Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization
Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization – Review
I commonly found this book to be a equally fascinating look at a time in history that is often skipped and glossed over as simply the ‘dark’ ages – indeed, the idea of this book describes why it eventually turned out to be the dark ages. Although the book argues a particular disasterous event and its after effects, I commonly found the global indication of the time (500 AD – 1000 AD) exciting in and of itself. Few general history works argue this period in any detail – especially from a truly international perspective as is done in this work. The author explains that a catastrophe (he keeps it secret until the purpose of the book – an interesing device for a non-fiction book) set in motion a series of events that eventually led to the ultimate end of the early world of Rome, Persia, etc… This eventually led to the beginning of the new world. Overall, his explanations are entirely convincing, but I’m not so sure that the world would have been totally different had it not been for the event. For instance, Rome had been declining for years before the event so it may have collasped anyways and eventually led to a fragmented Europe. The only other thing I commonly found lacking in the book, is a little more discussion into the technical evidence at the catastrophe site itself. This may simply be a role of the hypothesis being so new that a group of evidence has not been originally collected yet. If you are interested in the ‘dark’ ages or if you have any interest in History, Geology, or Meteorolgy you should find the book attracting (and scary).