12 Publications that changed mankind



tcklyde said:
Yeah, agree with 11ring, Marx Das Kapital has to be on there.

Not a book, but the Declaration of Independence certainly is important (not to toot the U.S.'s own horn, but as a break from colonialism and as a statement of liberal republican government, it is distinctly important).

Lot of interesting stuff on that list.

I thought that the DoI would have been on the list - given that it was the first of it's kind.

Maybe Bragg's view is that the Magna Carta was the first real declaration of rights for citizens (subjects).
 
limerickman said:
(although Playboy was only unbanned in this country in 1995!)

Was that before or after they legalized rubbers?

I saw a Japanese Playboy once - they airbrushed out the nipples and other good bits...
 
DiabloScott said:
Was that before or after they legalized rubbers?

I saw a Japanese Playboy once - they airbrushed out the nipples and other good bits...

You could get Playboy here - but legally newsagents/shops weren't allowed to sell it publicly until 1995.

(It was subject to a banning order in the 1950's and it was only revoked in 1995!)
 
limerickman said:
British broadcaster and critic, Melvyn Bragg, wrote about the 12 documents which he says changed mankind.

The documents author, title, and publication date are :

CHARLES DARWIN, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, 1859

MARIE STOPES, MARRIED LOVE, 1918

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, SPEECH TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1789

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN, 1792

MAGNA CARTA, 1215

THE KING JAMES BIBLE, 1611

MICHAEL FARADAY, EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN ELECTRICITY, 1855

THE FIRST RULE BOOK OF THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, 1863

PATENT SPECIFICATION FOR ARKWRIGHT'S SPINNING MACHINE, 1769

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, FIRST FOLIO, 1623

ADAM SMITH, THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, 1776

ISAAC NEWTON, PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA, 1687

A very interesting list of documents.
Most of us will have come in to contact with the ideas put forward by the respective authors above.
All of these, w/ the exception of the Magna Carta, postdate 1600. Fairly modern stuff :rolleyes: Aristotle (all topics), Archimedes (engineering), Pythagoras (geometry), Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (math), Euclid, ect... are not on the list :confused: No list, however, will satisfy everyone :(
 
Just for fun, this is the list of the ten most important events in the second millenium, published by Life magazine at the turn of the century.

1 Printing by movable type (Johann Gutenberg, 1455)
2 Discovery of the New World (Christopher Columbus, 1492)
3 A new major religion (Martin Luther, 1527)
4 Steam engine starts industrial revolution (James Watt, 1769)
5 Discovery that Earth revolves around sun (Galileo Galilei, 1610)
6 Germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur, 1864; Robert Koch, 1876)
7 Gunpowder weapons (China, 1100)
8 Declaration of Independence (United States) (1776)
9 Adolf ****** comes to power (1933)
10Compass goes to sea (China, 1117)
 
DiabloScott said:
Just for fun, this is the list of the ten most important events in the second millenium, published by Life magazine at the turn of the century.

1 Printing by movable type (Johann Gutenberg, 1455)
2 Discovery of the New World (Christopher Columbus, 1492)
3 A new major religion (Martin Luther, 1527)
4 Steam engine starts industrial revolution (James Watt, 1769)
5 Discovery that Earth revolves around sun (Galileo Galilei, 1610)
6 Germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur, 1864; Robert Koch, 1876)
7 Gunpowder weapons (China, 1100)
8 Declaration of Independence (United States) (1776)
9 Adolf ****** comes to power (1933)
10Compass goes to sea (China, 1117)

Thanks for this - DS.

A very thought provoking list.
 
archimedes, yes, involved also with supporting the early application of greek democracy as a governmental philosophy...how little man has advanced by virtue of intellect, or devolved in in some instances, is a tribute to the thinkers of those times as being equal to, or even surpassing the best of today.




davidmc said:
All of these, w/ the exception of the Magna Carta, postdate 1600. Fairly modern stuff :rolleyes: Aristotle (all topics), Archimedes (engineering), Pythagoras (geometry), Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (math), Euclid, ect... are not on the list :confused: No list, however, will satisfy everyone :(
 
DiabloScott said:
Just for fun, this is the list of the ten most important events in the second millenium, published by Life magazine at the turn of the century.

1 Printing by movable type (Johann Gutenberg, 1455)
2 Discovery of the New World (Christopher Columbus, 1492)
3 A new major religion (Martin Luther, 1527)
4 Steam engine starts industrial revolution (James Watt, 1769)
5 Discovery that Earth revolves around sun (Galileo Galilei, 1610)
6 Germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur, 1864; Robert Koch, 1876)
7 Gunpowder weapons (China, 1100)
8 Declaration of Independence (United States) (1776)
9 Adolf ****** comes to power (1933)
10Compass goes to sea (China, 1117)

William Caxton's developing the Printing Press in 1450 was an important event
 
11ring said:
Check out this ultra right wing take on the 10 most dangerous and evil books ever published. These people are really scary.


http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=7591
I also see that they are giving away coulter's most recent "book" (I use that term "loosely" ;) ). The nerve they have to mention keynes & the current deficit/debt. They fail to mention costly underplanned wars of choice. Those can be quite expensive as GWB & his cadre are learning.
 
Galilleo didn't discover that the earth revolved around the sun, it was known much earlier in the ancient world.
 
DiabloScott said:
Just for fun, this is the list of the ten most important events in the second millenium, published by Life magazine at the turn of the century.

1 Printing by movable type (Johann Gutenberg, 1455)
2 Discovery of the New World (Christopher Columbus, 1492)
3 A new major religion (Martin Luther, 1527)
4 Steam engine starts industrial revolution (James Watt, 1769)
5 Discovery that Earth revolves around sun (Galileo Galilei, 1610)
6 Germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur, 1864; Robert Koch, 1876)
7 Gunpowder weapons (China, 1100)
8 Declaration of Independence (United States) (1776)
9 Adolf ****** comes to power (1933)
10Compass goes to sea (China, 1117)
And the invention of the bicycle doesn't even rate a mention?
Shame.shame,shame!
:D
 
limerickman said:
British broadcaster and critic, Melvyn Bragg, wrote about the 12 documents which he says changed mankind.

The documents author, title, and publication date are :

CHARLES DARWIN, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, 1859

MARIE STOPES, MARRIED LOVE, 1918

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, SPEECH TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1789

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN, 1792

MAGNA CARTA, 1215

THE KING JAMES BIBLE, 1611

MICHAEL FARADAY, EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN ELECTRICITY, 1855

THE FIRST RULE BOOK OF THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, 1863

PATENT SPECIFICATION FOR ARKWRIGHT'S SPINNING MACHINE, 1769

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, FIRST FOLIO, 1623

ADAM SMITH, THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, 1776

ISAAC NEWTON, PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA, 1687

A very interesting list of documents.
Most of us will have come in to contact with the ideas put forward by the respective authors above.
Since these are clearly not in chronological order, are they supposed to be in order of importance?
 
11ring said:
Check out this ultra right wing take on the 10 most dangerous and evil books ever published. These people are really scary.


http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=7591

I'm wondering if that isn't a ****-take... The honorable mentions include "Silent Spring" (Carson) and "Unsafe at any Speed" (Nader). Both of those publications successfully drew public attention to the fact that corporations were wilfully endangering people's lives, I really can't see how that makes them dangerous.

I suppose they could be dangerous to the psychopaths who want to kill every last human being on the planet, but who cares about them ? It's us or them as far as I see it and there's far more of us - for the moment until they get their way.
 
Dondare said:
Since these are clearly not in chronological order, are they supposed to be in order of importance?

I don't think so, Don.
I lifted the list as it was printed in the (British) Independent newspaper.
 
limerickman said:
I don't think so, Don.
I lifted the list as it was printed in the (British) Independent newspaper.

Melvyn Bragg's choices were, as he stressed, simply his list - not the 12 most important, but simply 12 which he thought had had a profound efffect on society and its beliefs/behaviour.

The TV programmes were, as is usual with Bragg, excellent, well-argued, informative and thought-provoking.
 
CHARLES DARWIN, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, 1859
Absolutely!

MARIE STOPES, MARRIED LOVE, 1918
Don't know it

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, SPEECH TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1789
Don't know it

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN, 1792
Don't know it

MAGNA CARTA, 1215
Yes

THE KING JAMES BIBLE, 1611
Unfortunately

MICHAEL FARADAY, EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN ELECTRICITY, 1855
Makes sense

THE FIRST RULE BOOK OF THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, 1863
Huh?? If so, who cares?

PATENT SPECIFICATION FOR ARKWRIGHT'S SPINNING MACHINE, 1769
Maybe

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, FIRST FOLIO, 1623
Ok

ADAM SMITH, THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, 1776
Yes

ISAAC NEWTON, PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA, 1687
Of course!

What about the U.S. Declaration of Independence? It has inspired many a democratic movement in the world.

What about Nicolas Copernicus' On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies? The word "revolution" as an "overturning of established thinking" is said to have originated from the book - it was that groundbreaking!

What about Mein Kampf?