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A review by bluestjuice
The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell
3.0
I picked this up because the group of friends I hang with likes to be casually smug about how, in a catastrophic apocalypse, we'd fare pretty well on account of our passing familiarity with ancient and medieval techniques. I've always felt pretty skeptical about the realism of that statement, and this book totally bears me out. In a word, if we were to backslide like that, we'd all be screwed. Even the very smart people I know. Even the resourceful people I know. There are too many things, basic building blocks of civilization, that we know absolutely nothing about. Chemical compounds that are necessary. Agricultural techniques. Methods of time-keeping. Navigation. I appreciated what the author was trying to do, but there is just so much.
It was a really fascinating survey of technological advances - most of which aren't ones I would even have considered - and which of them would be most readily adaptable to a post-apocayptic lifestyle. I especially liked the ode to the scientific method in the penultimate chapter. All in all, I'm not sure that owning this book would do you that much good, in the situation described, but it was a thought-provoking read.
It was a really fascinating survey of technological advances - most of which aren't ones I would even have considered - and which of them would be most readily adaptable to a post-apocayptic lifestyle. I especially liked the ode to the scientific method in the penultimate chapter. All in all, I'm not sure that owning this book would do you that much good, in the situation described, but it was a thought-provoking read.