| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Brian Bilek" |
| Date: |
13 Feb 2004 01:18:54 AM |
| Object: |
Request for history text recommendation. |
Greetings!
This may be slightly off topic, but I was wondering if folks could
recommend a few good (non-North American focused) books on the history
of the world (from the first humanoids on to the present day). I am
currently reading The New History of the World by J. M. Roberts.
While informative, I find the (admittedly few) bible references and
apologies for treating the bible as history somewhat annoying. I
would very much like to find a book that treats the bible (and Quran)
like any other book of faith when searching for historical sources.
Also, I would appreciate it if someone could point me to a secular
look at religious history. Specifically the history of the world's
major religions, including information on the historical figure of
Christ (if such information exists outside of the bible). I have not
had much luck finding a book on religious history that was not written
by a member of the faith being discussed.
Thank you in advance!
-Brian
(Spam filter: Add my first initial to the forefront of my email address to contact me directly.)
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Request for history text recommendation. |
13 Feb 2004 01:41:31 AM |
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"Brian Bilek" <rian@darkalley.net> wrote in message
news:o2uo20p3ucq18bkh20uoscf03lecbh3bh6@4ax.com...
Greetings!
This may be slightly off topic, but I was wondering if folks could
recommend a few good (non-North American focused) books on the history
of the world (from the first humanoids on to the present day). I am
currently reading The New History of the World by J. M. Roberts.
While informative, I find the (admittedly few) bible references and
apologies for treating the bible as history somewhat annoying. I
would very much like to find a book that treats the bible (and Quran)
like any other book of faith when searching for historical sources.
Also, I would appreciate it if someone could point me to a secular
look at religious history. Specifically the history of the world's
major religions, including information on the historical figure of
Christ (if such information exists outside of the bible). I have not
had much luck finding a book on religious history that was not written
by a member of the faith being discussed.
Thank you in advance!
What you want is Will and Ariel Durant's "Story of Civilization." Comes in
a series of a dozen or so hardback volumes, starts back in the caveman days,
goes up to the 1940's or so. It's very readable, and the authors make it
interesting. There's some discount bookstore that sells complete sets for
relatively cheap, I forget who, but they're out there somewhere. I got mine
at the local Half Price Books, $5 a volume. One virtue of such a
collection is that you can start with whatever period of history you're most
interested in, and it whets your curiousity to find out what events
transpired before . . .
--Tock
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| User: "John Popelish" |
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| Title: Re: Request for history text recommendation. |
13 Feb 2004 11:18:41 AM |
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Brian Bilek wrote:
Greetings!
This may be slightly off topic, but I was wondering if folks could
recommend a few good (non-North American focused) books on the history
of the world (from the first humanoids on to the present day). I am
currently reading The New History of the World by J. M. Roberts.
While informative, I find the (admittedly few) bible references and
apologies for treating the bible as history somewhat annoying. I
would very much like to find a book that treats the bible (and Quran)
like any other book of faith when searching for historical sources.
Also, I would appreciate it if someone could point me to a secular
look at religious history. Specifically the history of the world's
major religions, including information on the historical figure of
Christ (if such information exists outside of the bible). I have not
had much luck finding a book on religious history that was not written
by a member of the faith being discussed.
Thank you in advance!
-Brian
I enthusiastically recommend "The Cartoon History of the Universe"
series by Larry Gonick (mathematician turned historian). This series
was originally in comic book format units, but these have been
combined into three big volumes (so far). The drawings are marvelous
and have a great sense of humor, but the information is well backed by
historical research and well documented in an extensive bibliography
for further reading. The footnotes are almost worth the purchase
price. You'll see what I mean.
Vol. I From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great.
Vol. II From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome.
Vol. III From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance.
The individual comic book 'chapters' are also still available for the
most part.
e.g.
Volume 1 The evolution of everything.
Volume 5 Brains and Bronze
Volume 8 Is Everything Sacred?
--
John Popelish
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| User: "DJ Nozem" |
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| Title: Re: Request for history text recommendation. |
13 Feb 2004 06:03:27 AM |
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On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 01:18:54 -0600, Brian Bilek <rian@darkalley.net>
wrote:
Greetings!
This may be slightly off topic, but I was wondering if folks could
recommend a few good (non-North American focused) books on the history
of the world (from the first humanoids on to the present day).
I don't know if such a book exists. Most either deal with civilisation
or 'prehistory'. One good book that treats pretty much everything up
to the modern era is Guns Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond, which
goes back 13,000 years. Don't buy it for a treatment of the role of
the Gracchi in the ancient Roman Republic, though. It has an odd angle
for a history book, it mainly seeks out the causes for divergent paths
of history on the different continents.
I am
currently reading The New History of the World by J. M. Roberts.
While informative, I find the (admittedly few) bible references and
apologies for treating the bible as history somewhat annoying. I
would very much like to find a book that treats the bible (and Quran)
like any other book of faith when searching for historical sources.
Also, I would appreciate it if someone could point me to a secular
look at religious history. Specifically the history of the world's
major religions, including information on the historical figure of
Christ (if such information exists outside of the bible). I have not
had much luck finding a book on religious history that was not written
by a member of the faith being discussed.
I'm starting to read Karen Armstrong's 'A History of God'. (more
canon, je sais...) I don't know if she satisfies your criteria and I
doubt she'll be discussing the historicity of Christ. It appears to be
more about the history of religious ideas, but so far she's objective
enough.
--
We give meaning to each other
DJ Nozem aa#1465
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