Thursday, March 06, 2008
Literary links for World Book Day
As it’s World Book Day, here’s another of those occasional cultural interludes.. Award winning blogger [*ahem* - Ed], Shane Hegarty, wants to know “what one book you would recommend everyone read?” I’d agree HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy would be an excellent choice, and I’d disagree with Sinéad’s comment on the movie - it wasn’t great, but it was good. [Adds That was this Sinéad, btw. A different] Sinéad, at Sigla blog, also has 10 more related links. To which I’ll add the Guardian video of a young artist meeting Quentin Blake. And I’ll take the opportunity to repost my version of Melvyn Bragg’s 12 books that changed the world
Here’s my attempt.. admittedly, entirely subjective.. as Melvyn Bragg’s is -
Magna Carta (1215)
Johann Guttenberg’s Bible (1452)
Nicolaus Copernicus - On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (1543)
William Gilbert - De Magnete (1600)
William Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623)
Galileo Galilei - Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican (1632)
Charles I’s death warrant (1649)
Robert Hooke - Micrographia (1665)
Newton – Principia Mathematica (1687)
Thomas Jefferson et al - The Unanimous Declaration of Independence of the thirteen united States of America(1776)
Charles Darwin - The Origin of Species (1859)
Albert Einstein - Special theory of relativity (1905)
This time I’ll add an honourable mention to Andreas Vesalius - De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543, 1555)
Feel free to add your own suggestions.
Pete Baker @ 02:11 PM
Pretty good list but you didn’t go back far enough, Pete.
Any list is incomplete without the Dialogues of Plato.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 03:41 PMJoe
I’ve undoubtedly left out many books which some will think any list would be incomplete without.
The tricky thing is to pick just 12 books.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 03:51 PMSurely the Communist Manifesto has to go in for sheer impact? And replace the yank declaration with the French one of 1789
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 04:43 PMI cannot believe it is World Book Day again. I have to say, I think it is very sporting of Bragg to include Marie Stopes “Married Love.” Don’t remember hearing of it before, but it certainly sounds chockfull of news you can use.
In terms of books that changed the world, I guess I’d include Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe (for its influence, not its literary merits), and perhaps, seriously, James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” on merit, as well as the censorship battles it provoked, and the authors it influenced and inspired.
That means I would have to cut three, and that would be difficult. It seems like forever since I curled up with Charles I’s death warrant; perhaps I would investigate cutting that from a list of twelve.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 04:43 PMGuns Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond.
Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith
The Perfect Spy - Le Carre
History of Wales - John Davies
Un nos ola leuad - Caradog Pritchard
An idiot’s guide to the Mafia - Jerry Capeci
To kill a mocking bird - Harper Lee
My fight for Irish Freedom - Dan Breen
The Kite Runner - can’t remember Hossein is it?
Dance Hall of the dead - Tony Hillerman (anything by Hillerman)
Culture in Crisis - Clive Betts
Echo Park - Michael Connelly (and lots more by him)
Donnelly’s Famine book number 12 - again can’t remember nameMy brother in law has just written “A rough guide to the world’s best 200 classics” - I’ll let u know when it comes out Pete - but in the meantime get into detectives mun.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 04:52 PMdewi
12 books that changed the world?
Garibaldy
Possibly. Personally I’m not convinced enough to drop anything on my list. But it is subjective.
Susan
Even if you did drop parliament’s authorisation of the execution of a King.. ;o)
..you’d still have to drop two others.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:08 PMCharles I’s death warrant more impact than the Communist Manifesto? I’d seriously doubt that. In fact, I might even find it a bit silly, and highly Anglocentric. On the Yank declaration, the reason I said the French was that it resulted in much more immediate and irrevocable change across Europe and beyond, as seen in the extent to which so many countries of the world model their flags and constitutions on those produced by the French Revolution.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:13 PMAs I said, Garibaldy, it’s a subjective list.
I’d argue that the two documents you’ve criticised for inclusion on my list represent actual moments of world-changing impact.
As for the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789.
From the French President’s website
“The 1789 Declaration of the rights of man and the citizen was inspired by the American Declaration of Independence of 1776.”
Your “Yank declaration” reference is, perhaps, telling.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:26 PMUndoubtedly the French Declaration was inspired by the American. But I’d reckon its significance is greater not only because of France’s place in the international state system at the time, but also because of both its immediate effect on Europe - an effect the American declaration did not come close to having - and for its longer-term impact. The American declaration changed American circumstances. The French declaration changed the course of European and then world history forever.
The Yank declaration was laziness, not hostility to the ideals of 1776.
On the Charles I thing. The execution of Kings by their subjects was not as unusual as some people would like to think, even if the establishment of the commonwealth for a few years was interesting. On the other hand, the Communist Manifesto inspired numerous attempts to reorganise society according to radically different political, social and economic principles that had never been tried before. The execution of Charles I inspired…nothing?
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:36 PMI haven’t criticised them. I’ve said that I could see other replacements for them if the list is to stay at 12.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:37 PMSurely any list would have to include:
Martin Luther - The Ninety-Five Theses
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:41 PMI’m keeping the original declaration of independence on the list, rather than a document it inspired - for obvious reasons, I’d have thought.
“The execution of Kings by their subjects was not as unusual as some people would like to think”
Well I put that document on my list because of its impact in terms of assserting the authority of parliament over that of a King - despite his appeal that he was divinely appointed and therefore not subject to any court.
Again, for obvious reasons, I’d have thought.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:46 PMDec
I listed Johann Guttenberg’s Bible (1452)
For the impact on religion.. and, moreso, for the impact of the use of movable type in the printing press.
But, again, it’s a subjective list.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:55 PMInspired by rather than a copy of. As in got the idea for a declaration to explain what they were at to people. The two documents are actually fairly distinct given the differences in social and political conditions. In fact, a great deal of the American Declaration is a rather boring attack on George III.
As for Charles I, we could just as easily put any Roman historian’s account of the last Roman king (Tarquinus I think) on. The execution of Charles I did not involve a break with the economic and social as well as political arrangements of the past, something that was achieved by the followers of the Communist Manifesto.
I am not saying that the documents you have put on are not highly significant. Just that I think that more signficant equivalents can be found in terms of their impact on world affairs.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:56 PMAnimal Farm must be included along with the Bible.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 05:57 PMOne of the most influential non-books has to be “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, which led to too many awful atrocities. Reminds me a little of the so called rosary bead, holy water blessed by the pope, IRA “Green Book”, which used to often be quoted by Loyalist rabble rousers.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:08 PMPete, thanks for the link. I should point that it’s a different Sinéad who made the comments about HGTTG.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:09 PMThanks Sinéad.
I should have been more careful when leaping to that assumption.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:13 PMYes - that would be me. :)
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:18 PMDifferent Sinéads, but I still agree with my namesake on the film version. It’s pants. :)
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:20 PMAnimal Farm must be included along with the Bible.
Posted by ulsterfan on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:57 PM
Why?
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:21 PMIt’s a terrible pity when a movie of a novel doesn’t do it justice. It makes persuading someone to read that book particularly difficult, and yet they could be missing out on something so great like HHGG.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:24 PM“but I still agree with my namesake on the film version. It’s pants. :)”
I have two words in response to that.
Bill Nighy.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:25 PMI’m not saying that it wasn’t an entertaining family film - it just didn’t have that Adams essence to it. A terrible pity.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:27 PMSinéad C
That I agree with.
But as an entertaining film, in it’s own right, it did work.
Posted by on Mar 06, 2008 @ 06:29 PM
