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ryukwalker's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
sky_reaper's review
4.0
Well, this book is unexpectedly good, with a metaphorical premise, which is the painting and cover of this book, The Wanderer above a Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich.
It starts with the introduction of the study of history as contradictory and ambiguous, yet it opens the possibility for an uncertain future, in which the historians try to map out using the past and the present. The landscape of history might leave you in this exhilarating sense of significance and insignificance in the spectrum of time and space, but in the end, a worthwhile endeavor, as we see things in its context.
This would be an appropriate introductory guide to those who are majoring in history -- with it tackling part philosophy of history and part historiography. For those who are still studying history, a good refresher course. Reading this made me felt like I'm back in my classes in the past xD
It starts with the introduction of the study of history as contradictory and ambiguous, yet it opens the possibility for an uncertain future, in which the historians try to map out using the past and the present. The landscape of history might leave you in this exhilarating sense of significance and insignificance in the spectrum of time and space, but in the end, a worthwhile endeavor, as we see things in its context.
This would be an appropriate introductory guide to those who are majoring in history -- with it tackling part philosophy of history and part historiography. For those who are still studying history, a good refresher course. Reading this made me felt like I'm back in my classes in the past xD
prisonhistoryguy's review against another edition
4.0
Gaddis gives a well written, accessible pep talk to historians in this small work. It's always good to think about the things we do automatically as historians and why we do them.
agathacrispy's review against another edition
3.0
It is, I believe, apt of Gaddis to reference Don Quixote in the preface of book, for it is through all his elongated and sometimes, arduous metaphors that I find a man who is driven mad by what the world ought to be, by a vision of the world that only he could see. Whether Gaddis is seeing true reality or not, is not for me to say, however, if one would allow me a metaphor, I’d say Gaddis saw something in that mist and fog, and while he attempted to show it to us, I’m afraid his vision did not completely translate onto the page. His metaphors, which he describes as “[opening] windows and [letting] in fresh air,” instead seemed to halt the book’s progress repeatedly, so the reader was left in the fog, having forgotten what they were originally intended to see in it. However, as Don Quixote himself stated, “There is no book so bad...that it does not have something good in it.” I believe that holds true for this book.
pagesofnectar's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the first books I'm reading as a history/archaelogy student and it sure was very interesting and easy to read as well! I really appreciated the analogies/references/examples that made Gaddis' thoughts and scientific terms easier to understand!
However, I did find the comparison to social studies to be overly extended to a point past the one needed to clarify the differences between the two sciences, almost as if he was trying to prove that history is "better".
However, I did find the comparison to social studies to be overly extended to a point past the one needed to clarify the differences between the two sciences, almost as if he was trying to prove that history is "better".