Book Description
From the hand ax and mathematics to IC chips and the laser, each technological touchstone in human history is described and placed in historical context. Each profile includes the who (if we know it), how the idea developed and how it works, the immediate impact of the idea, and the technological 'children' of the idea. The time span is 3500 BC to today. The author closes with an epilogue that looks into the future, a bibliography, and a list of great Web sites for young inventors.Realistic, 4-color paintings, in technical drawing style, showcase the idea and its applications by humans.
Customer Reviews:
Adult game for memory.......2007-10-12
Another good game to play with my 84 year old dad who is losing his memory. He reads a loud an invention to me in the morning over coffee and has a great time.
This book gives an entertaining & informative tour of inventions & discoveries across five time periods! .......2007-05-23
What A Great Idea! Inventions That Changed The World
by Stephen M. Tomecek
Ever since I have read, among many others, 'They All Laughed... From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have Changed Our Lives' by Ira Flatow, I am always on the look-out for similar books in this genre.
I have an ardent fascination for the history of science & technology, & have amassed a vast collection of books in this genre. Not only I am interested in the life stories of the scientists & inventors, I am also keen to find out how they went about in the pursuit of the original ideas behind their inventions.
I have recently acquired 'What a Great Idea' from a used bookstore. It showcases lively, colourful stories about some significant inventions & discoveries against a historical background e.g. the hand ax, the wheel, the clock, writing, clothing, mathematics, & the computer. It also divides them across five broad time periods ranging
- from the ancient world before 3,000 B.C.E.;
- the metal age from 3,500 B.C.E. through A.D. 1;
- the age of discovery from A.D. 1 through 1799;
- the age of electricity & communication from 1799 to 1887;
- the age of the atom from 1887 to the present;
What I liked about this book are the full-colour diagrams & clear illustrations, which have been well-integrated with brief descriptions of how the inventions work as well as insightful information about their impact on society as well as on subsequent inventions & discoveries. What eventually emerges from this book is a sense of inter-connectedness among the inventions & discoveries that other books often lack. This reinforces what Leonardo da vinci once said, "Everything is connected to everything else."
Also, the author's style of presentation is informally straight-forward & visually appealling.
Well, if you have that curiosity streak in you about the history of inventions & discoveries, just like I do, I guess you just have to go & get hold of this book. I can assure you, this book gives an entertaining & informative tour.
Book Description
A fascinating journey through time and across Europe and Central Asia, in search of the prophet Zarathustra (a.k.a. Zoroaster)—perhaps the greatest religious lawgiver of the ancient world—and his vast influence.
In Persia more than three thousand years ago, Zarathustra spoke of a single universal god, the battle between good and evil, the devil, heaven and hell, and an eventual end to the world—foreshadowing the core beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Moving from present to past, Paul Kriwaczek examines the effects of the prophet’s teachings on the spiri-tual and daily lives of diverse peoples. Beginning in the year 2000 with New Year’s festivities in Iran, he walks us back through Nietzsche’s nineteenth-century interpretation of Zarathustra to the Cathars of thirteenth-century France and the ninth-century Bulgars; from ancient Rome to the time of Alexander the Great’s destruction of the Persian Empire; and, finally, to the time of Zarathustra himself.
Not only an enthralling travel book,
In Search of Zarathustra is also a revelation of the importance of the prophet, and a brilliantly conceived and lucid explication of the belief systems that helped shape the European Enlightenment, the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, and the beginning of the Christian era. It is an enthralling study of a little-explored subject.
Customer Reviews:
In the name of Iran.......2007-06-04
This book was purchased so it can teach about faith of Zoroastrian and how this faith of Zoroastrian shaped other faiths. However, author of the book is not discussing faith of Zoroastrian, the author of the book begins to introduce his own bias political view on Iran's political culture. The author of the book begins to have way too far condescending tone on Iran's political culture. Overall, the author of the book has hostile tone on faith of Zoroastrian.
Example:
1. On Page 13, author begins to make personal attack on Pahlavi monarchy by stating that, in 1971, Queen Elizabeth did not attend Persepolis celebration just in case Shah wanted to make vulgar comment. According to the author Shah made a vulgar comment because Shah said that Cyrus the Great is my King, and Cyrus rest in peace. For we are awake. How Shah was vulgar toward anyone?
2. On Page 15, author states that Shah waged war against Islam, even last "Zoroastrian Shah's troops" was defeated against Islam. However, according to book "Spirituality in the land of noble" by Richard C. Foltz stated that during Shah, there was total religious freedom and absent of religious persecution.
3. On Page 88, author clearly states that "Modern Iranians call it Naqsh-e- Rustam, the Picture of Rustam, a legendry popular Iranian hero who was reputedly so strong that no feat was beyond him. It is s misnomer, the result of the great amnesia about their ancient past". This author on countless occasions was mocking Shahnameh written by Ferdosi.
4. On Page 89, this author mentioned that "this spot still wove such a spell on the psycho of later weavers of the Iranian imperial mantle-the Sassanians, who rule here from the third century-that, like children running to tell their parents all about their exploits they felt compelled to add their own more coarsely sculpture panels below ancient tombs". This author on countless occasions begins to patronize Iranian Monarchy from different dynasties.
5. On Page 92 this author loves Alexandra for burning Persepolis and believes Zoroastrian faith was a decay faith "in the West between the classical age of Rome and the Christianity of the Dark and Middle ages, in the East between the bright Hellenism of Alexandra's successors and the sudden reimposition and long-drawn-out decay of a revised Zoroastrianism- an interregnum that would last until Muslim conquest gave exhausted East a brilliant fresh start in the seventh century."
6. This author believes that Rome borrowed faith of Zoroastrian and reinvented new faith which is Mithraism. However, according to countless scholars, this faith of Mithras comes from Iran and spread globally.
Verdict:
This book is not worth buying and reading because it is waste of time and money. This author does not provide any kind of supporting document for his allegation, and is distorting historical facts. There is no wonder he used to work for BBC, and educated in England, this British people pretty much hate others.
Rather Clear Historical viewpoint.......2005-10-25
Kriwaczek's research answers quite a few questions that I have always had about Zarathustra that saves rather tedious amounts of time researching for myself. This book may not be everyone's answer to everything, though. It is a rather sober perspective on Zarathustra's origins.
If you seek an enlightened religious reference regarding Nietzsche's viewpoints read Bhagwan Shree Rashneesh's Zarathustra, A God that can Dance. You will never view life the same way again. It is not a short book, and personally is taking a very long time for me to read because each page breaths life. Unlike some other reviewers here who are opinionated and dry as cement.
From the insert..."What a joy, what a delight! to discover 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra; coming alive in the discourses of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. With refreshing wit and clarity this Master takes Nietszche out of the dusty covers of academic analysis, extracting the essence of his work, illuminating the relevance of Zarathustra for anyone seeking the god with now-a God than can truly dance."
-Count Christoph Keyserligk
From the words of Bhagwan himself
"The day man forgets to laugh, the day man forgets to be playful, the day man forgets to dance, he is no more man; he has fallen into a subhuman species. Playfulness makes him light; love makes him light; laughter gives him wings. Dancing with joy, he can touch the farthest stars, he can know the very secrets of life. Zarathustra would like your life to be a garden where birds sing, where flowers blossom, where trees dance, where the sun comes with joy. Zarathustra is absolutely for life, and that is the reason why he does not have many followeres. The poisoners, the destructive people, have millions of followers. And a unique teacher and a unique mystic whose whole message is love and life, has got the smallest religion in the world...Zarathustra's religion shoud be the only religion. All other religions should be buried in the cemeteries, because except for life there is no God, and Except for love ther is no prayer."
Chatty, erudite and kaleidoscopic.......2005-10-25
Kriwaczek tells us that he has been fascinated by Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) since his school days, when his English teacher introduced the class to Nietzsche, and this pupil, "naturally enough ... went to the school library to find out what he had written", and found Thus Spake Zarathustra. Kriwaczek's book now purports to be a search for this elusive character, working backwards in time from Nietzsche. This quest would, as an adult (and at times as a television journalist), involve him in travelling all over the Middle East, Iran and Central Asia. The result is this vividly written account of his physical journeys in these lands, peppered with historical disquisitions, written with equal vividness, but whose origins, I suspect, had come from some decent libraries and guide books before he set out. In any case this is not the easiest way to convey a clear picture of the subject, and the problem is aggravated by two other features: the first is a helter-skelter backwards and forwards in time and in space. So, for example we travel within a few pages of one chapter from Carcassonne in France (p.74) to Derbent on the Caspian (p.75); a page later we are on the Trans-Siberian railway (p.76); on p.77 we are with the 13th century Tartars and on p.79 with 5th century BC Sarmatians!
The other feature is that Kriwaczek is so entertainingly knowledgeable about so much that he devotes pages on matters which have only the thinnest link with Zoroastrianism. Zarathustra himself had only one god, Ahura Mazda, and described all the other deities of his time as not deserving of the name. A very long time after his death, as Zoroastrianism departed from the original view of the prophet, it produced another god called Mithra, who seems to have borne a very similar relationship to Ahura Mazda as Jesus would bear to God the Father. Now the Romans also worshipped a god called Mithra, but, although Kriwaczek tells us that some modern scholars think that it was a mere coincidence that the same name was given to two gods who had nothing to do with each other, he devotes 2/3 of that chapter to telling us everything he knows about this Roman Mithras. Truth to tell, in the course of the book we really learn far more about Nietzsche, the Cathars, the Bogomils, the Sarmatians, the Romans, the Manichaeans and the Jews than we do about Zarathustra. Kriwaczek knows so much history that the slightest link he can establish with Zarathustra's teaching (or its later perversions) is enough to get him to unpack it all. The penultimate chapter ends, "Having mapped the Persian seer's influence back through the two and a half millennia that separate our own era from the dawn of Persian civilization, what remains in to seek out the traces of a time before ... recorded Iranian history began - the days of the First Prophet himself."
It was therefore with some eagerness that I looked forward to the last chapter for a comprehensive account of what Zarathustra stood for, but I found it a rather thin harvest. Yes, very likely Zarathustra was the first monotheist, the first who spoke of the End of Time, the first who saw life as a battle between Good and Evil, the first who taught that mankind has a choice between them, the first who summed up the duties of man as "Good Words, Good Thoughts, and Good Deeds". Yes, if we dig down through Judaism, Christianity and Islam, we can find a Zoroastrian substratum. And yes, I do understand that Kriwaczek would not call that a thin harvest; and I can see his point.
In any case, this is a rattling good read. There is a wealth of information here - some of it quite startling (for instance, that much of what we call Gothic is actually Sarmatian); the patches of history he tells us about are exciting and little known to the general reader; his enthusiasm is infectious; and his word painting is superb. The book was not what I expected from the title or what I think it ought to have been, but I enjoyed every page of it and am very glad I read it.
One of the best non-fiction books I've read in a long time.......2005-02-10
This book is written by a lay man for lay people, which means whether or not you already know anything about Zoroastrianism or the Persian empire, you can enjoy this book just as much as the next person, although more scholastic knowledge might actually enhance your enjoyment of this book. This book is a good, fun read, written by a fine author who imbues it with his sense of fascination for the past and his love of learning about different cultures. That alone makes it worth reading because you also will learn about the past and present and different cultures from a book which is written in a fast, easy style. Still, I think the best feature is the admirable way in which the author demonstrates a link between a religion that is over 3000 years old and the religions of today. In the end, whether you believe his arguments or not, you will have learned something that will change your outlook on religion. Few books have that kind of impact, and I highly suggest you avail yourself of the opportunity to learn something.
Paul Kriwaczek's joureny is a tantalizing tale.......2004-10-30
"in search of Zarathustra" is a fascinating tale of author's search for Zarathustra's influence in Judeo-Christianity religion. Without falling into academic endless debates and tiring arguments, Mr. Kriwaczek provides tangible and meaningful evidence backed by history, records and visible signs.
What I found most engaging in PK's book was his journey and how it pulls you in with every chapter and every passage only to reach a most wonderful climax at the end.
Zarathustra lived more than three thousand years ago and his followers are a few by today's standards. However the power of his message is in its simplicity and profoundness. How much more does one need to know or remember than to take side with the good and fight evil in this world, to practice good thought, good words and good deed? Perhaps the simplicity of this everlasting message is what is most powerful about it.
Book Description
Authoritative, compelling, and provocative, Ideas That Changed the World presents the big themes in philosophy and history, and reveals how certain ideas have shaped our civilization. One of the most respected historians writing today, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto offers an unashamedly personal analysis on a wide range of ideas -- from the afterlife to taboo foods -- that will keep readers enthralled.
Customer Reviews:
classroom warm-up, coffeetable topper, 10 minute filler, mosaic history masterpiece?.......2006-04-29
There's much truth in the other reviewers' comments, this book has many aspects and could just as easily be hated by a die-hard academic and it could be loved by a science degree 'haver' like myself.
The book is a time-line of sorts spanning the first (as far as we can imagine) idea in mankind's history through to modern inventions (spawned by an idea, of course) in society.
Ideas are presented in chapters of sorts by what evolutionary/historic time period/epoch they ocurred in, yet the whole book glides along easily and isn't at all broken up by this.
Nice air-brushed pictures, quotes, further-reading suggesitons dot the page to break up well-written shortish textx on the idea at hand.
So far I paint a nice picture but the downside, for some readers, will be that there isn't a deep/sound treatment of the ideas (conversly every idea has a further-reading list), since the scope is so broad; and for some, the smooth style will be too sickly-sweet glossy magazine (for others an anti-dote to heavy text-vomiting uni-course texts).
I'd recomment this strongly to anyone like me who needs to gain an overviews/perspective, to have interests awoken and so forth. I'd also recommend it to teachers of subjects like philosophy, history, society, culture etc.
For me, it's an idea-a-day new year's resolution to learn more about the world I tread and the history of my species... a gem of a book. 4.49 stars.
amazing browser book.......2005-10-21
the kind of book that would appeal to history buffs and/or thinkers. a manageable and agnostic assortment of the ideas that defined history. an inspiring read.
A Book That (Almost) Changed My Mind.......2004-09-28
My knee-jerk reaction was to dislike this book for the same reason I dislike the notion of reading a newspaper headline rather than the article, or skimming through the guidebook rather than experiencing a place. It's melodramatic, but I always saw these things as symptoms of a culture bent on cheapening itself, where being able to act and talk like an expert was just as good as being one.
But as a worked through this thick little book my dislike softened a bit, and even if it never really became anything warm it did turn into a kind of begrudging acceptance. In the end, I'm glad I didn't buy this book myself -- it was a gift -- but I'm also glad I read it.
Most of the book's value, I think, comes from the context it builds. I did not find any single chapter extraordinary, and quite a few seemed disappointing (this is not the fault of author Felipe Fernandez-Armesto -- after all, how can anyone adequately describe anti-Semitism or theories about the afterlife or the history of time in a mere two pages?). But together they formed a mosaic that from a distance gives a pretty good picture of current thought and where it came from.
Nobody will become an expert -- real or otherwise -- at anything by reading this book. But Mr. Fernandez-Armesto clearly is an expert, and I admit that his efficient and often opinionated writing does a good job at laying everything out in easy-to-understand terms.
In the end, reading this book is a little like taking a spoonful of everything on a restaurant's menu in order to figure out what plates might be worth eating more of later. That sort of thing usually leaves me with heartburn, and rather than picking this volume up again I would prefer to refer to the original sources or, at worst, an encyclopedia. But for the world's enthusiastic skimmers, Ideas Than Changed the World is probably worth considering.
"coffee table" book for the mind.......2004-06-23
This is a "coffee table" book of ideas to spend a few minutes with at a time rather than a book to sit and read from cover to cover. As a kid I used to read through the World Book Encyclopedia; this book provides the same kind a service and sometimes excitement for selected important ideas that have "changed the world".
Brief, concise, pointed sketches of important ideas are on target for their selection and coverage. Perhaps far from perfect, but there is nothing else nearly as good. Selected notes direct one to books to purse any idea further. Many ideas will be familiar and the short essays and photos may stimulate memories or reflection. A few will be new - or commonly misunderstood. Either way the open minded reader will learn something and be stimulated. Except for the tired cynic, most will find some intellectual entertainment and perhaps even stimulus to deeper thought.
shallow and simplistic.......2004-06-21
What a disappointment! This book reminds me of a child's illustrated reader--it is definitely not for educated adults. The concepts are treated so briefly, and the illustrations are so large and glossy, that there is little chance of gaining insight or illumination on any topic. The publisher promised "provocative," but the provocation, sadly, is caused by the author's heavy-handed ideological slant that favors opinion over fact. The institution of "marriage," for example, is deemed out-of-date, and to illustrate that fact, we are treated to a nice, big, glossy photo of Michael Douglas and Katherine Zeta-Jones with a caption describing their need for a pre-nuptial agreement. Puleeze!
Book Description
New management ideas are springing up all the time, propagated by new gurus, adopted by consultancies, and promoted through hundreds of business books. But how do managers find time to read every new theory? How do they distinguish important ideas from pure sales hype? They read one book instead of hundreds.
Customer Reviews:
Yet another book on management?.......2004-04-26
Books on managements are dime a dozen. So, what sets this book apart from the rest? Well, not much! If you are looking for insightful ideas that will change the way you think, this is not the book for you. Having said that, what Stuart Crainer does is to provide bite-size snippets on various facets of management ranging from strategy to marketing in one location. If you are not looking for depth but some light-reading about what "who's who" of management has said or thought, this may be the book.
- GaramChai.com Admin
Product Description
"Memphis Innovations" is a collection of people, ideas, and innovations that have made a remarkable impact on the city of Memphis and our world. The book features 50 successful Memphians who have come from a variety of backgrounds and occupations. Their stories demonstrate the significance of conviction, commitment,determination,and responsibility, as well as a firm belief in an individual's ability to attain success. Stories from "Memphis Innovations" enlighten readers with a variety of viewpoints, including advice regarding the workplace and beliefs about society.
Average customer rating:
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Art and Technology Through the Ages (Ideas That Changed the World)
Jacqueline Dineen , and
Philip Wilkinson
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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ASIN: 0791027694 |
Customer Reviews:
Every American should read this.......2007-10-14
Every "true" citizen of this country should read this well written simple documented book. It explains what the founders, in their own words, wanted this country to be and the dangers that would come if we did not follow them. It is disturbing to see how far we have deviated from their blueprint.
The 5000 Year Leap: The 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World.......2007-09-10
Do you want to know why America is so great and one of the wealthiest nations in the history of the world, read this book. The 5000 Year Leap explains the fundemental principles that make freedom and prosperity possible. Every conscious citizen needs to understand these principles so that we do not loose the freedoms and prosperity we now enjoy.
Awesome book!.......2007-08-23
Every American must read this book. If we don't wake up soon life as we have come to love it will be destroyed. It's time to get back to our roots. I'm not a very religious man but I am a christian and believe God should be part of our lives in schools and government.
One Nation Under God.......2002-12-04
A great compilation of the inspired ideas that are shaping our nation; a must read for all patriots. In this post-September-11 world, this book reminds us of the need to return to the religious and moral foundation upon which our republic rests.
Although the book's thesis is based on Judeo-Christian principles, I had no problem (nor did our nation's founders) in extending its premises to all humanity and all humane belief systems. I especially liked the summary of Ben Franklin's fundamentals of all sound religion on p. 77.
For those of you who deny the need for a religious and moral component to our society, I can only side with an intellect greater than mine. Let us remember George Washington's warning from his farewell address excerpted on p. 76 of the book: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indespensable supports...And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion...Reason and experience forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle."
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, anyone who believes in an ordered universe will find much to ponder in this book.
This is not Outcome-Based Education, thank God..........2000-12-05
It just amazes me how well established the revisionists have become in America, and how so many of us can't see through the smoke screen. When we can read direct quotes from our Founding Forfathers why do we still continue to disbelieve? This isn't the first book I've read of this kind and this one continues to make my convictions about this country even stronger. The information contained in it should be in every household in America and every school house in every county, seat, parish in every state and be manditory study for every politician, government official, "leader" and political figure of every kind.
Customer Reviews:
new paradigms.......2003-06-02
It is astonishing to see that Hans Ruesch is included in this august list of writers and thinkers - which covers the thoughts of people such as Stendhal, Keats, Shaw, Malthus, Baldwin, Orwell, de Beauvoir, Toynbee, Herodotus, Carlyle, Whitman, Kennedy, Darwin, Kolata, Heyerdahl, Hoyle, Plato, Scriptures in Hinduism, the Prophet Mohammad, St Matthew Parables, Darrow, Sartre, Aristotle, Ruskin, Flaubert, Rothstein, de Mille, Berger - because so much has been done, for decades, in all sections of the anglophone media in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US, to stifle/suppress/ignore what Hans Ruesch has to say; whereas the company in which he has been placed is so widely known and read that one only needs to mention their surnames, as it were.[...]BR>
This isn't just any old book. It is targeted at the possibly great thinkers of the future, mainly those in universities, from freshman to postgraduate. That is not to say that great thinkers are only to be found in universities, as you will note from the list of names in this book: In rightly adding Hans Ruesch's name to 'Ideas That Changed The World', the authors have 'un-suppressed' him. They have, indeed, quoted some 10 pages from "Slaughter of the Innocent", his meticulously researched most famous oeuvre for genuine antivivisectionists. The faux anti-vivisectionists also did/still do a hatchet job on him, yet the 'innocent' in the title are humans and animals, both.
<[...]P>Kudos to the authors for this inclusion.
Book Description
The what, why, who, and how of key management thinking and ideas that have transformed the business world.
Books:
- Why Vietnam Invaded Cambodia: Political Culture and the Causes of War
- Windrush
- Ysabel
- 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- 1776
- 300
- A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People: From the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present
- A Living Lens: Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of the Forward
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- An Introduction to Shi`i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi`ism
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