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The World's Greatest Idea

par John Farndon

Membres	Critiques	Popularité	Évaluation moyenne	Mentions
61	3	429,292	(3.1)	2
Where would humanity be now without fire, vaccinations, farming - or wine? A great idea is one that has changed the path of human civilisation. But which is the greatest of them all? John Farndon, author of the bestselling Do You Think You're Clever?, has set out to find the answer. A distinguished panel of experts agreed on a list of 50 ideas, and each chapter of The World's Greatest Idea sees Farndon explore the argument for a different one. The candidates are intriguingly varied: Electricity grids enable us to power our cities, but then sewers allowed those cities to grow. Without the wheel, modern civilisation would be pretty much impossible, but take away Logic and we'd lose the essential structures for rational thought ...But then what would be the point of all of this without the idea of romance? The World's Greatest Idea is an enthralling voyage of discovery through the most powerful intellectual, social, scientific and creative brainwaves humans have ever had. They are ranked in the book determined by a public vote on www.theworldsgreatestidea.com But will you agree with the verdict?… (plus d'informations)

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An exploration of ideas in the broadest sense of the term: objects (coffee, wine), processes (weaving, mass-production) and theories (Marxism, evolution) are all covered. Wide ranging and thought provoking, if necessarily cursory treatment of what has been important in human history. (

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xander_paul | Dec 27, 2013 |

After the votes were tallied and the debate died down on http://www.theworldsgreatestidea.com John Farndon compiled the 50 'greatest ideas' into this book. For each idea, the merits and disadvantages are discussed at length and a little history is provided to help you understand how the world we live in was influenced by all of these ideas.

The result is a fascinating book that you can't fail to learn something from. Unfortunately, the writing feels too much like it's ticking boxes for each idea: brief history -- check, disadvantages -- check, advantages -- check, next idea...

It could have done with a bit more narrative for each item, telling more of a story that simply being a fact book. Still, it's interesting and learned. (

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fakelvis | Nov 29, 2011 |

Most of us would agree with John Farndon’s choices for the “Fifty Greatest Ideas that have Changed Humanity” especially as he employs generic terms like ‘Monotheism’ which encompasses religion while Vaccination covers most advances in health and hygiene.

The order in which he presents the ideas is debatable however: number one being the Internet, followed by Writing and then Contraception – Monotheism comes in at #46. It’s a safe bet that the Pope won’t promote the book as part of his Christmas Day address but nonetheless it is an edifying and entertaining read. (

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adpaton | Dec 3, 2010 |

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Where would humanity be now without fire, vaccinations, farming - or wine? A great idea is one that has changed the path of human civilisation. But which is the greatest of them all? John Farndon, author of the bestselling Do You Think You're Clever?, has set out to find the answer. A distinguished panel of experts agreed on a list of 50 ideas, and each chapter of The World's Greatest Idea sees Farndon explore the argument for a different one. The candidates are intriguingly varied: Electricity grids enable us to power our cities, but then sewers allowed those cities to grow. Without the wheel, modern civilisation would be pretty much impossible, but take away Logic and we'd lose the essential structures for rational thought ...But then what would be the point of all of this without the idea of romance? The World's Greatest Idea is an enthralling voyage of discovery through the most powerful intellectual, social, scientific and creative brainwaves humans have ever had. They are ranked in the book determined by a public vote on www.theworldsgreatestidea.com But will you agree with the verdict?

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