Daria Doering

The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

By Michael H. Hart

**A BOOK THAT SHOULD BE REPUBLISHED**

The 100 has been a life-changing book for me.  It has “unlocked” history for me – allowed me to relate to it and retain information – like no other book I’ve read.

The book is entirely evaluative.  It consists of very short chapters, each about one of these hundred figures.  Each chapter discusses the person’s life, and why Hart has ranked him or her as more or less important than the others.  The criteria he seems to use are:

• How greatly did this person influence the world, especially our everyday lives?
• Would progress have happened without this person?  When or how would it have been likely to happen without this person’s accomplishment?
• Did this person do it alone, or with the help of others?

Hart has an amazing overview of world history, and his perspective is often different from the norm, or certainly from what is presented in textbooks.  Each person I read about, I’ve read about elsewhere; but Hart consistently pulls together the information in a way that makes it finally make sense to me.  He dispels many common myths about world history along the way.

Maybe that’s why I can relate to his point of view so much.  The main reason is that he doesn’t pretend to be objective; his whole book is the opposite of objective.  I have never believe in “objectivity” (except in research) for two reasons.  One, it’s a lie.  None of us is objective, and the only honest course of action is to present different sides of every issue, while revealing where we stand.

Second, pretending to be “objective” is deadly boring.  It means you’re presenting a bunch of raw information without making value judgments (such as a chronological procession of the facts of history), and it makes the information essentially random and useless.  The only useful information is information that is evaluated, through an open process (and interspersed with stories, another thing the brain can relate to).

The second reason I appreciate his point of view so much is the continual myth-busting.  His perspective just plain seems so much more intelligent than others.  In a few words, he manages to convey an accurate perspective on so much.

Hart also has a very comparative style of thinking.  He often compares people to other analogous figures in history, making a lot of connections that most of us wouldn’t have the knowledge to make.  In his description of Augustus Caesar (Octavian), for example, he compares him to Julius Caesar…He asserts that Julius Caesar was the more charismatic of the two, and has been more famous ever since; however that the accomplishments of Octavian were far more extensive (200 years of peace during which culture flourished, great progress in laws, roads, building, beautification).  He also compares Octavian with Alexander the Great, and concludes that they had many similarities (started careers while very young, military prowess, extensive conquests), but that Octavian was a master administrator who planned carefully for the future, so his influence was far greater.  And, of course, you can agree or disagree with Hart’s analysis. This comparative style enables me to grasp history better than anything else I’ve been exposed to.

Some notes on the small part of the book I’ve read so far (which convey nothing of the fascinating detail contained in the book):

• Christianity was started by two people: Jesus Christ and St. Paul of Tarsus.  St. Paul wrote much of the Bible, organized the early church, and formulated much of Christian doctrine: the divinity of Jesus Christ, “saved by grace alone” as opposed to the strict requirements of Judaism, etc.  Jesus was successful in preaching to the Jews, and Paul was successful in preaching to the gentiles.
• Among all scientists, Isaac Newton deserves a special place.  He took what was previously a hodgepodge of information and discoveries, added a tremendous amount of new information of his own (calculus, laws of motion, discoveries in optics), and left the world with a system of scientific laws which can be used to interpret an extraordinary range of phenomena.
• The invention of paper was central to the progress of civilization (which is not even mentioned by any other standard history books).  Paper was invented by Ts’ai Lun of China around 100 AD.  Hart makes a convincing argument that access to paper was the central determinant in the progress of civilizations.  After the invention of paper, the Chinese civilization caught up with the West and surpassed it.  After Europe gained paper in the 12^th century, they began to hold their own; and after the invention of the printing press, the West pulled rapidly ahead.
• Gutenberg didn’t just “invent the printing press.”  He developed several technological advances that were needed for the mass production of books.  These were: movable type, a metal alloy for casting the type, the press itself, and an improved oil-based ink.
• Christopher Columbus did not die poor.  He was relatively wealthy, and his avaricious attitude was one reason that he did not receive cooperation from the Spanish monarchs earlier.

Particularly good bios:

• Pope Urban II – crusades might not have happened without him.
• Asoka – “More than any one man, except Guatama himself, Asoka is responsible for the development of Buddhism into a major world religion.”
• Umar ibn al-Khattah – after Mohammad, the person most responsible for the spread of Islam; oversaw extensive conquests.
• Wright Brothers – they worked and accomplished far more than is commonly known; fascinating.
• Queen Isabella of Spain.  Great explanation of how the Inquisition was responsible for Spain becoming an intellectually backwards country; a trait that was transmitted through Spanish culture to South America.
• Francisco Pizarro – accomplished the most astounding military feat in history by conquering 20 million Incas with under 200 men.
• Hernando Cortez – conquered the Aztec with only 600 men.  Actually the most humane of the conquistadors.  Had moral conflicts about enslaving Indians.
• Simon Bolivar.
• Sigmund Freud.

Ending: I wish Michael Hart would write another book about his second 100 most influential people!!