Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good Condition/Very Good. In this hugely ambitious and exciting book Peter Watson tells the history of ideas from prehistory to the present day, leading to a new way of telling the history of the world. The book begins over a million years ago with a discussion of how the earliest ideas might have originated. Looking at animal behaviour that appears to require some thought – tool-making, territoriality, counting, language (or at least sounds), pairbonding – Peter Watson moves on to the apeman and the development of simple ideas such as cooking, the earliest language, the emergence of family life. All the core areas are tackled – the Ancient Greeks, Christian theology, the ideas of Jesus, astrological thought, the soul, the self, beliefs about the heavens, the ideas of Islam, the Crusades, humanism, the Renaissance, Gutenberg and the book, the scientific revolution, the age of discovery, Shakespeare, the idea of Revolution, the Romantic imagination, Darwin, imperialism, modernism, Freud right up to the present day and the internet. But the book also looks delves into some original and innovative areas – the rise of accuracy (why it happened when it did and why it mattered), early understandings of time, how ideas in the New World differed from those in the Old. 822 pages. Light foxing to outer page edges. Dust Jacket has fading to spine edge. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: 1-2 kilos. Category: History; History; ISBN: 029760726X. ISBN/EAN: 9780297607267. Inventory No: 266982.. 9780297607267

Synopsis

In this hugely ambitious and stimulating book, Peter Watson describes the history of ideas, from deep antiquity to the present day, leading to a new way of understanding our world and ourselves.The narrative begins nearly two million years ago with the invention of hand-axes and explores how some of our most cherished notions might have originated before humans had language. Then, in a broad sweep, the book moves forward to consider not the battles and treaties of kings and prime ministers, emperors and generals, but the most important ideas we have evolved, by which we live and which separate us from other animals. Watson explores the first languages and the first words, the birth of the gods, the origins of art, the profound intellectual consequences of money. He describes the invention of writing, early ideas about law, why sacrifice and the soul have proved so enduring in religion. He explains how ideas about time evolved, how numbers were conceived, how science, medicine, sociology, economics, and capitalism came into being. He shows how the discovery of the New World changed forever the way that we think, and why Chinese creativity faded after the Middle Ages.In the course of this commanding narrative, Watson reveals the linkages down the ages in the ideas of many apparently disparate philosophers, astronomers, religious leaders, biologists, inventors, poets, jurists, and scores of others. Aristotle jostles with Aquinas, Ptolemy with Photius, Kalidasa with Zhu Xi, Beethoven with Strindberg, Jefferson with Freud. Ideas is a seminal work.

Reviews

(Log in or Create an Account first!)

Details

Bookseller: leura books (AU)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 266982
Title: Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud
Author: Peter Watson
Format/Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Used - Very Good Condition
Jacket Condition: Very Good
Quantity Available: 1
Edition: First Edition
ISBN 10: 029760726X
ISBN 13: 9780297607267
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Place of Publication: London
Date Published: 2005
Keywords: BZDB43 History; History; Unbranded ISBN: 029760726X EAN: 9780297607267 Peter Watson Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud

Terms of Sale

leura books

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. Once your order has been received, it will be picked, packed and mailed within 48 hours.

About the Seller

leura books

This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.

Biblio member since 2003

Bowral, New South Wales

Ask Seller a Question

About leura books

Quality Used Online Bookstore

Glossary
Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Spine: The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Jacket: Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
New: A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Edges: The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
First Edition: In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...