Neil MacGregorCritiques

A wonderful, comprehensive, accessible book. 'Germany' is a relatively modern nation. Parts of the whole have found themselves in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hapsburg Empire, Saxony, Prussia...and so on. So its history is particularly rich and diverse. MacGregor examines these roots, looking at politics, monarchies, religious movements, language, writing, industry, the arts; as well as the battering, bruising history of the twentieth century. It's an illuminating, thought provoking read: a book to keep and return to.

A great nightstand book. Can't sleep, there are many short chapters but be careful this book can become addictive.

Strangely, I liked his previous book (World in 100 artifacts or something) far more.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/living-with-the-gods-by-neil-macgregor/

A lovely book, based on a BBC Radio series of the same name, lavishly illustrated (as the radio cannot be) with photographs of art and architecture, and enriched by quotes from commentators who know what they are talking about. Some people like to simply dismiss religion as at best a distraction and at worst a force for conflict and division; MacGregor doesn’t shy away from that side of things, but he goes deep into what religious people are actually doing – symbolism, practice, history, politics. He draws some very interesting parallels between religions separated by continents and centuries.

I found it a very healthy perspective on what is and isn’t unique to each of the main strands of world belief. It’s also a surprisingly light read, despite its length and weight, perhaps because of its origin as radio scripts. Recommended.

I got to like the 6th object and immediately put it down on reading something like "But why did early humans migrate to new areas? Here's what Michael Palin, who's done a lot of travelling, thinks". I'm just extremely not interested in what some random famous person thinks! Before this you have Rowan Williams saying why a carved mammoth horn is a sign of early humans getting into "the rhythm of life" and claiming that's what religion is all about. An extract of David Attenborough narrating from a TV show about how cool stone axes are. And it's like. Yeah they are but I'd rather the limited space was taken up by some actual info rather than uninformed and uninteresting musings. It's just not my sort of book I guess. I was disappointed at the limited info on each object so far and feeling the author kept loudly telling me how cool each thing is rather than letting it speak for itself.

There was also quite a bit of factual stuff that I at least felt suspicious of. For example, dating the entrance of humans to North America basically exactly to the Clovis culture which was under criticism even at publication and is a few thousands year off for sure. Claiming that there was no migration into North America after that until European arrival, when it's well accepted that the Inuit are descended from another migration thousands of years afterwards and there may possibly have been others.

Idk just didn't feel confident reading further or feel it was a book aimed at me.

$218, A first edition, first printing published by Allen Lane in 2010. Strangely RARE!.A fine copy in a fine unclipped wrapper. Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.

This book came to my attention a few years ago when I discovered its spinoff, A History of America in 100 Objects, published by the Smithsonian. Although I added both to my list immediately, I didn't get around to reading this one until just now (glad I picked it up when I did as my library has only two copies left, and the one I hold in my hands is starting to fall apart). It's an amazing tome for lovers of history and the generally curious. I appreciated learning what it is that makes each object unique and how each is significant in world history. While I have never been to British Museum (someday!), it feels like the British Museum came, in a sense, to me. Wonderful.

Finished this last night. What a remarkable, lovely book. I can't recommend it highly enough. I feel as though it's a curator/archivist's love letter to the world. I learned quite a bit, and will definitely go back to it from time to time, but more importantly came away from it with a profound sense of the deep interconnectedness of people across space and time.

This was a good book to help me prepare for travels in Europe.

This is a companion piece to the History of the World in 100 Objects BBC radio series, first broadcast in 2010. I listened to it back in the day and really enjoyed it, and on an object-by-object level I often did the same here. The lavish illustrations allow for an examination of details that I could only imagine when listening to Neil MacGregor's audio narration. MacGregor writes with a clear affection for and fascination with these objects, all of which belong to the collection of the institution of which he was then the director, the British Museum.

However, MacGregor's position clearly muzzled him from talking about all the deeply hinky things that have been involved in the gathering of that collection, there are some unexamined assumptions at play here (more than one pencilled 'hmm' or '!' appear in the margins of my copy now), and some quoted experts whose rep has not aged the best over the last decade or so.

(If I may be allowed a moment of petty chauvinism, it was dryly amusing to see that 11 objects of the 100 were found in/come from what's now the UK, 9 of them from England alone, but not one from Ireland. The English do like to claim us while also ignoring us, and to make "British" a simple synonym for "English.")

Tausend Jahre lang begann die Herstellung von Büchern mit dem Töten von Tieren. Gutenberg änderte das und ließ mit seiner Erfindung dem Wissen freien Lauf.

Martin Luther knackte den Kirchencode und öffnete der Aufklärung die Türen, ohne dass er dies in allen Einzelheiten gewollt hätte.

Noch immer denken wir mit Büchern, auch wenn wir am PC oder Kindle lesen, wir blättern nach vorne und zurück, wir denken und fühlen, wir lesen die langen Briefe der anderen.

Dieses Buch ist ein langes Bilderbuch und ein Brief für andere, der in seinen Texten einer Aussage von Karl Popper entspricht:

"Jeder Intellektuelle hat eine ganz besondere Verantwortung. Er hatte das Privileg und die Gelegenheit zu studieren; dafür schuldet er seinen Mitmenschen, die Ergebnisse seiner Studien in der einfachsten und klarsten und verständlichsten Form darzustellen. Das Schlimmste – die Sünde wider den Heiligen Geist – ist, wenn die Intellektuellen versuchen, sich ihren Mitmenschen als große Propheten auszuspielen und sie mit Orakeln der Philosophie zu beeindrucken. Wer es nicht einfach und klar sagen kann, der soll schweigen und weiterarbeiten, bis er es klar kann."

Dem Autor gelingt es, Geschichte in wenigen Sätzen und treffend bebildert zu verdichten und diese in spannend-nachvollziehbarer Art und Weise zu dosieren. Ein einfühlsames Bild der deutschen Geschichte, nach dem man lange suchen muss.

Alleine wie die Erfindung des Buchdrucks erzählt wird, von der Könnerschaft der Erzeugung richtiger Firnis, die Gestaltung und der Vertrieb der Auflagen. Neil MacGregor (NMG) formuliert spannend und klar verständlich, ein Großteil der Geschichte(n) kann auch Kindern vorgelesen werden.

Meine Kurzfassung von Deutschland: zersplitterte Kleinreiche, nie zentral gelenkt bis Bismarck, eine verspätete Nation, wenn man so will, Ausgangspunkt der Aufklärung, nach gigantischem Erfolg bis 1914 das Trauma zweier verlorener Weltkriege, heute immer noch die Abarbeitung von Schuld, große Ideale wie eh und je.

Kein anderes Land hat ein derart gewaltiges Denkmal der eigenen Schuld (Holocaust Mahnmal am Brandenburger Tor) errichtet. Wenige aber verstehen die deutsche Problematik der nie endenden Schuld bzw. ihrer Negativprägung.

Berlin ist eine Stadt, die in Architekturen denkt, lesen wir am Ende des Buches im Abschnitt: Mit der Geschichte leben. Berlin sollte in den 1780-ern zu einem neuen Athen entwickelt werden, alle Bauten kennzeichnen diesen Wunsch auch heute noch. Es ist die Musuemsinsel, aber auch die Bauten unter den Linden, die davon künden.

Christopher Clark sagt dazu:

„Ich glaube, man könnte das, was wir dort sehen, betrachten als eine Art architektonischer Wiederbestätigung einer bestimmten Vision des preußischen Staates und seines historischen Auftrags. Die Preußen definierten sich nie allein durch ihre militärische Stärke. Der Staat war stets auch das, was sie einen Kulturstaat nannten, ein Staat, geschaffen und dazu da, kulturelle Ziele zu verfolgen. Wir sehen in diesem außergewöhnlichen Stadtraum, den sie Forum Friedericianum nannten, ein Trio höchst gelungener Bauwerke, die in der Regierungszeit Friedrich des Großen entstanden sind. An der hinteren Ecke des Platzes steht die Hedwigskirche, ein bemerkenswertes Monument religiöser Toleranz in einem protestantischen Staat; mitten in der Stadt durften Katholiken eine kraftvoll wirkende Kirche errichten. Recht steht die Bibliothek, ein halb öffentliches Gebäude. Gewöhnliche Leute konnten dort hineingehen und Bücher lesen. Gegenüber dann das Opernhaus. Ein Bekenntnis zur Toleranz, zu Büchern, zu Musik. Darum ging es in Berlin, neben anderen Dingen, und wenn diese Gebäude heute restauriert werden, dann bedeutet dies, Preußen wird in gewisser Weise als Kulturstaat wiederentdeckt.“

In Deutschland waren Grenzen immer veränderlich, sie wanderten permanent. Beeindruckend die Karten zu Beginn des Buches, die den Zustand von 1500 bis heute in mehreren Schritten zeigen. Alleine die Vertiefung darin dürfte einigen verdeutlichen, welch komplizierte, komplexe Gemengelage vorhanden war und ist - vor allem mit dem sich ausbreitenden Protestantismus (Religionszugehörigkeit im Heiligen Römischen Reich um 1560)

Ein hervorragendes Buch, mit folgenden Kapiteln:

Wo liegt Deutschland?
Ein Deutschland der Imaginationen
Die fortlebende Vergangenheit
Made in Germany
Der Abstieg
Mit Geschichte leben

Anhang: umfassendes Abbildungsverzeichnis, Literaturhinweise und ausführlicher Index

Something to know: The audio version is the BBC Radio 4 series, the book, which came later, is almost, but not quite, a transcription of the series.

One would think that discussions of 100 objects from the British Museum, some obscure, some very well known, would be just my thing. The book, at least, includes excellent photographs, while the radio show allows the listener to enjoy a variety of accents. But there the enjoyment stops. What unspeakable twaddle the celebrities, e.g., Michael Palin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, David Attenborough, utter to satisfy the script! I like speculations about our human ancestors, I would probably happily read a whole novel about how the reindeer carving on the mastodon tusk came to be. But, oh, the fatuous utterances of the Archbishop of Canterbury about the religious meaning of that artifact! I can not stand them. So I abandoned the book entirely.

I'll mention one odd bit, the understanding of how long ago humans reached the North American continent has varied widely in the past 70 years. A book on Carbon 14 published around 1960, [Carbon-14, and Other Science Methods That Date the Past] places early humans as far back as 30,000 years ago, based on radio-carbon evidence. This book, published around the year 2000, gives an estimate of 13,000 years ago. A book published more recently, [Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past], agrees much better with the earlier book.

Interesting, slightly more information on some of the objects and time periods would have been helpful. I read a section or two at night and looked up anything that intrigued me and I wanted to know more about.

Genial. Tono afable y entretenido y cargado de datos. Lo leí en kindle y pierden un poco las imágenes pero el libro procede de un programa radial por lo que contiene descripciones muy bien logradas. Luego se puede revisar en internet las imágenes para corroborarlas. Está montado en capítulos por objeto lo que permite leerlo cómodamente si se tienen lapsos cortos para ello. Muy recomendado.

Absolutely fascinating. The length may seem daunting but one can always just dip in for an object or two and then resume daily life. At first I thought- for anthropologists only, since many of the earliest items are about the dawn of civilization, as it were. But as one progresses through the book, delighted by MacGregor's lively comments, there is art, history, politics, religion- the whole catastrophe of human habitation. Besides the usual suspects (Elgin Marbles/Rosetta Stone), there are some marvelous eye openers: the Ife head from what is now Nigeria as well as a brass plaque from Benin clearly show the achievements of a well-evolved African culture. My personal favorite was the tughra(calligrahpic monogram)of Suleiman the Magnificent.

The book of the radio series. Both excellent. A choice of a 100 objects from around the world from the collection of the British Museum. Each one put into it's context in a few pages. Inevitably a little eurocentric but at least it attemps global coverage. Scholarship made accessible. Well done.

Amazing! This is definitely my type of non-fiction. It's about Shakespeare, it paints a picture of Elizabethan and Jacobean life, and it is a quick, fun read. Through these objects MacGregor gives Shakespeare's plays a humanity that they sometimes lose because they are so symbolic. We start to remember that these plays were written by a real man who expressed the public's fears about the succession of the throne, pride on the triumphs of their queen, curiosity about the new scientific discoveries and new inventions, suspicions about but also acceptance of foreigners. Shakespeare may have written plays so transcendent they have lasted for 400 years and will easily last more, but he also navigated a world affected by plague and violence, assassination plots and war. MacGregor takes Shakespeare, the idea, and transforms him into Shakespeare, the man.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. With travel being on indefinite hiatus, this book allowed me to armchair explore the British Museum with a tour guide. The book is quite sizable, and the binding did start to fall apart mid-way through. I got the book from the library, so it might have been mishandled prior to my reading it, though. Overall, it was an easy book to conquer despite its intimating size as I kept it by my bedside and read a chapter or two a night.

Went down very easy. Elizabethan England is so appealingly far-off exotic and close to us at the same time. The book doesn't feel like the last word but gives a good varied picture of the times.

Delves into the History, art and politics of Germany throughout the ages, from its start as the Holy Roman Empire to the reunification East and West Germany. Easy on the reader and neophyte with plenty of illustrations throughout.

4,5

Must read book about the history of German culture.

Muy interesante, de cada objeto solo se explican unas paginas y es muy ameno.
El autor insiste y estoy de acuerdo, en que no existe una historia de distintas gentes, sino que esto es la historia de la humanidad.
Vayamos a donde vayamos, estamos donde estamos por lo que ha ocurrido y estos objetos nos ayudan a comprenderlo

An excellent readable introduction to the history, culture and development of Germany, highlighting 30 episodes/artefacts to make an overall narrative that is very much greater than its parts.
Some of it is familiar (although MacGregor usually makes you think about it afresh), but much of it is new and enlightening. I found most interesting/inspiring the chapters on Kathe Kollwitz and especially Barlach’s Hovering Angel, which made a great impression at the British Museum. But there was much history which has also been clarified, making me want to read more. It is educational in the best sense of the word, fascinating, making me want to learn more.

The book very much stands on its own, although written to accompany an exhibition at the British Museum and a BBC radio series. It is handsomely and generously illustrated, with excellent maps at the beginning which illustrate how Germany as a physical entity has changed over the years.

Gehört als Audible Hörbuch

Began listening to this with the audiobook of the German version of the book, but while the speaker was good, the production insisted to incorporate samples of cars, music, and all sorts of other things to create a cacophony of noise at random points in the book. Don't understand why, but it annoyed me enough to switch to the english version (which is available online for free from the BBC).

All in all, its fairly interesting. As a German, I had never heard about quite a few of the things mentioned here, and learned a lot about my own country. Recommended if you are interested in the history of Germany, but in a non-structured way, where individual events, people and items are used as standins for things about Germany. Plus, with the BBC version, there is no up-front cost, so you might as well give it a shot :).