Cover of Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

by Peter Watson · 2005

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Peter Watson's hugely ambitious and stimulating history of ideas from deep antiquity to the present day—from the invention of writing, mathematics, science, and philosophy to the rise of such concepts as the law, sacrifice, democracy, and the soul—offers an illuminated path to a greater understanding of our world and ourselves.

Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of thisphilosophyphilosophyMore like thisLess of thissciencescienceMore like thisLess of thispsychologypsychologyMore like thisLess of thisbiographybiographyMore like thisLess of this
Themes
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of thisreligionreligionMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
epic · 848 pages

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Liked Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

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  4. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View Richard Tarnas · 1991 Shares philosophy, history, nonfiction
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“People who read Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea Arthur O. Lovejoy · 1936
  2. The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas Isaiah Berlin · 1959
  3. The Crisis of the European Mind Paul Hazard · 1935
  4. Civilization: A New History of the Western World Roger Osborne · 2006

“If you want more of the same (history), start with these.”

  1. Re-thinking History Keith Jenkins · 1991
  2. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction Robert J.C. Young · 2001
  3. Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: A Graham Hancock Reader Graham Hancock · 2010
  4. Ideas That Changed the World Felipe Fernandez-Armesto · 2003

“If it was the philosophy that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Age of Genius: The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of the Modern Mind A.C. Grayling · 2016
  2. Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History Lee Harris · 2004
  3. At the End of an Age John Lukacs · 2002
  4. An Intimate History of Humanity Theodore Zeldin · 1994

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. A New History of Western Philosophy Anthony Kenny · 2007
  2. Pythagoras: His Lives And The Legacy Of A Rational Universe Kitty Ferguson · 2010
  3. The Bit and the Pendulum: From Quantum Computing to M Theory--The New Physics of Information Tom Siegfried · 2000
  4. Mathematics for the Nonmathematician (Books Explaining Science) Morris Kline · 1967

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