"And you know that Jesus traveled, healing the sick..."
History folks!
Humans have been on the earth for 6,000 years?
by make yourself 76 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Oubliette
James Brown's source:
"A little history of the World" by E. H Gombrich:
... (originally in German, Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser) is a history book by Ernst Gombrich. It was written in 1935 in Vienna; Gombrich was 25 years old at the time. Gombrich, writing the last phases of his doctoral thesis, corresponded with the young daughter of some friends, who wanted to know what he was spending all of his time on at work. It was a great pleasure for Gombrich to explain his doctoral work to the girl, using only words and concepts that children could understand. - [Emphasis added]
Gombrich's goal in the book is summarized in his following words, which appear in the foreword to the book's Turkish edition:
"I would like to emphasize that this book isn't thought of and wasn't ever thought of as a replacement for history books used in schools, which serve an entirely different purpose. I would like for my readers to relax and to follow history without having to take notes of names and dates." - [Emphasis added]
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AndDontCallMeShirley
To add to Oubliette's comment:
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From Wikipedia:
A Little History of the World
(originally in German, Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser) is a history book by Ernst Gombrich. It was written in 1935 in Vienna; Gombrich was 25 years old at the time.
...Convinced that an intelligent child could understand even seemingly complicated ideas in history, given that they were put into intelligible terms, Gombrich composed a sample chapter on the "Ritterzeit" (Time of the Knights), and sent it to the publisher Walter Neurath. Excited about the text, but somewhat pressed for time, Neurath asked Gombrich to produce a complete script in six weeks
...Antony Grafton of the Wall Street Journal reviewed Gombrich's book saying
"Lucky children will have this book read to them. Intelligent adults will read it for themselves and regain contact with the spirit of European humanism at its best."
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So apparently James Brown's "popular" history book he bases his arguments on was written almost 80 years ago for children. And, this 'empirical' work was completed in a mere 6 weeks! Holy crap, James!! Is this the higher education you've been brandishing and using as a club to insult the rest of us with??
What next? You'll read "My Book Of Bible Stories", then claim you are a biblical scholar??
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AndDontCallMeShirley
"I would like for my readers to relax and to follow history without having to take notes of names and dates."
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Well, at least James took that recommendation seriously. He can't tell anyone here a damn thing about anything.
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http://givethosewomenablog.com/2014/05/02/a-little-history-of-the-world/
In 1935, Ernst Gombrich was invited to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. He was 26 years old had a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job. He completed the task in six weeks.
...In 40 concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man, the story of us, from the Stone Age to the Atomic Bomb. However, instead of providing the reader with a deluge of dates and facts, Gombrich leaves out the boring bits and recounts our history in an amiable way as if he is in the room with you
– telling a story. This story starts with ‘Once upon a time’....."
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LOL !!!!!! James Brown's "highly acclaimed" history book was written by a twenty-something unemployed art major who wrote this children's book in only six weeks. ROFLMFAO !!!!!!
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OnTheWayOut
At 0:50 is a statement that is clearly no longer believed to be accurate about the universe collapsing, but otherwise here is a pretty good explanation.
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Oubliette
In James Brown's defense, if he is the typical JW, he would not have been taught how to distinguish a real academic work from one that is not.
Here are a few select links typical of those I use with my students to help them learn how to determine the reliability of a source:
- Purdue University OWL: Evaluating Sources
- Cornell University: Introduction to Research
- Harvard University Guide to Using Sources: What's Wrong with Wikipedia?
- US Center for Disease Control: Deciding Whether a Source is Reliable
- PBS Research Guide: Assessing Sources (NOW Classroom) - has a pdf worksheet
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cofty
Thanks for those links Oubliette
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AndDontCallMeShirley
Thanks, Oubliette. Good info.
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Oubliette
Cofty and Shirley, you're welcome!
I just fixed the link to the Harvard site. It was redirecting to an incorrect location.
Oubliette
PS - I think I'll add these links to my Philosophy of Science thread. James, you may want to check that thread out!
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James Brown
Really!
According to James it's a standard textbook at secular universtities.
Have you not been entirely honest about that James?
Cofty I did not say that "A little history of the world" was a standard text book.
I was saying that the terms history and pre-history were history 101 termonologies.
I think the " A little History of the world" is a thumbnail sketch of history.
