The Ten Commandments: The Hidden History of the Truths We Live By

by David Bodanis

The Ten Commandments originated in the tumultuous period when Bronze Age empires were crashing to destruction and groups of refugees in Canaan needed new rules for how to survive together cooperatively. Old directives from kings and priests were no longer enough-and the commandments was a social contract that filled the gap. David Bodanis's The Ten Commandments is an eye-opening work of cultural history chronicling the enormous impact on civilization the commandments have had, sometimes notably by efforts to subvert them. For example, in eighteenth century France, Charles-Gilbert Romme flouted the fourth commandment by introducing the one-hundred-minute hour and the ten-day week, eliminating the Sabbath. In 1929, Joseph Stalin decreed a five-day week, keeping factories open around the clock. With each worker having a different day off, there was no longer a common Sabbath. From the ninth commandment, about bearing false witness, leading to our courts' "innocent until proven guilty" to the fifth commandment, about honoring parents, being used by Louis XIV to justify the Divine Right of Kings, by John Locke to refute kingly authority, and by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, Bodanis relates the human drama surrounding each commandment and broadens our understanding of and appreciation for arguably the most important and enduring tenets of Western civilization.

Genres: History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2012

About the author

David Bodanis' latest book THE ART OF FAIRNESS: THE POWER OF DECENCY IN A WORLD TURNED MEAN was published November 2020 and asks the question that has long fascinated David: Can you succeed without being a terrible person? The answer is 'Yes, but you need skill', and the book shows how. I demonstrate those insights through a series of biographies…

David Bodanis is the bestselling author of THE SECRET HOUSE and E=MC2, which was turned into a PBS documentary and a Southbank Award-winning ballet at Sadler's Wells. David also wrote ELECTRIC UNIVERSE, which won the Royal Society Science Book of the Year Prize, and PASSIONATE MINDS, a BBC Book of the Week. Then a return to Einstein and the struggles he went through with EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE which was named ‘Science Book of the Year’ by the Sunday Times, and also widely translated.

David has worked for the Royal Dutch Shell Scenario Prediction unit and the World Economic Forum. He has been a popular speaker at TED conferences and at Davos. His work has been published in the Financial Times, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and has appeared on Newsnight, Start the Week, and other programs. When not slumped in front of a laptop, he has been known to attempt kickboxing, with highly variable results.