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

Peter Watson

Mar 2024 · Harper Collins

About this eBook

The acclaimed author of The German Genius presents a sweeping intellectual historian of human civilization: "[An] extraordinary book" ( Sunday Telegraph, UK).
In Ideas, Peter Watson has undertaken a hugely ambitious study, charting the evolution of human history from deep antiquity to the present day through the lens of intellectual development. Here is the grand story of human thought from the invention of writing, mathematics, science, and philosophy to the rise of such concepts as the law, sacrifice, democracy, and the soul. Impassioned and erudite, Ideas offers an illuminated path to a greater understanding of our world and ourselves.
"This is a grand book . . . The history of ideas deserves treatment on this scale." —Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Evening Standard (London)

Ratings and reviews

Peter Watson's has a narative ability that could make an advanced college lecture on about computer operating systems spoken in code both engaging & retainable.... ok, I'm exaggerating a little but only a little.

Incredibly fascinating read but takes patience. Very long with a lot of great bibliographical references. Traces so many ideas that influenced the development of modern civilization and links them together in a very thought provoking way.

An unbelievable work. Down to the footnotes and references.

About the author

Peter Watson has been a senioreditor at the London Sunday Times, a New York correspondentof the London Times, a columnist for theLondon Observer, and a contributor to the New YorkTimes. He has published three exposés on the world ofart and antiquities, and is the author of several booksof cultural and intellectual history. From 1997 to 2007he was a research associate at the McDonald Institutefor Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge.He lives in London.