The World's Greatest Idea: The Fifty Greatest Ideas That Have Changed Humanity

by John Farndon

Where would humanity be without fire, farming, or wine? A great idea changes the path of human civilization. But which is the greatest of them all?

InThe World’s Greatest Idea, John Farndon has set out to find the answer with help from a panel of experts in the fields of science, the arts, and philosophy. A shortlist of fifty ideas are ranked in the book according to public vote on www.theworldsgreatestidea.com. But will you agree with the verdict?

John Farndon is the author of numerous books including the highly successfulDo You Think You're Clever?(Totem Books).

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Reference, Philosophy, Ebooks

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2010

About the author

John Farndon is an internationally known author, as well as a playwright, composer and songwriter, whose work has been performed at such theatres as the Donmar and Almeida in London and the Salisbury Playhouse and selected for showcases, such as Beyond the Gate.

He has written hundreds of books, which have sold millions of copies around the world in most major languages and include many best-sellers, such as the award-winning Do Not Open, which received rave reviews in the USA and became a cult-hit as well as featuring on the New York Times and Washington Post best-seller lists. In earlier years, he wrote mostly for children, and has been shortlisted a record four times for the junior Science Book prize. Books such as How Science Works and How the Earth Works each sold over a million copies worldwide. But recently he has written much more for adults.

Many of his books focus on popular science, and in particular earth science, nature, and environmental issues. His Practical Encyclopedia of Rocks and Mineral is widely used as a reference work by geologists, while The Atlas of Oceans, his big book on endangered life in the oceans for Yale in the USA (A&C Black in the UK and Australian Geographic in Australia), garnered glowing reports prepublication from major figures such as the Cousteaus, Carl Safina, Nancy Knowlton and Harm de Blij.

But he has covered a wide range of topics, from contemporary China to the food market. The history of ideas and intellectual curiosity is a particular speciality.

In 2010, his book for Icon Do You Think You're Clever? was a best-seller, reaching the top 20 on Amazon and the top 10 in South Africa and Turkey, and was shortlisted for the Society of Authors Education Award. The follow-up The World’s Greatest Idea was selected as one of the top 50 Wish List books of the year in South Africa.

He has been interviewed extensively on radio and TV stations around the world, and conducted talks, demonstrations and displays at many events, from the Brighton Science Festival to the Oxford Literary Festival.

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un fel de manual de popularizare, util în felul lui. N-am găsit decît 50 de rezumate școlărești cu privire la ceva ce John Farndon numește cam lax „idee”. Dar cum poți numi „idei” pîinea, vinul, cafeaua și ceaiul? Dacă pîinea e o idee, atunci și morcovul poate fi una, iar sucul de morcov ar fi a doua. Cel mai aproape de semnificația termenului „idee” par a fi selecția naturală, sinele și zero. În rest, toate celelalte sînt de fapt invenții și descoperiri.

În opinia mea, ideea este sau o intuiție, sau rezultatul unui proces mental de tipul inducției. Există forme de raționament inductiv. Un măr leneș îți cade în cap și strigi euforic: „Gata, m-am prins, în sfîrșit, am înțeles cum vine chestia!”. Dar pîinea nu poate fi o idee (una singură), ci consecința unui buchet de idei. Cineva s-a gîndit să spagă niște boabe de grîu, ca să le mănînce mai ușor și să nu aibă colici. Altul (sau același) s-a gîndit să pună fragmentele de boabe în apă. Altul (sau același) a luat turta și a pus-o pe foc. Toți trei au avut mare grijă ca „aluatul” să nu se transforme în cărbune. În fine, au împărțit turta în trei și au mîncat binișor. Dacă ideile / ipotezele succesive au ieșit din mintea unuia singur (ceea ce mă îndoiesc), fericitul s-a ghiftuit pe o săptămînă. Dacă a avut și o cană cu vin, s-a simțit ca în rai.

Ideea de „self / sine / ego / eu” a apărut tîrziu. În unele paragrafe, autorul pare a o confunda cu „ideea” de individ autonom. Nu-s unul și același lucru. Filosofii încă nu s-au dumirit cum e cu sinele. În această privință, cei mai interesanți gînditori au fost David Hume și John Locke. Ei au negat existența sinelui. Eul este doar un flux de senzații. Prin anii 80 ai secolului trecut, unii psihologi au propus o definiție narativă a sinelui. Oliver Sacks afirmă că „sinele este o biografie, o poveste” spusă de un x pe care-l numim eu.

Înșiruirea celor 50 de „mari idei” seamănă cu clasificarea din enciclopedia chinezească, evocată într-un eseu de Borges. Ce pot avea în comun pîinea, onoarea, cafeaua, iubirea romantică (inventată de trubaduri în secolul al XII-lea, iubirea curtenească), scărița de la șa, numărul zero, căsătoria, internetul? Nu mare lucru. L-au ajutat pe om să devină om :)

Și aș mai face o observație. Foarte puține dintre cele 50 de „ideile geniale” au fost cu adevărat necesare omului. Putem trăi foarte bine și fără ceai, și fără vin (da, da, da!), și fără cafea, și fără onoare, și fără poezia epică, și fără muzică. Sigur, toate au fost invenții minunate, dar omul ar fi evoluat pînă la stadiul de astăzi și fără ele. În schimb, fără scriere, fără roată și fără mașina cu aburi n-ar fi putut. Sau poate că...

Alte însemnări despre cititori și lectură:

https://valeriugherghel.blogspot.com/

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main interesting thing about this is the various ideas that have been chosen as the world's greatest ideas -- not necessarily the best ones, the ones that have improved humanity, but the great ones, that have moved the world. They're a mix of science and politics and agriculture and technology and... just about anything you can think of.

It does end up being rather dry, since it's basically a list, though there are some interesting explanations as to why things were put forward as a great idea.

[Anca Zelenca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a 3/4, but couldn't decide. I have mixed feelings after reading this book. It is a compilation of ideas/inventions/discoveries that possibly changed the world. Some of them are very well researched and explained, but some are too general. I lost concentration somewhere around halfway, but continued reading as some of the last points were interesting. It's a nice reading if you want to expand your general knowledge. Also, it inspired some of my future reading.

[Koray · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Karantinanın 6. kitabı) Şubat 2015'te Ankara Kitap Fuarından sadece "5 TL" ye aldığım (şu an 25 tl) bu eğlenceli kitabı ne yazık ki şimdi okuma şansına sahip olduğum için mutluyum. Her şeyin bir zamanı vardır mottosu burada da iş başında.
Kitapta dünyayı değiştiren 50 fikir "etkili bir özet" halinde sunulmuş. Benim favori fikirlerim: Kanat Profili / Kapitalizm / Refah Devleti / Yelkenli / Bakır ve Demir / Bankacılık / Buhar Makinesi / Kahve ve Çay (hemen ocağa koyun, geliyorum) / Şarap / Hareket Yasaları / Soğutma / Marksizm / Kalkülüs ( matematiksel analiz) / Kuantum teorisi / Matbaacılık / Ekmek / Aşı / Sıfır / Demokrasi / Bilgisayar Programlama / Kanalizasyon / Müzik / Gebelik Önleme / Yazı ve İnternet.
Okurken epey keyif aldım, siz de alın, okuyun. Tepemin tasını attırmayın.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Some interesting resumes re various ideas, inventions and discoveries.

[Sambasivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulously thought through list of innovative ideas that changed the world we live in. The history of each is given in detail with some hitherto unknown nuggets thrown in. Go for it.

[AchiMsd · Rating 4 out of 5]

O carte menita sa satisfaca, in detaliu, curiozitati; sa imbunatateasca cultura generala sau sa o aprofundeze.

Fiecare ideea, din cele 50, este rostogolita pe toate treptele scepticismului pentru a fi cat mai neutra.. explicand de la momentul crearii, pana in prezent,
detalii precum: cand s-a format; cum s-a format; de ce s-a format; este bine sau mai putin bine ca s-a intamplat; la ce ajuta; cat timp a ajutat/ajuta/va ajuta; cat de importanta este in fluxul evolutiei speciei noastre?

Cele 50 de idei sunt: Abolirea sclaviei, agricultura, analiza matematica, ceaiul si cafeaua, canalizarea, capitalismul, casatoria, ceramica, chineza simplificata, contraceptia, cuprul si fierul, democratia, evolutia prin selectie naturala, feminismul, folosirea focului, guvernul, internetul, iubirearomantica, legile miscarii, logica, marxismul, metoda stintifica, monoteismul, motorul cu aburi, muzica, numarul 0, onoarea, painea, poezia epica, productia de masa, profilul aerodinamic, programarea computerizata, Qi, Refrigerarea, retelele de electricitate, roata, scarita de la sa, scrierea, sinele, sistemul bancar, sistemul de ajutor social, speranta, telefonul, teoria cuantica, tiparul, torsul si tesutul, universitatiile, vaccinul, vela, vinul.


O recomand. 🤓
#21(11/30)

[ursullla · Rating 3 out of 5]

100 kişiye sorduk, 50 popüler cevap arıyoruz..

Bir internet sitesinde yapılan ankete göre belirlenen 50 harika fikir yazar tarafından kısa kısa açıklanmış. Her fikre 5-6 sayfa düşüyor, yani her konu giriş düzeyinde kısaca anlatılmış. Bu 50 fikre baktığımızda bazıları gerçekten dünyanın tarihini değiştiren cinsten. Yazı, ateş, internet, seri üretim, aşı gibi. Bazıları ise 'bu nasıl dünyanın en harika fikri' dedirtiyor. Yüzeysel olarak çok fazla konudan bahseden çerezlik bir kitap diyebilirim.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifty short essays, all very well written and mostly thought-provoking, about ideas (arable farming, honor, hope, evolution by natural selection), social concepts (capitalism, contraception, mass-production, universities) and things (the stirrup, the wheel, the steam engine, the telephone, wine) that have contributed to human kind's understanding of and ability to thrive in the world.
Read as bedtime reading, for which it was ideal: relatively short essays, all very well-written, full of interesting angles on things (the wheel, perhaps, did not really come into its full usefulness until the Industrial Revolution).
I will remember the cool concept of the book, and the way it explained the concepts it chose, both in the concepts fundamentals, and in the range of that concept's impact on history.

[Akshay Balakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book which makes you wonder about how many of the things we take for granted today, were actually really understated in terms of the impact they had on human society and humanity in general.

You see the obvious ones like internet, the telephone, the wheel, but you also realise the significance of the concepts of Honour, Logic and even sewerage. There is probably even more ideas that were not captured within the first 50, but we have to understand humanity was built on so many bases and not always because of some people.

This book captures this essence perfectly.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Când mi-a fost sugerată prima dată ideea de a scrie o carte cu titlul 50 de idei geniale care au schimbat omenirea, cea dintâi reacţie a fost să consider totul un demers absurd. Cum ar putea idei la fel de profunde şi complexe precum dreptatea, logica sau marxismul să fie reduse la un simplu concurs de popularitate? Şi, până la urmă, ce vrea să însemne „idee genială“? Este vorba de ideea care a adus umanităţii cele mai multe avantaje sau de cea care a avut cel mai mare impact? Cum îţi
dai seama care este mai bună – cafeaua sau capitalismul, căsătoria sau monoteismul? Desigur, întregul concept este absurd – şi atât de plin de contradicţii fatale, încât este condamnat din start la eşec. Și totuși… Noţiunea de cea mai mare idee a lumii are însă ceva mai degrabă fermecător, ceva care vă ispiteşte să vă gândiţi la ea, să vă opriţi şi să spuneţi „Ia stai puţin; asta e ridicol!“ Aşadar, cartea vă face să cedaţi treptat tentaţiei. Şi dacă vă lăsaţi seduşi, sper că, la fel ca mine, veţi descoperi că totul este un joc fascinant. Ideile contează. Ele ne formează experienţa în lume. Ne aduc lucruri bune şi rele. Ne schimbă viaţa în bine sau în rău. Ne modelează credinţele şi speranţele în viitor. Idei precum focul, metalele şi ceramica ne-au schimbat radical modul de viaţă. Democraţia şi capitalismul au stabilit principii fundamentale care au marcat modul în care funcţionează societatea. Idei precum abolirea sclaviei şi feminismul constituie încercări vitale de a îndrepta un rău. Fiecare dintre aceste idei este importantă şi a avut un impact uriaş asupra umanităţii, fie el bun sau rău.

[Mutiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a great book, indeed! It tells about the coming idea of feminism, how it first started, the history of coffee, democracy, the finding of quantum theory and etc!
it was fun and not boring! you'll enjoy it!

[Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and interesting ideas with a short history of the origin of the ideas. Serves as a good introduction to ideas, but not a comprehensive book.

Some ideas I like particularly :
- zero
- universities
- the scientific method
- the self
- logic
- marxism
- monotheism
- electricity grids

[MK.GLN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes me feel like smarter, like i can talk with credibility. 😉

[Shehzadi]

this is the kind of book that should be compulsory for all students to read.

[Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually a fun and light treatment on the ideas that shaped the world. Hopefully, this is a launching pad to greater studies involving all of these.

[Thandeka Xaba · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up out of curiosity but could’ve lived without reading it. Ended up noting the 50 ideas and reading on those I found interesting. An article/blog post would’ve sufficed.

[Daniel Singery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was a fascinating read! Very interesting and educational!

[Raka Ikrar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy “History of the world” kind of book.

Good list with interesting takes on how it develops and affect the world. But forgettable along the way kind if book

[M.G. Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, I am in the mood for a book like this. The “countdown” format has become very synonymous with internet culture, but most clickbait is superficial with lots of photographs and little text. I think this is why books like this still hold that appeal for me.This is a book of what the author believes (based upon a brainstorming session with various experts in the field that he invited to participate in an internet forum) to be the greatest 50 ideas ever to grace human civilisation. They are as diverse as the aerofoil and contraception, marriage and laws of motion, the sail and the idea of “zero” all provided in an easy to countdown list.

I bought the ebook version of this and strangely, the index puts the list in alphabetical rather than numerical order. That’s why The Abolition of Slavery is first in the index but is listed as Number 6 in chronological order. A very strange way of doing it, I would have preferred numerical order but perhaps the author did not want to spoil what his top handful would be?

Strange, but I digress.

This is a bite-sized look at the ideas of human civilisation that have arguably driven us forward the most and I found it hard to disagree with most of them. My only complaint was that there were not that many of the promised concepts for future technology here. All of the items listed are stuff we have already achieved and there’s nothing that we are on the edge of discovering, however he does occasionally try to work that into the narrative where possible by highlighting potential future developments.

The best thing about it is that the author doesn’t wax lyrical about these big ideas because most of them have faults and problems that need to be addressed – and he is equally critical of capitalism and marxism, of the welfare state and religion, of feminism and every other hot topic generally seen as a progress for humanity. They are not presented as perfect ideals, but they are presented as concepts that have driven humanity for the better despite their flaws. It’s dry and dispassionate in places, I think it could have been far more engaging than it was bearing in mind the subject matter.

An interesting reference book and far more fulfilling than the average clickbait site, but it is not perfect, much like the ideas he presents.

See more book reviews at my blog

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. One of my greatest find of this year. You' ve to read it if you have the chance.

This book thinks about a wide range of ideas belonging to different fields of knowledge that have changed the humankind, whatever the sense. It's amazing how a variety of ideas is collected in this book with a perfect harmony.

Ideas such as Pottery and Coffee get mixed with Capitalism and Democracy. Some of them are intuitive such as feminism or fire, but for other you probably have never thought about, such as Sewerage or Hope. A critic to this book is that it is difficult to choose which is the greatest idea ever, but the authors think the same too.
I fact I particularly liked that rarely one of these idea it is regarded as the best (except form the abolition of slavery or the writing, but these are really huge ideas), because around each idea there is history, facts and critics against the idea. This is really amazing.

As a bad point, I would like to point out that I don't agree with the order of the ideas. Although I know that it's not a decision that comes from the authors, I think that the votation in non-sense. Really the 1 is the best idea, are you serious? How can Marriage be at the bottom? Really Wine and Universities should be on that list?
Moreover, it's a pity not finding it in Spanish, because people as my father would be really interested in reading these ideas.

This would be my top ten list:

10 Music
9 Marriage and also Contraception
8 Mass-production
7 Evolution by Natural Selection
6 Democracy
5 Electricity Grids
4 Use of fire
3 Vaccination
2 Arable Farming
1 Writing

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose it was inevitable that this book would be a hotch-potch of scientific breakthroughs, nebulous concepts, socio-political thinking, archaeology and trivia; it was put together from a vote and any group of people is unlikely to agree on what constitutes an idea, let alone a great one. Newton's, Darwin's and Einstein's groundbreaking theories and the scientific method feature alongside Marx's and Smith's social theories and democracy, fire, farming, the wheel, pottery and metal smelting cover early human development, sewerage, vaccines, steam power, electricity and mass production cover later significant changes, monotheism is considered and the abolition of slavery, and then we also get hope, romance, tea and coffee, wine, music (but not art or architecture or design). The internet comes out as number one, unsurprisingly, with writing in second place, although printing is a long way down the list.
I enjoyed reading some parts of the book very much, it is clearly and succinctly written with a focus on why the ideas and important and how they changed the world, as well as what they actually are and who came up with them. It is best read in small chunks on one or two ideas at a time, so that they have a chance to sink in instead of whirling into confusion.

[Pavel · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, only a fraction of chapters is really about ideas. This is a mixed bag of inventions, discoveries, institutions, innovations. They all, of course, ultimately rely on human ideas, but many of them are not single ideas, but developments over longer periods, evolutions.
Second, I would have some things in (money, TV, jet engine, photographic camera, beer...) and others out (qi, romance, simplified Chinese).
Third, I would change the order of certain things (the Internet as #1 and writing as #2?).
There are occasional flops. Check out this: "The Greeks certain took advantage of it , and scholars such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle showed just what you could do with writing to move human thought on to another plane entirely" (p. 310). Funny that it hasn't come to Farndon's attention that Socrates is kind of famous for being a great educator who has not written anything. Also, calling these guys "scholars" just sounds odd.
On the whole, however, this is an informative book that an educated person would do well to read.

[Nikola Jankovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good collection of essays (50 of them), on humanity's greatest ideas, concepts or inventions. From as simple as coffee & tea, bread and logic, to laws of motion, welfare state or Qi.

While I agree with most, some are strangely omitted (there is no medicine, for example, although vaccination is included) and some strangely in there (stirrup??). Despite this, at least 10-12 essays are very interesting and have either learned me something new or told a story in interesting manner (i.e. world before sewage is something I could imagine, but not as vivid as I do now).

These short snippets have either cast a new light on me for some things or have at least offered insight into new subject, where I will want to read more in the future. After reading on Epic Poetry, I decided I finally read Homer, in its entirety...

[Sho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this one sort of does what it says on the tin. I don't agree with the number one, I think the number two would be my choice for the greatest idea, and although what he picked for number 1... without 2 it wouldn't really work.

hahaha - I'm so not telling what they were, because the book really is worth reading. I didn't read the index so I had no idea what was coming, but it was an interesting read, and one of those that's great for reading in trains, buses or just in the queue at the post office because you can pick it up and put it down and pick it up hours, days or weeks later and it's still interesting.

And some of the subjects are really interesting, and I want to get a bit more acquainted with them.

[Tana · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite section was the Welfare State as I had no idea regarding it's history and always assumed it was a socialist /left originating idea. However, according to the book the Welfare State was first implemented by the 2nd Islamic Empire/ Caliphate

However, in the Western world the Welfare State originated in Imperial Germany during 19th century with the policies implemented by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck who was far removed from what one would describe as a socialist or liberal lefty.

Marx etc actually saw it as a betrayal of their ideals. Which was more likely the purpose behind implementing it (to avoid revolutionary ideas). After Germany, Sweden followed suit. .

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say, in the beginning I was somewhat sceptical. The whole ranking thing was odd to me since I don't think (no, not even now after having finished the book) that all those "great" ideas can be compared. Anyway, the author also clearly said almost as much in the preface. I guess it is up to each reader to decide for him- or herself. But the book did give quite a good general overview on how some experts view the meaning of the mentioned inventions and introduced some less known historical facts, too. However, sometimes a chapter was too long or simply too dry (even for me), therefore I gave "only" 4 stars.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather like Bryson's 'Brief History of Nearly Everything', this book has partly advanced my understanding of subjects (esp in the sciences) which I'd otherwise be unlikely to explore.

The idea of the book was for a panel to select, and online readers to rate, 50 'ideas' (as opposed to inventions, discoveries only) that have changed, if not advanced, humanity. For me, there are real surprises here, including abstract notions like Honour, Hope, Qi, The Self, Zero.

John Farndon combines solid information, wit, pithy quotes and clear explanations for the layman. Each subject is covered in just a few pages, with really impressive footnotes.

I was undecided whether it scores 3,5 or 4.

[Seanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would defintely reccomend this book to everyone who enjoys history. This book informs the readers about 50 most valuable ideas ever made and changed humanity, such as communism, democracy, magna carta and etc. This book does not only tell you about how the these ideas were made, but how it was made, where it had originated and how it was made public. The most fascinating thing about this book is the length. In a such a short length the book is able to express all 50 ideas in such a way that the audience can thoroughly understand. Another intersting thing about the book is that on the bottom on the page it gives a more simpler explanation just in case you did not understand.

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy it. I do think some of the ideas don't belong there, but other than that it was quite an interesting reading. A bit of history, science, philosophy and everything else. A little something for the curious minds.