The Discoverers

God damn, what an interesting book. It's essentially a history of science and understanding, starting from astronomy, giving rise to calendars, then to timekeeping devices, to clocks, to high-precision machinery. But that's just one of the 15+ “books” in this book. There's also a book on the rise of intellectual communities, and of academic journals. There's one on the rise of mathematics, and its slow and successful application to the world.

I didn't read the whole book, but it's well-enough organized that I felt like I could safely skip around and read only the pieces that interested me. I skipped a book or two on philosophy and psychology, for example. But I'm certain that those parts are just as well written as the rest of it. Very highly recommended; probably the best thing I'll read all year.