Victor’s Comments (group member since Feb 21, 2025)

Victor’s comments from the Friends of Victor Torvich group.

@Greg,
Please clarify your question.

What is "IT" in "What if it's a meta-thing?"

>"What if searching is the only point?" - Do you mean If the book topic is only a seach for answers, but not the answers themselve? If so, than, I think, it is OK for such BIG questions (about meaning of humankind's history, meaning of life, etc. Nobody will ever answers those questions in full and forever.

I found over 20 books dedicated to a search of the meaning of life from a variety of viewpoints: philosophical, historical, religious, etc.

The list is here - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

I found over 20 books dedicated to a search of the meaning of humankind's (world) history from a variety of viewpoints: precise science, philosophical, historical, religious, etc.

The list is here - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

A short summary of "The Laws of History" by Graeme Snooks

Object: history of humankind as a single entity.
Type of history: a traditional history of events.
Timeframe: Per Snooks – The laws "are universally applicable to all times and all places."
Goal: to find laws of history of humankind.
The viewpoint of history: a descriptional viewpoint [not a precise science viewpoint].
Idea: laws of history exist and can be derived from more generic model. "Primary laws of history have been derived from the general dynamic-strategy model developed in the Dynamic Society" book. There 22 laws in the book, 8 primary laws, 7 secondary laws, and 7 tertiary laws. Secondary and tertiary laws were derived from primary laws.
(Conditional) Paradigm shift: from a view that there are no universal laws governing humankind’s history to a view that such laws (1) exist; and (2) that those laws can be formulated starting from more generic dynamic-strategy model of all life on Earth.
Relation to previous books of the same author: This book is the last in the author's trilogy: "The Dynamic Society: The Sources of Global Change," "The Ephemeral Civilization: Exploding the Myth of Social Evolution," and "The Laws of History."

A short summary of "Directionality of Humankind's Development. History" by Victor Torvich

Object: history of humankind (Homo Sapiens) as a single entity.
Type of history: deep-level (subsurface) history [not a traditional history of events] – history of resources created by humankind for itself.
Timeframe: the last 44 thousand years.
Goal: to find a quantitative direction in which humankind is moving. The direction was derived from 318 data points.
The viewpoint of history: a precise science viewpoint.
Idea: In the previous 44 thousand years, humankind, as a global entity, has been headed toward increasing the arsenal of resources created by humankind for itself.
(Conditional) Paradigm shift: (1) from traditional history of events to the deep-level history of resources created by humankind for itself; (2) from a descriptional approach to a precise science approach to the world history of humankind.
Relation to previous books: "Directionality of Humankind's Development. History" is a greatly extended and updated work compare to a previous book "Subsurface History of Humanity: Direction of History."

I found nonfiction history books with only two different Big Ideas about humankind's (world) history.

The list is here - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

A short summary of "Patterns & Repertoire in History" by Professor Bertrand M. Roehner and Dr. Tony Syme

Object: history of specific types of events in humankind’s history [not a history of humankind as a single entity].
Type of history: a traditional history of events.
Timeframe: the part of written history [less than the last 5150 years].
Goal: to analyze clusters of similar "elementary" occurrences that serve as the building blocks of more global events.
The viewpoint of history: a descriptional viewpoint [not a precise science viewpoint]
Idea: identifies the recurring patterns of behavior that shape the histories of different countries separated by vast stretches of time and space.
(Conditional) Paradigm Shift: from a view that there are no patterns in large-scale events to that large-sale events can be broken down into component parts that are rarely unique to these particular events.
Relation to previous books of the same author: None.

A short summary of "End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration" by Peter Turchin

Object: history of specific types of events in humankind’s history [not a history of humankind as a single entity].
Type of history: a traditional history of events.
Timeframe: local in time and location, mainly the part of written history [less than the last 5150 years].
Goal: apply mathematical methods (modeling) to specific events and make predictions.
The viewpoint of history: a precise science viewpoint.
Idea: using mathematical methods (modeling) for specific events will allow for making predictions.
(Conditional) Paradigm Shift: from a view that there are no laws in developing a specific local type of events in humankind’s history to mathematically modeling such events.
Relation to previous books of the same author: A set of books by Peter Turchin provided a foundation for multiple applications of proposed methods, currently called Cliodynamics.

There will be two Lists of Big Ideas about History: (1) about local history, and (2) about world history.
I found nonfiction history books with only two different Big Ideas about local (in time and geography) history.

The list is here - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Objectivity requires taking subjectivity into account.
Lorraine Code

Such things as absolute (100%) objectivity and absolute (100%) subjectivity do not exist.
What is important is (1) how much subjectivity is present in a book and (2) how much of this subjectivity is taken into account in the book. Every book is different in this regard.

The other thing is the type of subjectivity in a book. Some subjectivity could not even be measured. For example, if you use the term "happiness" then you cannot say if, in some particular situation, there is 12% or 46% of "happiness". Never mind that everybody defines "happiness" differently.
Other subjectivity could be measured. For example, the precision of dates in history can be measured using standard mathematical error measurement techniques.

I prefer books with measurable subjectivity.

@Rossdavidh - >"An "antipattern" is when a history book is obviously just written about whatever the current political topic of the day is, rather than something that is always relevant. . . So, the absence of that "antipattern" is a good thing, that I look for." - I would suggest you to look at my book "Directionality of Humankind's Development. History". Here is an excerpt from the book: "Deep-level history of humankind does not depend on the social structures, politics, economics, wars, revolutions, dynasties, and any uncertain terms like progress, happiness, morality, social justice, etc."

@Molly - >"What about those who haven't read any of the books but are eager to learn about them? How would we give our suggestions?" - I see two options here. First, for each book on the List, read author's description of the book on Amazon, then read reviews on Goodreads. Second - Start reading books that gather the most significant score on the List.

@Jared - >"What about history books that draws you to them?" - The answer to that question depends on the reader's preferences.
I, personally, am interested (A) mainly in the history of humankind as a single entity rather than in the history of specific regions or timeframes and (B) in "Big ideas" about Historical laws/patterns/ etc.
For (A), I posted the List for "Humankind History." For (B), I will post another list later.

@Garrick - It looks to me that Hans Herman Hoppe's books are dedicated to relatively short periods in humankind's history. Still, I have one his book in the List "Humankind History."

@Jared - I don't know if Goodreads has rules on how voting on Lists should be done. On the other hand, there are hundreds of such lists, with some having many tens of book titles. I doubt that people who voted on such lists have read all the titles. That leaves us with the only choice - everybody can vote based on his own considerations and rules of how the voting should be done.

Please vote on the List - nonfiction World History books: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...