You know about the old superstition, that on the first day of the month you’re supposed to say “Rabbit, rabbit” before opening your eyes? As far as I’m concerned, that’s when websites that are supposed to update on the first of the month should do so. (Before I open my eyes, that is; I suppose they’d need theirs open to do the updates.) Magknits and For Better or For Worse character letters, I’m looking at you. (Though on the other hand I suppose it’s a bit rude of me to complain about content I get for free.)
Yesterday, I finished reading A Little History of the World, by E. H. Gombrich, which I’d picked up at the British Museum. It really is all that: little, but the history of the whole world, written for an intelligent 10-12 year old. It reminds me of the old story, where when a plumber’s $200 bill for 2 minutes’ work is questioned, he breaks it down: $.50: tapping, $199.50: knowing where to tap. The book is engagingly written and enjoyable to read, but I suspect writing it was the easy part. The writing felt like something I could have done, perhaps not so engagingly. I think the genius part was in deciding what to include. There’s an astonishing amoung of content in a very small space, but it never feels rushed. It is a bit Eurocentric, but China, Japan and India are included as well. The author’s Viennese background does show a bit in the subject choice – more than his long British residency – but that just meant a lot was included that I didn’t already know about.
I tried to consider how an equivalent small volume of American history could be included, with everything I’d want to include. I’d want especially to show how things linked together – for instance, the Declaration of Independence and the Civil war are too often taught as separate episodes, but the compromises that made the one possible are exactly what made the second inevitable. I’d also want to show American history as a series of extending individual liberties to more and more of the nation’s citizens, with the bitter battles fought over each one and the frightening episodes of backsliding – like Jim Crow, McCarthyism and right now – that threaten to wreck the progress made so far. I’d include a chapter on the original migration over the Bering land bridge and on the tribes that spread out into the country, and a mention of early Viking exploration before I even got to COlumbus and the explorers who followed him, but other than that it’s one country with a fairly short history – and even so, it would be difficult to do it justice in the space Gombrich used to tell the history of the whole world.