Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic

Winchester’s erudite and discursive latest history (after Land) aims “to tell the story of how knowledge has been passed from its vast passel of sources into the equally vast variety of human minds, and how the means of its passage have evolved over the thousands of years of human existence.” He begins with a thorough examination of the very concept of knowledge, from its first recorded appearance (spelled cnawlece) in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of 963 CE to T.S. Eliot’s 1934 play The Rock, which today’s information scientists view as a key touchstone in the modern theory of knowledge. From there, Winchester examines the education of children; sites of knowledge, including libraries and museums; formats for dispensing information, such as books, photographs, television, and the internet; types of manipulation, including propaganda and public relations; devices that assist human knowledge (calculators, GPS, artificial intelligence); and geniuses and polymaths like 11th-century Chinese scholar Shen Gua, who realized “the usefulness of the magnetic compass,” and 19th-century British Army soldier James Beale, “a prescient campaigner for pan-African freedom.” Though Winchester gathers fascinating and varied examples from throughout history and around the world, they don’t necessarily add up to a cohesive thesis. Still, it’s a stimulating cabinet of wonders. Photos. (Apr.)