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Stranger than we can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century
The twentieth century should make sense. It's the period of history that we know the most about, an epic geo-political narrative that runs through World War One, the great depression, World War Two, the American century and the fall of the Berlin Wall. But somehow that story doesn't quite lead into the world we find ourselves in now, this bewildering twenty-first century, adrift in a network of constant surveillance, unsustainable competition, tsunamis of trivia and extraordinary opportunity.
Time, then, for a new perspective. With John Higgs as our guide, we step off the main path and wander through some of the more curious backwaters of the twentieth century, exploring familiar and unfamiliar territory alike, finding fresh insight on our journey to the present day. We travel in the company of some of the most radical artists, scientists, geniuses and crazies of their age. They show us that great innovations such as relativity, cubism, quantum mechanics, postmodernism and chaos maths are not the incomprehensible, abstract horrors that we assume them to be, but signposts that bring us to the world we live in now.
John Higgs brings us an alternative history of the strangest of centuries. He shows us how the elegant, clockwork universe of the Victorians became increasingly woozy and uncertain; and how we discovered that our world is not just stranger than we imagine but, in the words of Sir Arthur Eddington, 'stranger than we can imagine'.
326 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 330 reviews
July 12, 2015
Not just one of the best books of the year, but potentially one of my favourites of all-time, STRANGER THAN WE CAN IMAGINE (or whatever they end up calling this) is a brilliant, piercing, funny travelogue through the ideas of the twentieth century, and a glimpse at the possible direction of the twenty-first. It's a book that dares to compare ULYSSES and the video game Grand Theft Auto V (and gets away with it), quotes Douglas Adams and Alan Moore, gently pokes fun of Einstein (while also providing the clearest explanation of the theory of relativity I've ever read), examines Aleister Crowley's effect on CASABLANCA, and talks about social, mathematic, and economic structures with the insight of Sylvia Nasar and the prose of Bill Bryson. I was completely floored by this book: I laughed on public transit, muttered "that's brilliant" repeatedly, and stayed up way too late into the night to see where John Higgs would take me next. Do not miss this book.
March 17, 2022
This is a brilliant synthesis of experiences across the planet, of social upheavals, technological transformations, popular fads, paradigm shifts or altered self-understandings, that have coursed through the twentieth century. Higgs weaves all these themes together to capture a sense of temporarily chaotic transition, where an ancient order of central authorities and ultimate truths collapsed in the wake of WWI, splintering into an atomized cult of the individual ego, before the rise of an interconnected feedback-loop world. It’s a fantastic, entertaining, insight-provoking conglomeration of all that we, our parents, and grandparents have been through.
October 21, 2019
Anyone who has studied history can appreciate the uniquely strange and unprecedented nature of our present age. It is not that unexpected events didn't take place or that new technologies weren't invented in the past. But over the past century the rate and manner of change – both in the external world and in the inner lives of people themselves – has gone into wildly unmappable territory. To take one example, my writing this review on a glass screen which I will put away after I'm finished, and it being read by you at a different time, potentially on the other side of the planet, is an event of such incomprehensible weirdness that few of us can even pause to take stock of it. It would not have been foreseeable at all thirty years ago. Major changes no longer happen as part of gradual progression, they just happen.
This is a very readable and charming set of vignettes about the 20th century, when the weirdness started. The core thesis is that during this century human beings lost their omphalos, their center of the universe. Higgs suggests that two major events precipitated this loss: the discovery of the Theory of Relativity and World War I. Einstein's discovery showed that, literally, the universe had no objective center. World War I destroyed the hierarchical, emperor-centric world in which humans had lived for millennia. The combination of these two events trickled down into art, technology, spirituality and every other realm of human endeavor. Instead of being organized heliocentrically the human world started to be organized as one of individual stars, each discrete and separate. We went from a world of hierarchic organization to a world of fundamentalist individualism. The latter may now being transforming again into a network system. Higgs main argument is unfalsifiable, but he writes in a way that is more playful than demanding to be serious. I actually appreciated his thoughtful attempt at getting ones head around contemporary reality.
This is an accessible pop History of Everything similar to the type Bill Bryson is famous for writing in the United States. There are many vignettes and stories of human fates great and small. Two things I'll always remember, the story of the heroic Soviet space scientist Sergei Korolev, and the Albert Camus quote: "In the middle of winter I at last discovered there was in me an invincible summer." This is an accessible and friendly book that I recommend reading, then when you're finished giving to someone else as a Christmas gift.
This is a very readable and charming set of vignettes about the 20th century, when the weirdness started. The core thesis is that during this century human beings lost their omphalos, their center of the universe. Higgs suggests that two major events precipitated this loss: the discovery of the Theory of Relativity and World War I. Einstein's discovery showed that, literally, the universe had no objective center. World War I destroyed the hierarchical, emperor-centric world in which humans had lived for millennia. The combination of these two events trickled down into art, technology, spirituality and every other realm of human endeavor. Instead of being organized heliocentrically the human world started to be organized as one of individual stars, each discrete and separate. We went from a world of hierarchic organization to a world of fundamentalist individualism. The latter may now being transforming again into a network system. Higgs main argument is unfalsifiable, but he writes in a way that is more playful than demanding to be serious. I actually appreciated his thoughtful attempt at getting ones head around contemporary reality.
This is an accessible pop History of Everything similar to the type Bill Bryson is famous for writing in the United States. There are many vignettes and stories of human fates great and small. Two things I'll always remember, the story of the heroic Soviet space scientist Sergei Korolev, and the Albert Camus quote: "In the middle of winter I at last discovered there was in me an invincible summer." This is an accessible and friendly book that I recommend reading, then when you're finished giving to someone else as a Christmas gift.
May 28, 2019
Brilliant book, fantastically organized, and an absolute joy to read. Highly recommend it.
May 27, 2017
Having loved another book by John Higgs (aka J.M.R. Higgs) 'The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds’ I was keen to read more.
As I expected, I loved this well researched, engrossing, straightforward look at the ideas, inventions, politics, philosophies and social movements that made the 20th century such a turbulent and game changing century. Higgs covers a specific subject with each chapter, for example, Modernism, Sex, the Id, Science Fiction, Feminism, Teenagers, Nihilism etc. Each chapter includes portraits of artists, scientists, writers, political leaders etc.
One of book’s overarching themes is individualism, which Higgs sees as the 20th century’s most troublesome development. In his chapter on it, he focuses on Ayn Rand and Aleister Crowley. Later he identifies the paradoxical dark heart of individualism, specifically the more “individual” anyone becomes, the more isolated, selfish and less human that person also becomes, and so individualism invariably comes at the expense of others rights and needs.
'Stranger than we can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century' is a wonderfully stimulating and insightful read that, by ignoring some of the more obvious headlines from the 20th century, reveals more profound truths from our recent history. It ends with more of a whimper and less of a bang, so is not quite the five star read it was heading for, however I still highly recommend it.
As I expected, I loved this well researched, engrossing, straightforward look at the ideas, inventions, politics, philosophies and social movements that made the 20th century such a turbulent and game changing century. Higgs covers a specific subject with each chapter, for example, Modernism, Sex, the Id, Science Fiction, Feminism, Teenagers, Nihilism etc. Each chapter includes portraits of artists, scientists, writers, political leaders etc.
One of book’s overarching themes is individualism, which Higgs sees as the 20th century’s most troublesome development. In his chapter on it, he focuses on Ayn Rand and Aleister Crowley. Later he identifies the paradoxical dark heart of individualism, specifically the more “individual” anyone becomes, the more isolated, selfish and less human that person also becomes, and so individualism invariably comes at the expense of others rights and needs.
'Stranger than we can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century' is a wonderfully stimulating and insightful read that, by ignoring some of the more obvious headlines from the 20th century, reveals more profound truths from our recent history. It ends with more of a whimper and less of a bang, so is not quite the five star read it was heading for, however I still highly recommend it.
Read
June 5, 2020Αρκετά ενδιαφέρουσα παράθεση διαφορετικών πλευρών του 20ου αιώνα μέσα από την ανάλυση διαφόρων γεγονότων και των τάσεων που αυτά σηματοδοτούν. Δεν πρόκειται βέβαια για ιστορία του αιώνα αυτή καθεαυτή αλλά περισσότερο για προσπάθεια ερμηνευτικής προσέγγισης της.
Σε κάποια λίγα σημεία οι επιλογές τις μετάφρασης δεν με ικανοποίησαν.
Δείτε περισσότερα στο Ex Libris 153.
Σε κάποια λίγα σημεία οι επιλογές τις μετάφρασης δεν με ικανοποίησαν.
Δείτε περισσότερα στο Ex Libris 153.
July 14, 2015
Weird, trippy and wonderful. Ridiculously interesting. Already mentally under the Christmas tree for at least two people in my family. One of those books where I read so much of it out loud to my husband out of context that he had to ask me to stop (possibly because it was quite late at night and he was trying to sleep).
However, it's actually more of a 4.5 star read for me for one reason: for a book about ideas, it should frame itself more clearly as a Eurocentric view of the 20th century.
However, it's actually more of a 4.5 star read for me for one reason: for a book about ideas, it should frame itself more clearly as a Eurocentric view of the 20th century.
August 29, 2019
This is not necessarily an alternative history of the 20th Century. It's just a history of the period which focuses on philosophical/artistic concepts more than on military/political ones. Enjoyable and easy to read, it does provide some insight into the previous Century. I would recommend it as a fast walk through for any history nerds.
September 24, 2017
Stranger Than We Can Imagine bills itself as "an alternative history of the 20th century." Which raises the question: an alternative to what about the 20th century, exactly? John Higgs asked this very question when he found himself in his local bookshop watching a video of Barrack Obama. He was talking about whether the hacking of Sony Entertainment by the North Korean regime should be regarded as an act of war, on a thin slice of glass and metal he’d pulled from his pocket.
Looking over at the history section of the bookshop, Higgs couldn’t find anything that explained exactly how the world ended up the way it is today. A world with all its peculiarities and contradictions, so he decided to take on the task of explaining it himself. But this isn't just a book about events, its also about the way we make sense of it. The fact that people of different eras have related to their world in different ways is hardly news. But the 20th Century is a special case, marking probably the greatest shift in perspective ever experienced. So much so that even their immediate predecessors, the Victorians, would have found the inhabitants of the 20th Century strange and baffling creatures.
Higgs is interested in occasions when canons of knowledge and authority were upturned, when the 20th century chipped away at the idea of there being one grand unifying perspective, and instead privileged multiple perspectives, points of reference and ways of understanding the world.
Pre–20th century, we lived in an age when large parts of the world were carved up by colonialism—where you were in the hierarchy was more important than who you were as a person. If you were a serf or peasant, then that's who you were, regardless of whether you were a good person. It seems appalling to us now, but it was how people understood themselves. It was extremely harsh on the majority of people, but it was stable, and it was the only model of society that we had. It was something that was so integral to all of history, so when it all disappeared almost in the blink of an eye when WWI ended, it was a really big deal.
This was the period where we tried to come to terms with different perspectives and with not having a fixed point of society, or omphalos [an object of world centrality]. This deletion of the arbitrary omphalos happened in many areas, including art, politics, and psychology, during this period. Einstein’s theories set the precedent right from the off; indeed, what could be a more convincing arena for the demonstration of the subjectivity of viewpoints than the supposed bastion of objectivity, the physical sciences? And this is the common thread which unites the various unconnected developments: relativity. Freud’s presence in Stranger Than We Can Imagine is audaciously low-key, and Marx doesn’t even make the index. It’s Einstein who is the father of the era. His discovery that there were no absolutes in physics, only how things appeared relative to the observer, was quickly matched in art, philosophy and politics. Jasper Johns spoke of Duchamp’s “persistent attempts to destroy frames of reference”, and that’s the prevailing theme of the early 20th Century, expressing itself in Cubism, atonal music, The Waste Land, even the cinematic development of montage. And along with it came the rise of individualism. Higgs notes how the end of World War I also marked the end, virtually overnight, of the age of emperors. With the fixed certainties of the imperial age gone, the door was open for the “multiple perspectives” of democracy. This, inevitably, had its dark side. Mussolini was a self-declared relativist who concluded that, since there was no one true ideology, it was the luxury of the most powerful to be able to impose their own ideology by force. Hitler, Stalin and every murderous dictator who followed in their wake, couldn’t have agreed more.
Higgs follows these currents through modernism, existentialism and nihilism, but finds towards the end of his journey the Internet introducing “feedback loops” into our lives which seem to be pointing our collective consciousness in a new, more cooperative direction.
Stranger Than We Can Imagine is a thought-provoking read. Its memorable anecdotes and signposts to further reading make it an enjoyable introductory text on twentieth century history, as well as an accessible guide to many of its more murky aspects.
Looking over at the history section of the bookshop, Higgs couldn’t find anything that explained exactly how the world ended up the way it is today. A world with all its peculiarities and contradictions, so he decided to take on the task of explaining it himself. But this isn't just a book about events, its also about the way we make sense of it. The fact that people of different eras have related to their world in different ways is hardly news. But the 20th Century is a special case, marking probably the greatest shift in perspective ever experienced. So much so that even their immediate predecessors, the Victorians, would have found the inhabitants of the 20th Century strange and baffling creatures.
Higgs is interested in occasions when canons of knowledge and authority were upturned, when the 20th century chipped away at the idea of there being one grand unifying perspective, and instead privileged multiple perspectives, points of reference and ways of understanding the world.
Pre–20th century, we lived in an age when large parts of the world were carved up by colonialism—where you were in the hierarchy was more important than who you were as a person. If you were a serf or peasant, then that's who you were, regardless of whether you were a good person. It seems appalling to us now, but it was how people understood themselves. It was extremely harsh on the majority of people, but it was stable, and it was the only model of society that we had. It was something that was so integral to all of history, so when it all disappeared almost in the blink of an eye when WWI ended, it was a really big deal.
This was the period where we tried to come to terms with different perspectives and with not having a fixed point of society, or omphalos [an object of world centrality]. This deletion of the arbitrary omphalos happened in many areas, including art, politics, and psychology, during this period. Einstein’s theories set the precedent right from the off; indeed, what could be a more convincing arena for the demonstration of the subjectivity of viewpoints than the supposed bastion of objectivity, the physical sciences? And this is the common thread which unites the various unconnected developments: relativity. Freud’s presence in Stranger Than We Can Imagine is audaciously low-key, and Marx doesn’t even make the index. It’s Einstein who is the father of the era. His discovery that there were no absolutes in physics, only how things appeared relative to the observer, was quickly matched in art, philosophy and politics. Jasper Johns spoke of Duchamp’s “persistent attempts to destroy frames of reference”, and that’s the prevailing theme of the early 20th Century, expressing itself in Cubism, atonal music, The Waste Land, even the cinematic development of montage. And along with it came the rise of individualism. Higgs notes how the end of World War I also marked the end, virtually overnight, of the age of emperors. With the fixed certainties of the imperial age gone, the door was open for the “multiple perspectives” of democracy. This, inevitably, had its dark side. Mussolini was a self-declared relativist who concluded that, since there was no one true ideology, it was the luxury of the most powerful to be able to impose their own ideology by force. Hitler, Stalin and every murderous dictator who followed in their wake, couldn’t have agreed more.
Higgs follows these currents through modernism, existentialism and nihilism, but finds towards the end of his journey the Internet introducing “feedback loops” into our lives which seem to be pointing our collective consciousness in a new, more cooperative direction.
Stranger Than We Can Imagine is a thought-provoking read. Its memorable anecdotes and signposts to further reading make it an enjoyable introductory text on twentieth century history, as well as an accessible guide to many of its more murky aspects.
May 26, 2017
I started reading this short history of the twentieth century. The first chapter about Albert Einstein abounds with mistakes. Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect did not overthrow the theory of aether. Einstein's universe was not a universe of black holes; that they follow from Einstein's General Relativity was only understood in the 1950s, and the term was coined in the 1960s. I flipped the pages to the chapter on space exploration. A lot of pages discuss rocketeer John Parsons; Robert Goddard was far more influential. Later the expansion of the universe is mentioned, but not the 1920 Harlow Shapley-Heber Curtis debate on whether the Milky Way is the only galaxy in the Universe or whether there are other galaxies, or Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson's 1964 discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation; both were fundamental in humanity's understanding of the Universe. I flipped the pages to the chapter on chaos. Benoit Mandelbrot's work on fractals is discussed, but not fractal sets discovered by early-20th-century mathematicians such as Helge von Koch and Wacław Sierpiński. If Higgs is an ignoramus in the areas I know something about, it is reasonable for me to suppose that he is also an ignoramus in the areas I know nothing about.
March 1, 2019
Can’t remember how this book ended up in my ‘to read’ shelf, but very glad it did and thus sending my thankyous out there. Higgs’ subtle and humble erudition and almost undetectable humor make this book such an enjoyable (yet almost embarrassing) read for obvious reasons - how come I knew so little about some of the phenomena and movements that have influenced the way we live and think, how come I had never heard of some of the people who have shaped the world we live in. Reading this book will make you want to grab your phone to google for more facts and illustrations, reading this book will for sure make you see things in a different light, it might even cause a mini ‘overview effect’. 🌍
did-not-finish
August 12, 2015I tried. After hearing a ton of wonderful things about this from a ton of friends and coworkers, I really wanted to love it. But I've re-read the same pages over and over and it's just not working for me.
March 16, 2017
There’s a lot to love here, and I’m not ashamed to admit that Higgs had me from the first page. The first five or six chapters are bold and insightful. I highly recommend them. Unfortunately the deeper he moves into the twentieth century the more he loses the thread and his thesis collapses. While I’m on board with the passages about LSD, chaos, and postmodernism, the chapters on Science Fiction and Nihilism are just stupid and the examples he offers don’t hold up. Also, why would a discussion of the Beat Generation rest almost entirely on Scottish novels? The book is pretty Eurocentric and except for a few sentences on China and the Ottoman Empire ignores the East almost entirely. My biggest problem with much of this book is that even though it is premised on a strong and interesting central idea, Higgs shoves too many square pegs into round holes. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the introduction to Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.
August 1, 2018
Περίμενα ένα βιβλίο "ξερης" ιστορικής αφήγησης, αλλά αντι αυτού βρήκα ένα πολύ καλογραμμένο και κυρίως διασκεδαστικο φιλοσοφικό βιβλίο για όλες τις τεράστιες τελικά αλλαγές που έφερε ο εικοστός αιώνας στον ψυχισμό της ανθρωπότητας. Πολλά ερείσματα για ψάξιμο και διάβασμα και σύνδεση επιστημών φιλοσοφίας και κουλτούρας σε μια ολοτητα.
December 17, 2021
Normally I would start my review by giving a summary of the book. But this book wasn't quite what I expected it to be before I started it. It didn't end up being the book I expected when I was halfway through it, either. In fact, I have a vague feeling of whiplash from how my feelings about the book have changed, and how many times...
The basic premise is that history seemed to make sense up until the 1900s. It's obvious to most of us that everything seemed to speed up (or at least the rate at which things changed) but Higgs presents many of those changes in a different light from how I'd seen them before (and different from what I expected). He begins by explaining how Einstein's Theory of Relativity removed our "omphalos," or the "center of our world" as we understood it. Suddenly there was no center, and Higgs goes on to show how this wasn't just in theoretical physics but everything around us: art, war, science, our attitudes about society and sex and the economy (etc.). Especially our attitudes about ourselves. The "individualistic" view wasn't just for 19th century Americans on the frontier; it permeated the world in the 20th century (in most places, anyway, and those places where it didn't are going to really struggle to catch up). It's this cult of individual freedom that forms the central idea of Higgs book, and how that not only affected what we did in the 1900s, but how it affects us moving forward.
While the book was interesting to begin with (4 stars), my interest really began to wane as it bogged down in talk of art and philosophy (3 stars, approaching 2). But by the time I was into the last few chapters (Teenagers, Chaos, Growth, Postmodernism, and especially Network) I was blown away by how it was all starting to come together (in my own mind, at least). And Higgs wasn't done with giving me feelings of whiplash. I went from feeling extremely pessimistic to cautiously optimistic about the state of the world. I wouldn't say I have a firm understanding of everything in that last third of the book, but it sort of brought things into focus (or at least better focus). And suddenly a lot of things made more sense... even if I can't really explain it.
In the end, I feel pretty confident in giving this book 5 stars (or close enough, anyway). It reminds me of another favorite: The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, and I recommend it just as enthusiastically. I fear I may be giving the book too much credit, but it's the kind of book I think I need to re-read again five years from now.
The basic premise is that history seemed to make sense up until the 1900s. It's obvious to most of us that everything seemed to speed up (or at least the rate at which things changed) but Higgs presents many of those changes in a different light from how I'd seen them before (and different from what I expected). He begins by explaining how Einstein's Theory of Relativity removed our "omphalos," or the "center of our world" as we understood it. Suddenly there was no center, and Higgs goes on to show how this wasn't just in theoretical physics but everything around us: art, war, science, our attitudes about society and sex and the economy (etc.). Especially our attitudes about ourselves. The "individualistic" view wasn't just for 19th century Americans on the frontier; it permeated the world in the 20th century (in most places, anyway, and those places where it didn't are going to really struggle to catch up). It's this cult of individual freedom that forms the central idea of Higgs book, and how that not only affected what we did in the 1900s, but how it affects us moving forward.
While the book was interesting to begin with (4 stars), my interest really began to wane as it bogged down in talk of art and philosophy (3 stars, approaching 2). But by the time I was into the last few chapters (Teenagers, Chaos, Growth, Postmodernism, and especially Network) I was blown away by how it was all starting to come together (in my own mind, at least). And Higgs wasn't done with giving me feelings of whiplash. I went from feeling extremely pessimistic to cautiously optimistic about the state of the world. I wouldn't say I have a firm understanding of everything in that last third of the book, but it sort of brought things into focus (or at least better focus). And suddenly a lot of things made more sense... even if I can't really explain it.
In the end, I feel pretty confident in giving this book 5 stars (or close enough, anyway). It reminds me of another favorite: The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, and I recommend it just as enthusiastically. I fear I may be giving the book too much credit, but it's the kind of book I think I need to re-read again five years from now.
November 10, 2021
3.5*
Nu stiu daca are legatura cu faptul ca citisem inainte un roman pe care aveam impresia ca nu il voi mai termina, dar mi s-a parut o carte care se citeste de placere. Cel putin la inceput, am fost foarte placut surprinsa.
Imi plac cartile de istorie, dar pe alocuri, aceasta mi s-a parut ca nu vine cu multe noutati, ci cu informatie usor “reciclata” din alte carti. Plus ca se aseamana mai degraba unui compendiu de recenzii de alte carti, filme, muzica, pana si jocuri de calculator.
Nu regret ca am citit-o, insa, si mi-au placut in mod special capitolele despre relativism, modernism, individualism, inconstient, spatiu si dezvoltare.
“Ce alte cadre de referinta am putea avea? Imaginati-va ca pe calea ferata se afla un soarece si ca trenul trece peste el , fara sa-I faca insa nimic, chiar cand Einstein da drumul carnatului. Car de departe ar cadea carnatul, daca luam soarecele ca punct de referinta?”…raspunsul se gaseste la pagina 37
Nu stiu daca are legatura cu faptul ca citisem inainte un roman pe care aveam impresia ca nu il voi mai termina, dar mi s-a parut o carte care se citeste de placere. Cel putin la inceput, am fost foarte placut surprinsa.
Imi plac cartile de istorie, dar pe alocuri, aceasta mi s-a parut ca nu vine cu multe noutati, ci cu informatie usor “reciclata” din alte carti. Plus ca se aseamana mai degraba unui compendiu de recenzii de alte carti, filme, muzica, pana si jocuri de calculator.
Nu regret ca am citit-o, insa, si mi-au placut in mod special capitolele despre relativism, modernism, individualism, inconstient, spatiu si dezvoltare.
“Ce alte cadre de referinta am putea avea? Imaginati-va ca pe calea ferata se afla un soarece si ca trenul trece peste el , fara sa-I faca insa nimic, chiar cand Einstein da drumul carnatului. Car de departe ar cadea carnatul, daca luam soarecele ca punct de referinta?”…raspunsul se gaseste la pagina 37
May 17, 2020
In Stranger Than We Can Imagine, John Higgs offers a map of the territory of the twentieth century—of how he sees it, anyway, which is important, because many if not most of the people, places, and events that he discusses center on England and the United States. The book, while interesting at times, was a bit of a mess. It wasn't just occasionally superficial, which became clear to me when Higgs discussed subjects about which I know quite a bit. This is perhaps inevitable, given the aims of the book and the space allotted to the task; given also, perhaps, the intended audience, and the fact that Higgs covers issues in physics and philosophy, for instance, while being an expert in neither. It was mostly the inconsistency in the book's imagery and argumentation that bothered me, especially near the end (the last chapter was especially bad).
I'll provide one example, which I think is fairly representative. Consider the following passage:
I'll provide one example, which I think is fairly representative. Consider the following passage:
"One way to understand the twentieth century's embrace of individualism is to raise a child and wait until he or she becomes a teenager. A younger child accepts their place in the family hierarchy, but as soon as they become a teenager their attention shrinks from the wider group and focuses on themselves. Every incident or conversation becomes filtered through the ever-present analysis of 'What about me?' Even the most loving and caring child will exhibit thoughtlessness and self-obsession. The concerns of others become minor factors in their thinking, and attempts to highlight this are dismissed by the catch-all argument, 'It's not fair.' There is a neurological basis for this change. Neuroscientists report that adolescents are more self-aware and self-reflective than prepubescent children." (222)There are a number of ambiguities and problems here. Most obviously, in the passage, Higgs appears to use 'child' and 'teenager' and 'adolescent' interchangeably. He sets out making his point about teenagers, only to say that "even the most loving and caring child…". Are we talking about children or teenagers, then? This is important, because, as Freud—whom Higgs discusses perhaps more than anyone else—pointed out, small children are really just satisfaction-seekers. They're hungry, they cry, they want food, they get it—parents cater to their every need (ideally) precisely because they haven't yet developed the skills and tools necessary to getting on in life independently. Crucially, very small children have not yet developed theory of mind, which is essential to empathy (and is not empathy one of the keys to moving beyond individualism?). So, if the notion of any stage of life being one of strict individualism should hold, it would seem to hold for children rather than teenagers. The comment about it's-not-fair is similarly confused, because this, to me (and correct me if I'm wrong) seems to be a staple of young kids, say around the age of 5? In any case, stomping one's feet and saying it's-not-fair describes—again, to me, at least—a typical teenager much less than it does a child. The concepts are muddled, and Higgs seems basically to rely on stereotypes—like that of a selfish teenager—more than on either scientific evidence or on solid argumentation. And if we're going to go on stereotypes, I'd like to suggest the following: teenagers are often more concerned about matters like animal welfare, poverty, war, and so on, than your average adult who has, if another stereotype be believed, left childhood and adolescence to comfortably harden into a cynic.
March 5, 2016
A really incredible book. I'm not sure I agree with the premise that the 19th century was necessarily simple to understand -- I suspect this is more the case for Brits, as the 19th century was pretty much their century, and thus must seem like a much simpler time in retrospect -- nor am I totally convinced by his conclusions about the millennial generation (my generation), which strike me as maybe a bit optimistic (he mentioned having a kid who's a millennial in the beginning, so that might explain that), but none of that matters. Everything in between is fantastic. His explanation of relativity actually makes sense, and his run throughs of nihilism, sci-fi, modernism, individualism, capitalism, and everything else are entertaining at worst, and deeply insightful at best.
What's probably most important is that he manages to tie all of these diverse concepts together without straining too hard, and manages to show a general pattern in the ideas of the 20th century. It's also kind of perfect for Alan Moore fanboys like myself, with all of its talk about the fringes of society, Aleister Crowley, comics, and concepts like Solve et Coagula.
Is it perfect? No. Is it the most rewarding book I've read in a long while? God, yes.
What's probably most important is that he manages to tie all of these diverse concepts together without straining too hard, and manages to show a general pattern in the ideas of the 20th century. It's also kind of perfect for Alan Moore fanboys like myself, with all of its talk about the fringes of society, Aleister Crowley, comics, and concepts like Solve et Coagula.
Is it perfect? No. Is it the most rewarding book I've read in a long while? God, yes.
September 4, 2016
First of all, a huge thank you to New Books Magazine and www.nudge.com for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review. When I first read the synopsis for John Higgs' fascinating narrative about the twentieth and early twenty-first century I was instantly intrigued and had to know more. What I found within the brilliantly concise chapters was both interesting and highly educational with a dash of humour on the side and I really feel I've learned a lot about subjects I had previous little or no knowledge about.
The author takes a variety of different topics - with chapter headings such as Modernism, War, Individualism, and Uncertainty to name just a few and takes the reader on an epic journey to discover why exactly the twentieth century was so pivotal. Although I still have to admit to being none the wiser about Einstein's theory of relativity, I count that as my own personal demon as Higgs explains theories, ideas and notions in a very down to earth and comprehensible fashion that will instantly make you want to go out and do further research of your own into certain topics.
Personally speaking, I've always been fascinated by psychology and the author's chapter on the "id," Freud's model of our basic human instincts was a joy to read. However, there are so many other examples of interesting subjects that I'm certain every reader will find something meaningful and informative to connect with. For example, did you know that the author H.G. Wells predicted machines that could fly, wars fought in the air, fascist dictatorships and even the European Union? Or that the term "genocide" was only coined in 1944 to describe "a deliberate attempt to exterminate an entire race?" The word hadn't even existed before then!
As a piece of non-fiction, this book ticks all the right boxes for me. It's insightful, holds your interest with short, snappy chapters that get over what the author wants to say in perfect fashion and is a unique way of looking at certain concepts that are not really covered in other works. I didn't connect with every single chapter but then again, I didn't really expect to, everyone is different in their own personal interests. However, I did find it a solid, brilliant piece of writing that taught me much more than I could have expected.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
The author takes a variety of different topics - with chapter headings such as Modernism, War, Individualism, and Uncertainty to name just a few and takes the reader on an epic journey to discover why exactly the twentieth century was so pivotal. Although I still have to admit to being none the wiser about Einstein's theory of relativity, I count that as my own personal demon as Higgs explains theories, ideas and notions in a very down to earth and comprehensible fashion that will instantly make you want to go out and do further research of your own into certain topics.
Personally speaking, I've always been fascinated by psychology and the author's chapter on the "id," Freud's model of our basic human instincts was a joy to read. However, there are so many other examples of interesting subjects that I'm certain every reader will find something meaningful and informative to connect with. For example, did you know that the author H.G. Wells predicted machines that could fly, wars fought in the air, fascist dictatorships and even the European Union? Or that the term "genocide" was only coined in 1944 to describe "a deliberate attempt to exterminate an entire race?" The word hadn't even existed before then!
As a piece of non-fiction, this book ticks all the right boxes for me. It's insightful, holds your interest with short, snappy chapters that get over what the author wants to say in perfect fashion and is a unique way of looking at certain concepts that are not really covered in other works. I didn't connect with every single chapter but then again, I didn't really expect to, everyone is different in their own personal interests. However, I did find it a solid, brilliant piece of writing that taught me much more than I could have expected.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
September 30, 2017
[3.5]
It's sort of an Adam Curtis documentary in book form. Which is both a good and a bad thing. The trouble with putting Curtis' kind of 'unlikely connections between very different phenomena to produce a kind of occult history' approach into a book is that, given a little more time to think about it, one ends up more inclined to ask 'Yes, very clever. But is there really a connection between Einstein's theory of relativity and modernist art? Or are you just taking an idea and running with it...'
Is there a philosophical link between Thatcher, Aleister Crowley and Mick Jagger? Were they all just different manifestations of a cult of individualism that emerged as a consequence of the collapse of many of the assumptions behind organised religion? Maybe, but I don't think Higgs quite justifies such a sweeping claim. And is that all about to be swept away by the millennials and the concept of the 'networked society' as he suggests in the final chapter. Well, maybe, to quote a line whose author I can't recall, predictions are hard, especially about the future...
It is perhaps a good indicator of what to expect here that Higgs' previous book was a biography of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known to those of us old enough to remember as the KLF. I'm perhaps sounding more negative about this book than I intend. It's an entertaining read, and as with an Adam Curtis documentary, there are some interesting ideas in here, even if I'm not sure I'm persuaded by the overarching thesis that he extrapolates from them. As someone who has never read Ulysses nor played Grand Theft Auto V, I'm intrigued by his suggestion that, on one level, they are both trying to do the same thing. And there's a vein of dry humour running through the book too. Maybe, he observes, Erwin Schroedinger was just more of a dog person.
It's sort of an Adam Curtis documentary in book form. Which is both a good and a bad thing. The trouble with putting Curtis' kind of 'unlikely connections between very different phenomena to produce a kind of occult history' approach into a book is that, given a little more time to think about it, one ends up more inclined to ask 'Yes, very clever. But is there really a connection between Einstein's theory of relativity and modernist art? Or are you just taking an idea and running with it...'
Is there a philosophical link between Thatcher, Aleister Crowley and Mick Jagger? Were they all just different manifestations of a cult of individualism that emerged as a consequence of the collapse of many of the assumptions behind organised religion? Maybe, but I don't think Higgs quite justifies such a sweeping claim. And is that all about to be swept away by the millennials and the concept of the 'networked society' as he suggests in the final chapter. Well, maybe, to quote a line whose author I can't recall, predictions are hard, especially about the future...
It is perhaps a good indicator of what to expect here that Higgs' previous book was a biography of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known to those of us old enough to remember as the KLF. I'm perhaps sounding more negative about this book than I intend. It's an entertaining read, and as with an Adam Curtis documentary, there are some interesting ideas in here, even if I'm not sure I'm persuaded by the overarching thesis that he extrapolates from them. As someone who has never read Ulysses nor played Grand Theft Auto V, I'm intrigued by his suggestion that, on one level, they are both trying to do the same thing. And there's a vein of dry humour running through the book too. Maybe, he observes, Erwin Schroedinger was just more of a dog person.
June 11, 2019
3'5
Como bien se observa en uno de los comentarios al libro en esta misma página, esta historia del siglo XX sigue el método usado por Adam Curtís en sus documentales , esto es, coger una serie de eventos y conectarlos para desvelar con ello una trama oculta a simple vista, coherente y significativa. Esto resulta innegablemente entretenido y hasta adictivo gracias a su carácter sorpresivo. Al lector se le revelan puntos de conexión inéditos que logran producir en su cabeza una descarga de dopamina. Pasado el primer efecto, es inevitable cuestionarse la validez de estas conexiones: ¿el autor fuerza la realidad y la historia para adaptarla a su esquema conectivo previo? Pues posiblemente haya un poco de eso.
El tono es divulgativo, desenfadado y no exige demasiado del paciente lector. Es divertido, entretiene y, si uno deja de lado la exigencia, resulta gozoso contemplar las piruetas del autor en su afán por dotar de sentido alternativo a la concatenación de diversos fenómenos considerados hitos del siglo precedente. Dichos fenómenos son escogidos previamente por Higgs, dejando de lado cientos de otros fenómenos que podrían incluirse. Así, podrían publicarse decenas de diferentes historias alternativas con solo cambiar los eventos históricos escogidos y añadir un poco de imaginación e ingenio.
Como bien se observa en uno de los comentarios al libro en esta misma página, esta historia del siglo XX sigue el método usado por Adam Curtís en sus documentales , esto es, coger una serie de eventos y conectarlos para desvelar con ello una trama oculta a simple vista, coherente y significativa. Esto resulta innegablemente entretenido y hasta adictivo gracias a su carácter sorpresivo. Al lector se le revelan puntos de conexión inéditos que logran producir en su cabeza una descarga de dopamina. Pasado el primer efecto, es inevitable cuestionarse la validez de estas conexiones: ¿el autor fuerza la realidad y la historia para adaptarla a su esquema conectivo previo? Pues posiblemente haya un poco de eso.
El tono es divulgativo, desenfadado y no exige demasiado del paciente lector. Es divertido, entretiene y, si uno deja de lado la exigencia, resulta gozoso contemplar las piruetas del autor en su afán por dotar de sentido alternativo a la concatenación de diversos fenómenos considerados hitos del siglo precedente. Dichos fenómenos son escogidos previamente por Higgs, dejando de lado cientos de otros fenómenos que podrían incluirse. Así, podrían publicarse decenas de diferentes historias alternativas con solo cambiar los eventos históricos escogidos y añadir un poco de imaginación e ingenio.
December 7, 2015
According to Higgs, what distinguished the twentieth century was that the single sources of authority characteristic of earlier Western society were replaced by multiple sources. However, undisputed sources of authority had been disappearing for centuries by the time the twentieth century arrived. The Reformation began in the 16th century, splintering the Western religious world into warring communities acknowledging a host of different authorities, and the long struggle between religious and temporal authority began earlier.
This is an interesting book, however, each chapter full of thought-provoking insights, any one of which I'm sure Higgs could have developed into an interesting, thought-provoking book. As an explanation of the twentieth century, though, it is founded on a misconception.
This is an interesting book, however, each chapter full of thought-provoking insights, any one of which I'm sure Higgs could have developed into an interesting, thought-provoking book. As an explanation of the twentieth century, though, it is founded on a misconception.
June 19, 2015
An enthralling, mind-bending look at the twentieth century.
A history blurbed by graphic novelist Alan Moore.
John Higgs makes sense of a century that – from relativity, to the id, to LSD, to post-modernism – didn’t really make sense. You won’t find the depression, the wars, or Vietnam in here. Instead, you’ll read about the great ideas that shaped the century and threw down all the old certainties that had held the world together. Margaret Thatcher’s quoted as an environmentalist (but so was Mulroney), while Richard Dawkins and Pope Benedict XVI agree with each other. For history lovers, it’s a threesome between Tony Judt, Howard Zinn, and Jared Diamond written by Bill Bryson in THE best history book of 2015. Or, it's simply The Big Bang Theory of history.
A history blurbed by graphic novelist Alan Moore.
John Higgs makes sense of a century that – from relativity, to the id, to LSD, to post-modernism – didn’t really make sense. You won’t find the depression, the wars, or Vietnam in here. Instead, you’ll read about the great ideas that shaped the century and threw down all the old certainties that had held the world together. Margaret Thatcher’s quoted as an environmentalist (but so was Mulroney), while Richard Dawkins and Pope Benedict XVI agree with each other. For history lovers, it’s a threesome between Tony Judt, Howard Zinn, and Jared Diamond written by Bill Bryson in THE best history book of 2015. Or, it's simply The Big Bang Theory of history.
July 31, 2021
Es divertido el esfuerzo del autor por interconectar diferentes sucesos que ocurren y que puede llegar a forzar para que cuadren con su explicación. Me resultan muy interesantes algunas cuestiones, como que el siglo XX fue el del yo y en el XXI vamos a vivir más en comunidad, aunque yo no estoy de acuerdo, que el siglo XXI va a ser más individualista todavía. En definitiva, está bien para conocer otros puntos de vista sobre el fascinante siglo XX, pero se me queda corto, porque pasa por alto muchos acontecimientos importantes (fuera de los más habituales).
June 11, 2021
A strong start but loses the thread as the book continues. Breadth over depth is always hard to pull off and unfortunately this book stays at a very high level and does not have the big ideas that Higgs is capable of bringing to the table.
August 19, 2019
“There’s a moment for every generation when memory turns into history. The twentieth century is receding into the distance, and coming into perspective.” Giving charlatans—oops, I mean historians the opportunity to revise and reinterpret with less fear of contradiction.
An ambitious attempt to bring order out of the chaos of the last hundred years. Spanning the gamut from astrophysics to po culture, Higgs finds patterns in the twentieth century which may help us understand how we got where we are, though little help in projecting what’s next.
“The future is already here. It is just not very evenly distributed.” William Gibson
Higgs is English, which will slow non-English readers, as his historic, political and cultural references center on England. Though non-North American English readers have dealt with the self-referential nature of Americans for years; it’ll be a new experience for some. Further, the syntax is verbal; lots of extraneous words which slow the flow and obscure meaning. Perhaps he dictated the text. In either case, it needs a good editing.
“What have the Romans ever done for us? … Apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order?” Monty Python
Like Barney Fife, Higgs is proud of his ignorance. For example, he proudly cites “English astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington with the “stranger than we can imagine,” which is this tome’s title, itself a paraphrase of Ephesians 3:20. He obviously doesn't understand how sell phones work. (see below)
“The silicon chip inside [a cell phone] utilizes our understanding of the quantum world; the GPS satellite it relies on to find its position was placed in orbit by Newtonian physics; and that satellite relies on Einstein’s theory of relativity in order to be accurate. Even though the quantum, Newtonian and relativity models all contradict each other, the satnav works.”
He got enough right--the correct first year of the 21st century, Schrodinger paradox, and easily checked history – to lend him some credibility; but he also exposed himself ignorant in several areas. His totally misunderstands the working of his cell phone. He doesn’t understand economics, but who does. Not Paul Krugman, whom Higgs cites. The reader is left with the uneasy feeling of being conned, but enjoying it.
“Capitalism was the exploitation of man by man, whereas communism was the reverse.” Old Russian joke
This is a good read. Long, difficult, thought-provoking. But reader beware: you can’t count on Great Experts actually knowing anything. They have opinions, do we all. Higgs is more likely to force his opinion on the reader as he is to admit it.
“Those of us born before the 1990s should, perhaps, get out of their way and wish them luck. The network is a beheaded deity. It is a communion. There is no need for an omphalos any more. Hold tight.”
An ambitious attempt to bring order out of the chaos of the last hundred years. Spanning the gamut from astrophysics to po culture, Higgs finds patterns in the twentieth century which may help us understand how we got where we are, though little help in projecting what’s next.
“The future is already here. It is just not very evenly distributed.” William Gibson
Higgs is English, which will slow non-English readers, as his historic, political and cultural references center on England. Though non-North American English readers have dealt with the self-referential nature of Americans for years; it’ll be a new experience for some. Further, the syntax is verbal; lots of extraneous words which slow the flow and obscure meaning. Perhaps he dictated the text. In either case, it needs a good editing.
“What have the Romans ever done for us? … Apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order?” Monty Python
Like Barney Fife, Higgs is proud of his ignorance. For example, he proudly cites “English astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington with the “stranger than we can imagine,” which is this tome’s title, itself a paraphrase of Ephesians 3:20. He obviously doesn't understand how sell phones work. (see below)
“The silicon chip inside [a cell phone] utilizes our understanding of the quantum world; the GPS satellite it relies on to find its position was placed in orbit by Newtonian physics; and that satellite relies on Einstein’s theory of relativity in order to be accurate. Even though the quantum, Newtonian and relativity models all contradict each other, the satnav works.”
He got enough right--the correct first year of the 21st century, Schrodinger paradox, and easily checked history – to lend him some credibility; but he also exposed himself ignorant in several areas. His totally misunderstands the working of his cell phone. He doesn’t understand economics, but who does. Not Paul Krugman, whom Higgs cites. The reader is left with the uneasy feeling of being conned, but enjoying it.
“Capitalism was the exploitation of man by man, whereas communism was the reverse.” Old Russian joke
This is a good read. Long, difficult, thought-provoking. But reader beware: you can’t count on Great Experts actually knowing anything. They have opinions, do we all. Higgs is more likely to force his opinion on the reader as he is to admit it.
“Those of us born before the 1990s should, perhaps, get out of their way and wish them luck. The network is a beheaded deity. It is a communion. There is no need for an omphalos any more. Hold tight.”
November 26, 2024
John Higgs auto jadi one of my fav authors selepas baca buku ni. Buku ni buku berat, tapi penulisan dia mudah difahami dan ada kecindan walaupun straight way words in paragraphs tanpa grafik. Eg: selama ni tak pernah dengar pun this word: omphalos. Tapi lepas baca, jadi tahu maksudnya dan boleh relate dalam kehidupan seharian. Higgs cakap manusia semakin kehilangan omphalos (centre of life) selepas penemuan teori relativiti dan WW1.
There are 15 chapters in this book and I enjoy chapter Relativity, War, Individualism, Uncertainty and Nihilism. Baca buku ni jadi teringat kat buku Noah Harari — 21 Lessons for the 21st Century tapi ni versi yang lebih nipis.
4.5/5 ⭐️
There are 15 chapters in this book and I enjoy chapter Relativity, War, Individualism, Uncertainty and Nihilism. Baca buku ni jadi teringat kat buku Noah Harari — 21 Lessons for the 21st Century tapi ni versi yang lebih nipis.
4.5/5 ⭐️
June 6, 2024
Tough to rate this book. I was about 250 pages in when I left for vacation and I thought it was an easy 5 stars. I saw it as one of the most profound discourses on the nature of the 20th century that I have read. Whenever a history is geared towards a time, rather than a topic, the nature of the time can seem quite ephemeral, like grasping at smoke. Higgs wrapped language around some ideas that I have always sort of intuited but never heard articulated.
Then, I left town for 8 or 9 days, didn’t bring this book with me, and when I got home and read the last 100 pages, I really didn’t like it! I don’t know if the book really changed that much, or my attitude changed, or what. I just felt like his perspective suddenly became very narrow towards the end.
Whatever. The weighted average of 250 pages of 5 stars and 100 pages of 2 stars is roughly 4 stars.
Then, I left town for 8 or 9 days, didn’t bring this book with me, and when I got home and read the last 100 pages, I really didn’t like it! I don’t know if the book really changed that much, or my attitude changed, or what. I just felt like his perspective suddenly became very narrow towards the end.
Whatever. The weighted average of 250 pages of 5 stars and 100 pages of 2 stars is roughly 4 stars.
June 18, 2025
This was a deep-dive into some of the major achievements from 1900-2000. This author told history and science in a way I’ve never read before, and I really enjoyed it. Chapters included Space, War and Science Fiction. I’m really glad I read it.
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