801 Things You Should Know: From Greek Philosophy to Today's Technology, Theories, Events, Discoveries, Trends, and Movements That Matter

by David Olsen

Discover how the world's biggest ideas, inventions, and actions changed the course of history!What would life be like if the Age of Reason never challenged others to think differently, if the Industrial Revolution never happened, or if the New York Stock Exchange never came into existence?801 Things You Should Know gives you the lowdown on thoughts and events that transformed past civilizations into the cultures that we know today. Each entry explains a game-changing concept or moment in time, detailing how it helped shape societies around the globe. You'll uncover fascinating details you'd never heard before, and be surprised to learn how these major influences have directly impacted the way you live.From the sixth century B.C. to the present day, you'll discover the captivating people, acts, and ideas that have inspired change--and revolutionized the world.

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

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2013

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author doesn't seem to have an available e-mail address, so I'll list the errors I found, mainly missing commas, in this forum:

Loc 391, before the Civil War many citizens / Civil War, many citizens ; l. 469, to its publication many people / publication, many people ; l. 711, until 1877 when the last / until 1877, when ; l. 843, spectrum is Communism where the / Communism, where the ; l. 1143, "ARGUS": This article mentions "Lo" several times. Anyone familiar with Greek myth knows that the priestess of Hera who was seduced by Zeus, turned into a heifer, and guarded by Argus was IO (pronounced "Ee-Oh" or "Eye-Oh"), not "Lo". ; l. 1168, design and architecture but the school / architecture, but the school ; l. 1277, The Greeks led by Agamemnon seek to / The Greeks, led by Agamemnon, seek to ; l. 1369, thief who place travelers / who PLACES travelers ; l. 1523, resided in Vienna where he was / Vienna, where he was ;

Loc 1729, Early in his career he became / career, he became ; l. 1748, As a soldier his first experience / soldier, his first ; l. 1753, As a teenager Picasso painted / teenager, Picasso painted ; l. 1775, "ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN DELANO": "He served four terms, the only president to do so." It would be more accurate to state that "FDR was ELECTED to four terms, but died less than three months into his fourth term. He remains the longest-serving U.S. president." ; l. 1885, during the Cold War the United States / Cold War, the United States ; l. 1913, right to yell, "Fire!" / to yell "Fire!" ; l. 1991, just like dominos / just like dominoes (correct plural) ; l. 2020, in the United States the rights / United States, the rights ;

Loc 2026, to peaceably assemble / to assemble peaceably (avoids split infinitive) ; l. 2048, During glasnost the Soviet government / glasnost, the Soviet ; l. 2192, science and technology from the great mind / technology: from the great mind (colon needed before list) ; l. 2278, How many of these are there is an ongoing question. / many of these there are is ; l. 2344, Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) who first / Heisenberg (1901-1976), who first (comma after parentheses) ; l. 2362, describes how when an object / how, when an object ; l. 2362, At that point it will travel / point, it will ; l. 2375, given amount of energy it breaks / of energy, it breaks ;

Loc 2452, "PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM": A2 + B2 = C2 (All 2's should be superscript, not subscript, but maybe Mr. Olsen had the same trouble I did in trying to create a superscript mode) ; l. 2454, 3^2 (9) 4^2 (16) = 5^2 (25) (using ^ to indicate superscript) / 3^2 (9) + 4^2 (16) = 5^2 (25) (add plus sign) ; l. 2462, cell divides as in the / divides, as in the ; l. 2524, a new culture there are / culture, there are ; l. 2838, after World War II many suburbs / War II, many suburbs

[Raphael Lysander · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a good idea to know the basics about the world most important expressions and names. However, the book dropped some of them most substantial while mentioned some really well known. And there's seems a confusion about every entry category; people in psychology, politics in economics, while the most confusing remain the mention of some novels in literature while other omitted, and it's supposed a section for literature terms not books!

[Alicia Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't much see the point of these lists. The entries are too short to get into any detail, so you'll never remember the information. I remain just as ignorant as before. Tsk tsk.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am now 801 things smarter.

BIG BRAINS 🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠

[Dustyloup · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.49* - a solid bathroom read.
You'll feel smarter after, but you won't necessarily BE smarter.

[Anthony R. Vecchiarelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

NO, this book kind of stinks, really. There's errors & mistakes. Don't publishers employ proofreaders and fact checkers anymore? Mr. Olsen tries to give very short summaries of various ideas & events etc. and it just doesn't work or help all that much. He's trying to be brief but he's often so brief that he ends up saying not very much at all.
Here's three mistakes, but there are more
Walter Mondale ran for president against Reagan in 1984, NOT 1980;
I don't remember Holden Caulfield telling his story from a hospital . . . the book is written in first person participator, it's NOT a monologue of remembered events;
In "Absalom, Absalom," Sutpin is NOT the son of a plantation owner, his family is poor white.
Also, annoyingly, he uses "she" as the definitive pronoun. Yeah, yeah, women have had to put up with "he" as the definitive pronoun for all these years, and I think it's fine if women want to do that, but why is he doing it?

[Thomas Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

801 Things You Should Know: From Greek Philosophy to Today's Technology, Theories, Events, Discoveries, Trends, and Movements That Matter (Kindle Edition) delivered forgetten or dormant facts, new insights, and activated wisdom to aquire newly discovered matters to birth additional knowledge.

To this reader, 801 Things You Should Know: From Greek Philosophy to Today's Technology, Theories, Events, Discoveries, Trends, and Movements That Matter (Kindle Edition) provided a comforting, stimulating, and not-so-overwhelming delivery of datum.

[Bob Legge · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book that gives one paragraph (100 each section) on a wide variety of subjects; philosophy, history, business and economics, art and literature, people and culture, politics, science and technology, and social sciences.

At first I found it kind of illuminating. But as I moved through the chapters I had some foreknowledge of I discovered LOTS of factual errors. It made me wonder how many errors were in the parts I was quite unfamiliar with.

Waste of time. Pass on this book.

[Henry Wortmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories, memories.

This is a good review of one's memories as to what was learned, discovered, and retained in a host of areas. If you lost track of a political, medical, or any number of areas you once were familiar with, this is a good way to lightly recover some of it once again. It is a comfortable read once started.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Reference Work

This was an interesting read. However it is not a book to read straight through. If you were to read it straight through you might get some information overload. Still it is a good reference work if you want a quick answer to something covered in it. I plan to keep this one as a reference book.

[Chester Sayler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covers many topics

A book of definitions. So many you can learn about many things. A good read filled with useful information. You can never have enough knowledge so fill up with interesting information.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

facts, facts, and more facts

It is a great book of facts, facts, and more facts. I plan to read again to master the information. I am now following David Olsen as a new favorite author. Maybe, I will also read some of the other creations from this author.

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a giant glossary of terms you should know.

[Liz Mourant · Rating 5 out of 5]

great definitions

Clear & concise expressions in detail. I already got a Jeopardy answer correct thanks to one of the many definitions explained in this great book!

[Zep · Rating 2 out of 5]

ugh.

minimal organization. Just a list of mostly common words or phrases that you probably already know. probably a good one to skip

[Loni · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading this book I feel like I know more than the person who wrote this book. Some of the facts were misleading and I found the book to be unnecessarily repetitive. Also, I felt that "801 Things NORTH AMERICAN People Should Know" would be a more apt title for this book. Why on earth do people outside the US need to know about Huey Long and Douglas Macarther?

A lot of other less notable people and events are mentioned while some very important people and historical events were noticeably missing. I was at first excited to read this book but after reading it I found it to be very lacking.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Increased my knowledge, but the alphabetical ordering was annoying. Would have much preferred the terms to be grouped by subject (within the larger categories).

[Ashley Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

This had some interesting parts in, but overall it was very boring to read and not much more than common knowledge I already knew.

[Б. Ариука · Rating 4 out of 5]

coolest hours of my life.