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"At irregular times and in scattered
settings, human beings have achieved great things... Human
Accomplishment is about those great things, falling
in the domain known as the arts and sciences, and the people
who did them."
So begins Charles Murray's unique account
of human excellence, from the age of Homer to our own time.
Employing techniques that historians have developed over
the last century but that rarely have been applied to books
written for the general public, Murray compiles inventories
of the people who have been essential to the stories of
literature, music, art, philosophy, and the sciences --
a total of 4,002 men and women from around the world, ranked
according to their eminence.
The heart of Human Accomplishment
is a series to enthralling descriptive chapters: on the
giants in the arts and what sets them apart from the merely
great; on the differences between great achievement in the
arts and in the sciences; on the meta-inventions, 14 critical
leaps in human capacity to create great art and science;
and on the patterns and trajectories of accomplishment across
time and geography.
Straightforwardly and undogmatically, Charles
Murray takes on some controversial questions: Why has accomplishment
been so concentrated in Europe? Among men? Since 1400? He
presents evidence that the rate of great accomplishment
has been declining in the last century, asks what it means,
and offers a rich framework for thinking about the conditions
under which the human spirit has expressed itself most gloriously.
Eye-opening and humbling, Human Accomplishment
is a fascinating work that describes what humans at their
best can achieve, provides tools for exploring its wellsprings,
and celebrates the continuing common quest of humans everywhere
to discover truths, create beauty, and apprehend the good.
Charles Murray is the W. H. Brady Scholar
in Culture and Freedom at the American Enterprise Institute
for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the
author of seven other books, including Losing Ground
and The Bell Curve, with Richard J. Herrnstein.
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