[HN Gopher] The Best of Scribblers: Edward Gibbon (2015)
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The Best of Scribblers: Edward Gibbon (2015)
Author : got-any-grapes
Score : 29 points
Date : 2021-09-13 11:47 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.commentary.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.commentary.org)
| ableal wrote:
| Having come to note how much a new government or regime likes to
| blame and badmouth its predecessor, and how the media
| successfully makes mountains out of molehills, I wonder how much
| that applies to our official recorded history ...
| starkd wrote:
| Indeed. Before Obama it was considered bad form to bad mouth
| your predecessor. If it was done, it was subtle. Since Obama
| kept talking about the situation he "inherited", the practice
| has been institutionalized by his successors.
| lydericlandry wrote:
| Reading Gibbon has changed my life. I am happy to see him pop in
| in HN ;-)
| ethbr0 wrote:
| Gibbon convinced me that there are many, many tasks in life
| where time is a non-substitutable ingredient of excellence.
|
| He spent 17 years(?) covering 1,500 years of history.
|
| Is it perfect? No. But it is thorough.
|
| Which is comforting, if you don't happen to be the best in the
| world at something, but still want to leave a contribution to
| subsequent generations.
|
| PS: Mention of John Harrison for similarly spending 43 years
| perfecting a marine chronometer. Highly recommend _Longitude_
| as a book covering it.
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book)
| AlbertCory wrote:
| I might try to read this someday. However, right now I'm on _War
| and Peace_ so it might be a while :)
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