Book Review: The Map Of Knowledge - How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found by Violet Moller

Picture Credits - Google

Where does knowledge come from? The fact that history answers this question is one of the reasons that I love it so much. The book explores seven ancient cities and how knowledge spread and spread from one city to another between 500 and 1500 AD. The seven cities that have been covered and discussed are Alexandria, Baghdad, Cordoba, Toledo, Salerno, Palermo, and Venice.

According to this book, Western thought is not Western but is formed by the transfer of knowledge from East to West. We live in an age where knowledge is tainted by opinions. Once you understand that our common civilization spreads because we are open to dialogue, regardless of religion or culture, it will pave the way for a better future.

Plot - Spoiler Alert!

In the "Knowledge Map", Violet Moller traces the thoughts of the three greatest ancient scientists Euclid, Galen, and Ptolemy through seven cities and a thousand years of journey. In it, we follow them from Alexandria in the 6th century to Baghdad in the 9th century, from Muslim Cordoba to Catholic Toledo, from the Medieval Salerno Medical School to Palermo, the vibrant cultural fusion capital of Sicily, And finally, to Venice, where the great merchant city printing presses will enable Euclid’s geometry, Ptolemy’s star system, and Galen’s large number of medical works to be spread more widely.

By tracing these fragile knowledge flows from east to west and north to south century by century, Moller also revealed the network of connections between the Islamic world and the Christian world. These connections will protect and change astronomy and mathematics from all over the world and medicine.

From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. With vivid narrative and dazzling characters, the knowledge map is an evocative, nuanced and vibrant story of our common intellectual heritage. The book combines pure history and intellectual history.

Mueller analyzed the fate of the seven cities he chose, such as the rise of Palermo under Norman rule, and the fate of ideas themselves, such as the decline of Galenian medicine during the Renaissance. The result was a decent study of various aspects of ancient Greek thought and medieval history.

Moller excels in discussing the interaction between Arabic and Christian learning centers and the complex relationship between the two. However, since this book combines ancient and medieval history with less than 300 pages of intellectual history, it is largely an overview of the subject.

This is not necessarily a criticism, because it makes reading very easy and enjoyable, but anyone with a reasonable foundation in Greek history or thinking may find this book sometimes understates the details.

In general, I would recommend this book as an interesting and well-written introduction to the relationship between ancient Greece, Christianity, and the Arab world, although it can sometimes use more in-depth analysis.

Personal Verdict

This book tells you how the elements (a book by Euclid), the masterpiece of astronomy (a book by Ptolemy) and a stack of books by Galen traveled through history and promoted our science. It tells the story of development.

The story starts in Alexandria, and from there you go to many places: Baghdad, Toledo, Salerno, Venice, etc. At each location, you will be introduced to the smartest person at the moment, and your job will briefly explain why knowledge moves in this way. Finally, this is a book that I like very much.

It allows me to see how some cultures developed from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. This is a period that we often think of like the dark age, and how this period is. The inventor who had such an impact. Like Leonardo, but then Western Europe-mainly the Catholic Church-polarized most of the work, so we left a "blank".

Famous Quotes

“The great library was gone but its monumental reputation would become an everlasting symbol of both the power of knowledge and the tragedy of its loss.”

“The book of Ingenious Devices was widely read across the Arab world and their ideas would travel to Muslim Spain, and from there, translated into Latin, into Western Europe.”

Conclusion

I learned a lot about the diffusion of medieval knowledge, the contribution of the Arab / Muslim world to the preservation and development of scientific knowledge, and the reasons why they were delayed and started to stagnate intellectually, as well as the period of the learning center for centuries. If you like to read history, especially in an easy-to-digest and informative way, this is a great book.

My Rating for the Book - 5/5

For More Such Reviews Visit - Eat My News

Written By - Manika Gupta