The Industrial World3 reviews
Nathan Rosenberg, L.E. Birdzell Jr.
Basic Books, 1987
The origins of capitalism revealed!
+ "adaptation takes place through the formation of enterprises that are, at least initially, small," ie., decentralization=growth.
+ Institutions as the fundamental cause
"How the West Grew Rich" is a thorough treatise on the rise of capitilism in the nation-states of the west, from feudal society towards modern times. Rosenthal and Birdzell discuss in the appearances of the requirements for capitilism, such as acknowledgment of property rights and consistent and ...
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Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies1075 reviews
Jared Diamond
W. W. Norton, 2005
A profound and lasting classic
+ History; It's What's for Dinner
+ Fascinating!
+ Great subject and treatment - shakey science
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The Story of Writing: Alphabets, Hieroglyphs, & Pictograms, Second Edition9 reviews
Andrew Robinson
Thames & Hudson, 2007
Easy to read introductory book
+ Crowd pleaser
+ An overview of writing systems.
An excellent introduction for people looking for a good overview of writing systems. The content is succinct and the large number of illustrations and pictures make it easy to understand and grasp the concepts.
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Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists16 reviews
Michael H. Morgan
National Geographic, 2008
Must Read--Fills a Great Void
+ A Must Read
+ A Timely but Unscholarly Book on Fascinating History
+ Excellent Book
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Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World23 reviews
Jack Weatherford
Ballantine Books, 1989
How the New World revolutionized the Old
+ Indian Givers
Anthropologist Jack Weatherford traces an informative and entertaining case for his main thesis - that the contributions of the Native American population to the Old World have not been truly or fully appreciated more than 500 years after Columbus landed.
Written in a highly readable style, he ...
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American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations 5 reviews
Kay Marie Porterfield, Emory Dean Keoke
Checkmark Books, 2003
A great book on a largely ignored subject
+ Great for School Research and Reports
+ American Indian Accomplishments
+ Excellent resource
+ The Reviews Speak for Themselves
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The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention12 reviews
Robert Temple
Inner Traditions, 2007
Ancient Chinese Technology
+ The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, abd Invention
+ The Genius of China
+ An outstanding survey highly recommended for any collection strong in Chinese history and culture.
+ On Chinese Genius
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Lost Discoveries : The Ancient Roots of Modern Science--from the Babylonians to the Maya30 reviews
Dick Teresi, 2002
Eye-opening
+ absorbing survey of ancient, nonwestern science
Teresi starts his book by noting,
"I began to write with the purpose of showing that the pursuit of showing that the pursuit of evidence of nonwhite science is a fruitless endeavor...Six years later, I was still finding examples of ancient and medieval non-Western science that equaled and often ...
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The Abacus: The World's First Computing System: Where it Comes From, How it Works, and How to Use it to ...11 reviews
Jesse Dilson
St. Martin's Griffin, 1995
Spectacular Abaci
+ Delightful--entertaining and informative
This book is an excellent resource for kids that are struggling with math. Math becomes fun, and even competetive. The abacus, though somewhat primitive in the eyes of a novice, or to someone that has never seen one in action, is an excellent tool for helping children to understand and perform ...
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The Muslim contribution to mathematics2 reviews
Ali Abd Allah Daffa
Humanities Press, 1977
A demonstration of how much western scholarship owes to the Arabs
In the current climate of intense hostility between the Muslim and Western worlds, it is easy to forget that there was a time when learning and scholarship was concentrated in the Arab (Muslim) world. From approximately 700 to 1300 AD almost no one could read or write in Europe and scholarship as ...
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American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World48 reviews
David E. Stannard
Oxford University Press, USA, 1993
In answer to conservative pseudointellectuals...
+ eye opener
+ History Repeated
All of the big words and "references" in the world won't change history for you, unfortunately. I notice that among the people who did not like this book, they all pretty much said the same thing: That Stannard didn't paint an accurate picture of the natives of the western hemisphere. That he ...
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How Islam Created the Modern World6 reviews
Mark Graham
Amana Publications, 2006
Well done, easy read, thoughtful
+ making a long story short
+ A good review of a subject not very much dwelled upon.
"Get over it." Many who might buy this book are from the generations taught about the wonders of "Western Civilization" - a persuasion still behind some who purport to teach "World History" today when many colleges are more professional and career training having shed history and foreign language ...
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Skywatchers : A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico1 review
Anthony F. Aveni
University of Texas Press, 2001
A Landmark Book
This is one of my favorite books. I am a writer and happened to stumble onto this amazing book while researching Velikovsky, the current failed comet model, earth changes and much more. Aveni produced this fine scholarly work on the central american archaeological sites. I was blown away when I ...
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