Reflections on the Alternative History of Western Civilization

In 2003, I read a book that had a far-reaching influence on me-The History of Western Civilization. This book may not be the best work of its kind, but it appeared at the right time, liberating me from the grand historical model of "roaming the eastern foot of the Yangtze River and scouring the romantic figures of the ages" and guiding me to meet more wonderful works, so that when I saw Bill? An author like Blethen, whose title is A Brief History of Interesting Life, knows that this book must be my dish again.

Compared with the book market ten years ago, Alternative History has actually flooded. Although I read books on similar subjects from time to time, it's not surprising that I read too much. Although I find it interesting, I am unlikely to have any psychological fluctuations. But a casual sentence in A Brief History suddenly touched me-"Living a decent life is doomed to obscurity". I can't help thinking, if I haven't lived this life, at least I have unconsciously made it my goal in life? A person, even if not Einstein, Kafka, Napoleon, has absolute strength, in fact, he needs to leave a name in history. Every "alternative history" is a list for readers, and it is the key word for the second, third and fourth-rate figures to make a name for themselves in history.

Diary control

Remember Samuel? Pepys is named after the history of the night. In this book about the night history and culture of Europe before industrialization, pepys's diary has been directly and indirectly quoted dozens of times. Samuel? Pepys was the British Minister of the Navy in the17th century. Although his career is booming, he has become the most important figure in the history of Europe in the 1669 century because of his detailed diary in the past ten years. As long as you search for this name, you will find that17th century Europe, whether it is auction, wine tasting or home fashion, all kinds of details are indispensable. When reading a brief history, I got used to it when pepys jumped out from time to time.

Even if you can't be as extensive as pepys, it's good to specialize in one or two fields. Like James? Woodford's favorite thing in his 45-year diary is to write down daily recipes. Even if his sister died, he would never forget to write "Dinner is a delicious roast turkey" when he was sad. Because of this, his diary has become an important document to study the actual eating habits in Britain in 18. For his contribution to history, this foodie may kill most contemporary scholars.

Second, doing nothing.

Tang Nuo wrote (abridged) in "The Materialist Benjamin": "Collection is a supplement to people's salvation. It separates people from the classification order, so that people no longer just use value or even trade prices, thus restoring people's complete dignity and value." Here, people's "collectors" refer to the (unfair) social system. To put these elegant words bluntly, if a person wants to pursue freedom, he should try to avoid becoming an indispensable part of the social machine, make professional speculation from the perspective of cost performance, and become a leisure middle class with the least cost. Only in this way can you give full play to your talents and make achievements in the fields you are interested in.

In western history, the simplest career speculation is to become a priest, so that you can earn a lot of money and do nothing. "A Brief History" used nearly four pages to introduce several clergy who had made outstanding achievements because they did not perform their duties. You can read it yourself if you are interested. To say the least, even if you don't achieve anything with limited qualifications, becoming a priest is more promising because of the birth of Robert? Hook, Jane? Austin was an outstanding child and went down in history.

Three regardless of the consequences

18 10, new york mayor Clinton decided to dig a canal to connect new york with the Great Lakes. The project is expected to cross 363 miles of wasteland, build 83 sluices and use 500,000 bushels of cement. However, the reality is that the United States has no professionals who can dig canals, no government funds, and no cement with sufficient performance. However, when the devil contacted, all the problems were solved in the process of excavation, and the salted fish town in new york turned over.

In order to add a landmark to the 1889 Paris World Expo, Eiffel built a huge tower with discarded materials. Parisians don't know what's the use of building a tower in the city center, but artists and intellectuals such as Dumas, Zola and Mo Bosang criticized it as vulgar and a monster invented by a mercenary machine manufacturer. Eiffel himself seems to find the tower useless. His hope is to build something really huge. Now, we say that the Eiffel Tower is one of the most striking and imaginative large buildings in the19th century.

Four infringing shanzhai

Thomas? Chippendale was the first furniture manufacturer to edit and publish furniture drawings. This idea led to the emergence of mass production technology. As a result, a large number of contemporary furniture manufacturers copied their designs, and Qi Baender's own business also withered; Canvas? White invented the best hydraulic cement in the world at that time, which ensured the realization of the new york Canal Project. Cement manufacturers made a fortune, and White himself was exhausted by the lawsuit of rights protection. After his death, his family could hardly afford the funeral expenses. George? Bisell may be the first person to realize the value of oil (if not counting Shen Kuo) and try to exploit it. He established the first oil company, but when it became very easy to mine and process oil, the winner was Rockefeller, who was originally in the pork business.

A brief history every few pages, there will be an important inventor lost in history, and the infringer succeeded. When we say that one good deed deserves another or justice is restored, we always underestimate the tolerance of history. When we mention Edison, we don't care about his despicable character. Even after we know that he is not the inventor of electric light, we will still say that Edison's genius is not to invent electric light, but to create a commercial scale for the production and supply of electric light. He created the miracle of electric light.

Bill? Blethen is a master of data compilation. He likes to break away from the causal relationship in historical events and use "suddenly" and "somehow" to highlight the irrationality of history. He knows how to adapt to the era of jokes and extract useful materials from the vast amount of historical materials. He is good at organizing jokes together with clever structure and disguising joke books as a big part of a system. He knows that we like these ridiculous things because.

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