Book shelf: How the Scots Invented the Modern World, Arthur Herman

If you're not familiar with my reading patterns, I'll read almost anything, but I stick mostly to historical romances , historical fiction, and historical non-fiction (I was a history major, can you tell). For the sake of not appearing redundant I'll save you from my reviews on romance novels, which are really a guilty pleasure anyways.

I just finished How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It by Arthur Herman (2001)which attempts to show how even all the ideologies and technologies we hold dear were really the product of a Scotsmen. More than anything this book is an introduction to the who's who of the Scottish enlightenment and has rekindled my interest in David Hume, whose sardonic writings are right up my alley. I think it falls short and proving the the Scots invented the modern world, but does an excellent job of showing how they influenced it. Herman has a compelling argument for how the Scottish Enlightenment once exported to London and America influenced not just politics but also theories of education. He loses the reader; however, when his examples, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries start relying on persons whose only claim to being Scottish is through one or more grandparents.

Overall the book was well written and easy to follow. The footnotes are particularly interesting as Herman interjects some of his own commentary on past events. The conclusions are a must read as they provide a unique insight on the Scotland in the last century. I recommend this book as an introduction to the Scottish Enlightenment and philosophy or to anyone with and interest in Scottish history.

Up Next: Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly