For Week 6 in my Western Civ course, the file for The American Enlightenment. Previous files in the series: 1. Introduction. 2. The Renaissance Context. 3. England to the Glorious Revolution. 4. Justice and Modernizing the Law. 5. From Feudal to Modern Business and Economics.
PowerPoint added: The American Enlightenment Read More »
The great Rosling has published another dramatic set of visuals — this one on the great progress in reducing child mortality rates in the developing world. One more data-driven reason for optimism.
Myths of developing nations: Hans Rosling Read More »
In my lifetime, here are the changes in life expectancy at birth for three countries: * USA: up from 70 to 78 years. * Brazil: up from 54 to 73 years. * Zimbabwe: from 51 up to 61, then down to 51 years. (Click the image for full size.) Source: Google Public Data via the
Life expectancy: USA, Brazil, Zimbabwe Read More »
One more thing to thank the Enlightenment for. I’m reading a biography of Rossini. Gioachino was born into a musical family in February 1792 (two months after the death of Mozart), but his family always struggled financially. In the music world of the 1700s, the castrati had reached the height of their popularity due to
Rossini and the end of the castrati Read More »
One of the great publishing events in all of history was the French Encyclopédie of the eighteenth century, edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond D’Alembert. It was a massive project: many authors, 71,818 articles and 3,129 illustrations, published in 28 volumes over 25 years. During my working visit to Guatemala, Luis Figueroa took
The Encyclopédie and I Read More »
Something to be thankful for: All those productive people who created the wealth that has enable so many of us to live longer and more fully. I love this data map from Gapminder correlating life expectancy with wealth (click for full size): And encouraging numbers over at Forbes (via R.M.): Avik Roy looks at cancer
Thankful: wealth and life expectancy Read More »
Count me a huge fan of Rosling’s work: See also his “200 countries, 200 years, 4 minutes.”
Hans Rosling’s magic washing machine Read More »
Simply wonderful, both in content and presentation: Related posts: Why life is 255 times better now than in 1800. Why life in America is 40 times better than in 1900. Why the nano is 750 times better than the Walkman. [Via Café Hayek.]
Hans Rosling’s newest Read More »