Book Review : THE 100– A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENCIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY

Never judge a book by its cover- literally. I read this apparently hideous looking book on the recommendation of my cousin and found it useful and exciting in many ways. I came across some astonishing facts for instance, Einstein couldn’t get a job soon after his PhD; Beethoven wrote his greatest music after he became totally deaf and Tsai Lun (an extremely unknown historical entity) presented the first samples of paper in the year 105. St Paul, a much revered Christian figure remarked: ‘let the woman learn in silence with all subjection… for Adam was first formed than Eve.’ Interestingly a person named Elisha Gray filed for a patent on the telephone a few hours later than A. G. Bell.

The most appealing feature of this book is the precise and coherent style of the author. There are no lengthy paragraphs or chronology of dates. Some interesting figures like Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Ford are missing from the list which makes the selection of the people worthy of debate. The author has explicitly stated that the personalities mentioned are ranked according to influence, not their characteristics and in that context Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has been ranked the first. A must read for all history buffs and highly recommended to students of General Paper (English) in A levels.

: 01 Dec 2007 18:09 |  Tags: Book Review |  Comments (1) |  Report a problem