Comments on: 5 Reasons Why You Should Read History More Than News

By: 4 Good Resources to Learn History

4 Good Resources to Learn History — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:27:29 +0000

[...] is to make you realize how good your life is so that you can be grateful for it. But there are other reasons to learn history. Learning history helps you see current and future events from a rich perspective. It helps you [...]

By: and

and — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:37:31 +0000

[...] —–5 Personal Growth Lessons Learned While House-Sitting —–16 Personal Devolopment Lessons From Harry Potter —–5 Reasons Why You Should Read History More Than News [...]

By: Links for 2 September 2007

Links for 2 September 2007 — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:25:27 +0000

[...] I recently wrote an article over at lifehack.org entitled Eight Tips to Find Your Information Oasis. If you want to dig some of the ideas in the article deeper, you can read 5 Reasons Why You Should Read History More Than News, How to Get the Most Out of Your Books, and Always Know When to Stop – Diminishing Returns Applies. [...]

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:52:21 +0000

Welcome back, Tammy! I agree completely with your opinion. The history can give us the insights we need to live an effective life. By the way, I’ve never known the book you mentioned. I’ll check it out.

Note: Some parts of Tammy’s comment are in Indonesian. Here is the translation:

That’s right, bro…

History is more insightful and opens our understanding about why the events in this world happen.

The history book I like is The Story of a Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (I’m not sure about the writer’s name). He wrote the book like a novel, very cool!

By: Tammy

Tammy — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:59:46 +0000

That’s right, bro…

Sejarah itu lebih insightful dan membuka pengertian kita tentang apa yang sebenarnya kenapa ada terjadi hal – hal yang ada di dunia ini.

Buku sejarah yang saya sukai The Story of a Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (betul gak tuh ya penulisnya). Dia menulis buku ini seperti bacaan novel, very cool !

PS : I’m a bad this blog’s commentator, just comment in Bahasa :-( Hehe…

By: Donald Latumahina

Donald Latumahina — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:59:21 +0000

Luciano:
Thanks for your encouraging words, Luciano! Also thanks for the additional reasons you gave. I agree with both of them, and they motivate me even more to read history.

Theresa:
The fact that things go in cycle is a strong reason to learn from history, and you gave a great example on it. And you’re right Theresa, history teaches not just what to do, but also what not to do.

Eric:
That’s exactly what most people (me included) often do. They try to analyze current events without paying attention to the context, and as a result, it’s unlikely that they will be able to take the appropriate actions. While the actions may seem appropriate at a glance, they might be not when seen from the historical perspectives.

Alexandra:
Thanks for your great explanation, Alexandra! My example on Easter Island is actually based on the book Collapse by Jared Diamond. I didn’t know any more details about Easter Island’s deforestation process other than what I read in the book, so my apologize for missing the details you gave. It’s great to get a comprehensive explanation of what was actually happening.

By: Alexandra Edwards

Alexandra Edwards — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:54:40 +0000

First of all I want to say that I thoroughly agree with almost everything you wrote and I think its great you are promoting all these ideals. However, as someone who lives in Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and knows its history well, I’d like to clear up a very common misconception about the island’s deforestation process. While its true that the ancient Rapanui cut down trees for transporting statues, to build canoes and houses, for firewood (cooking), to make clothes (from bark cloth), to make tools, to make ropes, etc,… recent evidence indicates that the Polynesian rat, which the original settlers brought with them, played a very important role in the disappearance of the Rapanui palm which was endemic to Easter island and is now extinct. In the past, this palm was the most present form of vegetation on the island and being very similar to the Jubea Chilensis (the Chilean palm) it took very long to reproduce (about 100 years). Rat teeth marks can be observed in almost all the nuts found preserved in caves or excavated in different sites of the island indicating that the Polynesian rat ate the nuts of these palms therefore impeding their reproduction. For more information read Tony Hunt’s work; he has estimates of the rat population and the damage they caused based on years of archaeological fieldwork. Rapa Nui’s first visitors all reported seeing bushes and trees (however scarce) and the island came closest to deforestation in the mid-1800’s after missionaries and foreign settlers introduced goats and sheep. The native population at the time of European discovery was in the thousands and reached its nadir in the late 1890’s with less than 140 after foreign diseases were introduced in the 1800. I can see why we want to have an example of our past environmental mistakes, especially if that is to keep us from making further mistakes in the present and in the future, but I also think it is unfair to change historical fact to make Easter Island our example. The first Europeans who arrived in Rapanui thought they were witnessing the destruction of the island’s culture through deforestation and overpopulation, but has anyone asked themselves what effect these outsiders (explorers, whalers, slavers, missionaries) and the animals and diseases they introduced had on the island and its people. Sure the island’s native population was struggling before the arrival of outsiders, there were tribal wars to prove it, however there’s more than one culprit here. Let’s put responsability where responsability is due–there’s more than one lesson to learn from Easter Island’s history.

By: Eric S. Mueller

Eric S. Mueller — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:11:26 +0000

I agree completely, particularly with #5. It is impossible to properly analyze current events simply from reading the news with absolutely no context whatsoever. Commentary pages are full of observations that are void of historical context.

By: Theresa Cahill

Theresa Cahill — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 01:28:20 +0000

Hi Donald!

My father is a huge history buff, and you’ve got to admire that :) I personally – other than the occasional History channel or Discover haven’t really been able to sink my teeth into “past events.”

However, you’ve actually helped me see it in a different sort of light. Yes, we can learn from mistakes in the past (one of the reasons given for studying history so hopefully we don’t repeat it), and as you put it why not prosper from the insight of those failures.

For example, the statement of Edison and how many times he failed. And his view that he did not, only discovered X number of ways not to do something :)

And, yes, even on the ‘net things go in cycles. Funny enough 10 years ago a simplistic way of “advertising” was called “start pages.” Cycle forward and it’s the same ‘ol same ‘ol with a grander name “traffic generators.”

Thanks for the post!

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 20:27:49 +0000

Another advantage of reading history over news is that you’re able to get a detached view of the facts and analyze them better, since you’re not “living” them.
It’s also more reliable reading, since there are less external forces trying to manipulate the facts.

Donald, I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time and find it really great – keep up the good work!