For most readers, Forgotten Revolution should dramatically change your (unknowingly outdated) view of both history and science. Regardless, if you like learning about history or science (or both), definitely check out this book, especially since most of this information is not readily available online.
Unique among non-fiction books, Forgotten Revolution is jam-packed with incredible facts about the level of scientific knowledge known during the Hellenistic period (323-32BC), the vast majority of which you won’t have learned in school, nor will you have heard about on the internet. To name but a few of my favorites: The ancient city of Alexandria had sacred temples equipped with automatic doors, as well as coin-operated vending machines that dispensed holy water. The Alexandrian mathematicians had developed an advanced combinatory mathematics, even being aware of the Schroder numbers, these being independently rediscovered in the late nineteenth century. The ancient Alexandrians were aware of the precession of the equinoxes, this being discovered in the second century BC. The ancient Alexandrians were also aware of the heliocentric theory, despite the widespread popularity of the geocentric theory.
Although the book is mostly an easy read, about half of the first one hundred pages involve higher math concepts and some of this was over my head. While I don’t consider myself an expert, at the same time, I’ve read other mathematical books that don’t presume the reader is a math whiz and therefore they provide more explanation about various terms/concepts. For this reason, I have to knock off half a star. Fortunately, nothing in the rest of the book was hard to understand and everything else was sufficiently explained.
Overall, I agree with the main premise of the book, namely: That the ancient Alexandrians and others possessed a considerable body of scientific knowledge during the Hellenistic period, most of which was lost during the Dark Ages and then rediscovered a millennium later, this ultimately being the catalyst to the European Renaissance. That being said, on the other hand, that doesn’t automatically mean that this vast body of scientific knowledge was originally developed by the Alexandrians. For instance, the philosopher Numenius reports that Egypt was one of the civilizations who inherited parts of the ‘Prisca Sapientia’ (“Ancient Philosophy”) known to our ancestors before recorded history. In my opinion, given the two options and based on the incredible architectural achievements of the Egyptians (such as the Great Pyramids), it makes more sense to me that this scientific knowledge was inherited from the ancient Egyptians, and before that it probably went back to the Golden Age of the immortal gods and goddesses of myth, exactly as believed by ancient historians. Nevertheless, this point doesn't change the fact that The Forgotten Revolution is an incredible book and I highly recommend it to everyone.
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2020Format: Paperback
Top reviews from other countries
- Peter ShoreReviewed in Australia on August 31, 2020
Enjoyable and learned
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - A. J. M. WatsonReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2012
A revelation about a revolution
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - ZafeirisReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2015
Thanks!
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - Vincent AbbottReviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2013
Interesting
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
