Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950
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About this ebook
A sweeping cultural survey reminiscent of Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence.
"At irregular times and in scattered settings, human beings have achieved great things. Human Accomplishment is about those great things, falling in the domains known as the arts and sciences, and the people who did them.'
So begins Charles Murray's unique account of human excellence, from the age of Homer to our own time. Employing techniques that historians have developed over the last century but that have rarely been applied to books written for the general public, Murray compiles inventories of the people who have been essential to the stories of literature, music, art, philosophy, and the sciences—a total of 4,002 men and women from around the world, ranked according to their eminence.
The heart of Human Accomplishment is a series of enthralling descriptive chapters: on the giants in the arts and what sets them apart from the merely great; on the differences between great achievement in the arts and in the sciences; on the meta-inventions, 14 crucial leaps in human capacity to create great art and science; and on the patterns and trajectories of accomplishment across time and geography.
Straightforwardly and undogmatically, Charles Murray takes on some controversial questions. Why has accomplishment been so concentrated in Europe? Among men? Since 1400? He presents evidence that the rate of great accomplishment has been declining in the last century, asks what it means, and offers a rich framework for thinking about the conditions under which the human spirit has expressed itself most gloriously. Eye-opening and humbling, Human Accomplishment is a fascinating work that describes what humans at their best can achieve, provides tools for exploring its wellsprings, and celebrates the continuing common quest of humans everywhere to discover truths, create beauty, and apprehend the good.
Charles Murray
Charles Murray is a political scientist, author, and libertarian. He first came to national attention in 1984 with the publication of Losing Ground, which has been credited as the intellectual foundation for the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. He is also well known for his 1994 New York Times bestseller The Bell Curve, coauthored with the late Richard J. Herrnstein, which sparked heated controversy for its analysis of the role of IQ in shaping America's class structure.
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Reviews for Human Accomplishment
7 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charles Murray surveys a very large topic and provides both direction and structure for it. The immensity of his work is difficult to appreciate for he ranks the leading 4,000 innovators in several fields of human accomplishment from 800 BC to 1950. The categories of human accomplishment where significant figures are ranked in the book are as follows: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Physics, Mathematics, Medicine, Technology, Combined Sciences, Chinese Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Western Philosophy, Western Music, Chinese Painting, Japanese Art, Western Art, Arabic Literature, Chinese Literature, Indian Literature, Japanese Literature, and Western Literature. In reviewing the accomplishments in these categories he argued, based on Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics, that innovation is increased by beliefs that life has a purpose and that the function of life is to fulfill that purpose; by beliefs about transcendental goods and a sense of goodness, truth and beauty; and by beliefs that individuals can act efficaciously as individuals, and a culture that enables them to do so. I found that he answered my questions as they arose during my reading and he dealt effectively with issues like the prominence of the West, the predominance of men, and others. The most satisfying sections for me were his discussion of the importance of Aristotle and his summation. The result of Murray's efforts is a worthy assay of human excellence throughout history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Charles Murray’s Human Accomplishment is an unusual, provocative and wholly worthwhile read. Murray tackles – and admirably executes – a daunting task: combing through dozens and hundreds of histories and encyclopedias of famous figures and events in the historical development of the sciences, medicine, technology, fine arts, literature and philosophy in search of answers to foundational questions such as ‘What is human accomplishment?’ ‘Who has accomplished the most, and why?’ and ‘What enables/drives such accomplishment?’Given Murray’s notoriety, some might attempt brush off this study with a few puerile criticisms of Murray’s methods or results, but if you actually read the book you will see that Murray has anticipated and parried just about every possible objection. He is thorough, dispassionate, and clear.The most interesting part of the book, I think, comes towards the end, as Murray concludes that it’s Christianity’s fostering of individualism, plus a sense of transcendence and purpose, that has undergirded the very heights of human accomplishment.Highly recommended.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Charles Murray is consistently insightful and always adept at simplifying complicated arguments. In this book, he evaluates empirically relative progress of human achievement over time and in different modern cultures. He develops an objective approach, then shows how progress was driven by a combination of improved economy, the centralization of advanced creativity in specific locations, and the additive effect of having previous successful models. He also proves that the often maligned "dead white men" really is a myth.