Thursday, December 11, 2008

Books That Changed the World


It is almost a cliche to talk about how "books can change the world." However, this morning at the Beinecke Rare Book Library we had the opportunity to view original editions of books and manuscripts that truly did change the world, including the First Folio of Shakespeare, the Gutenberg Bible, Darwin's The Origin of Species, the Luther (German) Bible, Hitler's Mein Kampf, Thomas More's annotated prayer book, and the jottings of Galileo, Newton, and George Washington. Which work impressed you the most, and why? Or, if you prefer, what book would you have liked to see, but didn't, and why?
(Note that even those who did not attend the field trip can respond to the second question.)

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shakespeare and Galileo were good in all, but in my mind Thomas More's prayer book blew them away. Thomas More, a martyr and canonized Catholic Saint, actually held that book in his hands 500 years ago. His notes on the prayers can still be distinguished in the margins. The fact that Thomas More used this book and wrote in it during his stay at the London Tower amazes me. What is even more astonishing is how Yale got a hold of it. Besides an actual, original hand-written manuscript, the Thomas More prayer book is as close as you can get to "reliving history." I still can't believe how awesome it is that we are able to view an actual item used by a historical figure that you read only about in textbooks. More's prayer book truly brings the historian closer to his times.

kelsey said...

For me it was the alcamey scroll we saw up stairs in the case. And it was not just that the women who showed it to us was so in love with it. It was that as she said, that if a document sticks around for long enough it can end up meaning so many different things to different people and that just seemed to real to me. I also liked it because it was writen in english and because it was beautiful, but mainly because it could truly mean something different in every deacade.

p.s. if i could have seen The Cantabery Tales that would have taken the cake.

laurenD said...

I never thought that a book museum could be so riveting. The intriguing material in the Beinecke was a pleasant surprise. The piece that most captured my attention was the travel log kept upon the slave ship. I have studied the slave trade in nearly every history class, reading excerpts from accounts of Olaudah Equiano, Sojourner Truth, and numerous other African Americans who survived such oppression. It was incredible to view a journal written by a man who actively participated in the dirty dealings of slavery.

I cannot imagine what it was like to navigate the seas without premier technology, to seize others from their homeland, and finally, to endure a lengthy journey back to the original country. The crewman's charts detailing the number and types of people taken were unbelievably real, displaying that children were not spared from slave hunters. His notes on the ship's death toll were interesting as well because the Christian crosses indicated that almost as many whites perished as blacks during the return trip. I did not expect that. Overall, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore an integral part of history.

Allie said...

I really liked that they had out Darwin's The Origin of Species. I had learned a lot about Darwin and all of his work last year in Bio, and I thought it was cool to see the diagram that he included that showed his theory on branching off of different species. The diagram was different than what you would normally find in books today, it was a separate insert that folded out to be a large piece of paper. This was the only fold out diagram in the book, so it gave it the effect of being really important. It was really interesting that there was a dedication from Darwin to the original owner of the book, that gave it a personal touch that you can't find in a textbook. It was interesting to look at a book that I had learned about before, but see it in a whole new way.

SebbyCastro said...

"The Starry Messenger" was the one that left the biggest impact on me. Galileo's book put us where we are today. I'm not saying his book was the reason we have cars, malls, movie theaters, and all, but his book was the start of a revolution. Yes, the scientific revolution went on after his book came out, but I'm tlakin about something else. To me, this book is what challenged all scientists from then on. A book like this is what brought us to what we have today. If nobody challenged anything, would I be typing this blog right now or would I be huddled by a fire with my family hunting for food. This book I beileve expanded the mind of man. And with that I am greatful, because now I have a car that I can drive and go to the store and buy a warm sanitary meal. I'm fascinated with this book since it sparked the creation of new technology.

laurenD said...

There are several books that I would have enjoyed seeing, but was not able to. Among them are The Canterbery Tales, Beowulf, and the Diary of Anne Frank. Of these, I would MOST be interested in Anne Frank's diary. For years I read and dreamed of the Holocaust. The heart-wrenching stories of survival and despair were mind boggling, and each person's experience touched me in a different way. Anne's story stuck out because it describes her life in hiding, rather then in a ghetto or concentration camp. She communicates her fears, sorrows, joys, and even boredom so precisely that the reader is pulled into the setting, feeling as if they too were in the secret annex awaiting the wrath of the Nazi's. It would have been awesome to view the actual diary as well as her penmanship.

Toni said...

I didn’t go on the field trip, so I can’t exactly say what I was most impressed with. After reading the above titles, I have no doubt that they all indeed impacted the world, if only by a fraction. The question made me think about how often those books come about. Is it more of a cause to some big event, or is it a reaction to some big event? Hitler’s book was prior to the Holocaust, along with most of the other titles. For the most part, at least that I can’t imagine, Earth hasn’t seen a drastic change, other than our current economic state, and even more recently Obama being elected, but no big major work has been done about them. I think that these books are so defined because of the controversy and the truth that it unfolds about major events. A modern book that I can think of that might make the list one day is The Da Vinci Code. It created such controversy because it veered from everything that the church has been preaching for hundreds of hundreds of thousands of years. The church was in an outrage that somebody could even suggest Jesus was a female, being so male chauvinistic, and I think that it got more people interested in the secrets of the church. It is so corrupted asking for money all the time I think that it will be interesting to see what is followed up on research of the church.

dovile said...

alright so i didn't go on the field trip either, but im gonna have to agree with mike here. thomas moore was an extremely interesting man, and i would love to have seen his writings which were made in the tower of london. also, we learned a lot about him and now even have to write a paper about him in Lambardi's class. so yeah, my biggest regret is not being able to have seen thomas moore's writings.

michelle said...

So, I'm really upset that I couldn't go on the trip, darned driving test!! Anyways, I would have loved to see the First Folio of Shakespeare. Shakespeare is my favorite dramatist, and consequently one of my top favorite writers. It just amazes me that here we are, hundreds of years later, and that a book like that could still be in tact. I think seeing that book would have in a sense bridged the time gap between our world and Shakespeare's own. I would have also wanted to see Mein Kampf. We learn so much about Hitler and the holocaust in school, and it is undoubtedly fascinating. Since I wasn't alive when Hitler was in power, I think seeing the book would have made him even more real to me.

carla c. said...

I really enjoyed looking through the Romanov family photo album. The Romanov's were the ruling family of Russia until they were murdered by the Bolshevik's during the revolution. Looking through their family photo album was amazing and I couldn't help but feel as though I was personally getting to know the royal family. The docent told us how the family loved to take pictures at every event; I found this ironic because at their death, they were told to line up against the wall for a family picture, when in fact they were lining up to be shot. Overall, the photo album was one of my favorite pieces at the museum.

Allie said...

I think it would have been really neat to see one of the really good reproductins of "Book of Kells". I went to ireland this summer and some of the tourguides were talking about it County Meath. While I was in Ireland I didn't have enough time to travel north of Dublin so I didn't get a chance to visit The Abbey. I was able to see a very little bit when I went to trinity, but the whole thing wasn't there, only half and they only have each volume open to one page. I know that there have been some very clear reproductions made, so it would be nice to be able to look at all of the pages. Some of the designs are so detailed that most libraries wouldn't have a copy that shows all the detail that is in each picture.

Pauly P said...

I'm not really a big book person, I'd rather see pretty pictures. When I visited the book museum, I was more fascinated than I thought I would be (though it really wasn't by much). I was initially most impressed with the Nuremburg(spelling?) Bible. I know that even if it wasn't printed, the bible would still exist, but the fact that it was so old, that it was the first printed Bible made it more significant to me. Then I saw "The Starry Messenger". We actually were just discussing that book in Mr Gage's physics class and then "poof", the book is on display at the book museum. I was probably more impressed by the coincedance then by the impact of the actual book. I would be really impressed if I saw the "Dead Sea Scrolls", or maybe an Egyptian Book of the Dead. I saw those on a documentary and on "The Mummey", respectively, so seeing the objects of such fuss would be a treat.

Pauly P said...

Also, I'd like to say that I don't really care to see any book, no matter its age or importance. If it was so great, then I'll just read a reproduction so that I can actually understand it, and not just stare at some frayed pages whose writing I can't even recognize. What's the point of seeing the original anthology of Shakepeare's plays if you haven't even read them yet? Reading and comprehending the magnitude of a literary piece is far more important than seeing the primary source.

KatieL said...

I have to agree with Mike. After studying Thomas More in western civ i believe that his prayer book caught my eye the most. They have an amazing piece of history there. That prayer book can bring us back many many years and it can express the struggle that Thomas More was experiencing. It is great to have that book because to so many people Thomas More stands out in history and he is one of the most intriguing men of his time as he was brave enough to stand by his opinions day after day. Having that book is a great reminder of a man that really showed how to stick by your morals no matter what. It's amazing to think that he used the book that is in Yale right now and being able to be near it was a great way of being near a piece and time of history that won't be forgotten.

Brenda said...

I have to agree with Allie that I most enjoyed seeing Darwin's The Origin of Species. I think this book was incredibly important to the development of science because it completely revolutionized the way scientists thought about evolution. This boook allowed other scientists to elaborate on the study of animal evolution and therefore tracing characteristics through hundreds of generations, providing explanations for things we see today. This book introduced the idea of the evolution of certain traits, therefore today we can research the origins and causes of inherited diseases even int he human population bringing us closer and closer to their cures. So I think this book was one of the most significant and the one I enjoyed the most.

Lauren P said...

I didn't go on the field trip, but some of the titles mentioned are quite remarkable. Seeing Darwin's The Origin of Species, like Brenda said, would probably have been my favorite. He not only changed science, but he also changed philosophy and religion. This disputed everything the church said about Adam and Eve and that the Earth was created in seven days. Christianity was so wide spread, and the Bible was regarded as the guidebook for what to believe in the scientific community and what to believe about history and philosophy. Darwin's book invalidated a good portion of the Bible, which invalidated the beliefs of most of the world. It is quite extraordinary that one book had the power to do all that. I don't know if you saw this, but I think a book that would have been really interesting to see would have been The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. This book inspired revolution around much of Europe and Asia and its fundamentals still hold in many communist nations. This book inspired Hitler's theories as well as many other communist dictators of today. The Communist Manifesto is another book that changed a lot of the world and seeing it in front of me would have been a memorable experience.

Brenda said...

Well I just thought of something I would have really liked to see. I wonder if they had like maps of the world drawn by Christopher Columbus or other explorers before his expedition. I think it would have been really interesting to see their hand drawn maps and their interpretation of the world before it had been fully discovered. I do not know if they even have that kind of thing there but it would have been cool to see or maybe i am just a dork...

Pauly P said...

Oh don't worry Brenda, this is AP English, so your're not alone. And yes, they actually do have some ancient maps in the Yale Art Gallery, which we didn't see....

Sanjana said...

I didn't go on the field trip but would have liked to see "The Origin of Species" because evolution, as a whole, has been so controversial in recent history. The principle behind the controversy (church and state) influences our lives every day, with controversial topics like the teaching of evolution in schools and gay rights. It would be interesting to see the origin (no pun intended) controversy...and see his experimental work behind it.

Or maybe just because I like biology :)

Natalie Battistone said...

Well. I was unfortunately unable to attend the field trip, but out of the works mentioned I would have loved to see the Shakespeare folio. Obviously everyone considers him the one of the greatest literary masterminds and all that, but really all cliche'-ness aside, I love Shakespeare. I just got the completed works of Shakespeare for Christmas and I just keep reading and re-reading all my favorites. I would've loved to have seen something he originally worked on and had contact with.

When I visited NYU in October I spent some time in their library (craziest one ever.) In the front they had this big display, or really the whole right half of the bottom floor was a mini museum of original works or first copy publishments (is that a word?)of famous works. There was a display from each time period up until now. I got to see original manuscripts of Shakespearean plays and some original copies stuff from Thoreau.

It was really neat. I'm slightly jealous I missed seeing these books.

I know I should have a better reason than just "i like the author," but I really just love books. I love looking at them and holding them, not that I'd hold an ancient display one...but still. I just love them. Yeah. I collect old books...so as a collector of books...I'm just naturally attracted to originals.

Kristen Stewart said...

I'm going to agree with Mike (shocker). But I could not get over Thomas Moore's prayer book. it was by far the most amazing. We had just seen a movie on him in history and we had seen him stuck in the tower writing in that book to keep himself sane. So, to me, it was the most realistic...like the movie came to life all of a sudden. And to see his actual writing was ridiculous. All of the other things were printed, and they were nice, but this was his own writing. And to see it and be in the presence of the words that were handwritten is like being in the presence of that person. Ones handwriting is like a look into their life. I just wish I could have touched it. But I didn't want to go to jail.