Lightbulb Moments in Human History
Reviewed By Ian Banks April 13, 2023
Author Scott Edwin Williams
Distributor: Chronos Books
ISBN: 978-1-80341-200-9
Publisher: John Hunt Publication
Release Date: February 2023
Website: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com
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If you are a serious History nerd, or simply just someone who is looking for something a little, or a lot different, Lightbulb Moments in Human History, presents in a very tongue-in-cheek style, history as something that was really lived to the fullest extent, by peoples long gone, and in reality could not give a damn about what is written about them. Maybe some might……………….
Scott Edwin Williams has spent a very long time trawling, or researching history to come up with the wonderfully mixed bits and pieces of history he has subjected to whit and whimsy, to create a book that is both informative and entertaining. For those of you fans of the BBC series Horrible Histories, this could almost be considered as the adult version of that popular children’s series, but slightly more serious.
True, History to a degree has been ‘’whitewashed’ to make some truths apparently more palatable, but as you read your way through Lightbulb Moments in Human History, history comes alive with the real people who actually created history, which makes this a very intriguing read.
The first chapter opens with the wondrous event of man first walking on the Moon; an event that made history in a very big way, later becoming subjected to controversy, but in reality it is an indisputable fact.
Man did go into space and did walk on the Moon, which incidentally could almost have been predicted by Sir Isaac Newton in 1675, when he concurred ‘lightbulb moments’ to be the forward impetus of Science. In this incident also the Chinese rocket makers may have something to do with modern day rockets, people and space travel.
As the book moves on through the years, it is laced with whit, skepticism, fascinating facts, whacky cartoons used to illustrate a point or several points with a very real love of the subject matter very obvious.
Swizz author Eric von Daniken and his ‘lightbulb’ moment comes in for a real dose of skepticism, Ancient Egypt and the many ‘factual’ myths surrounding this civilization as well as the many medical and educational aspects of their society, also goes undergoes some serious investigation.
History was always a groan subject, laced with nothing but dry details, immense amounts of dates, which meant absolutely not a lot to most students, which then meant so much really exciting information was left undiscovered until something triggered a desire to find out what really did happen, way back then.
There is also a good dollop of scepticism in a number of chapters, but as with all books of this style, the information is for the eye of the beholder, so to speak and therefor yours to decide who is right and who is wrong. It adds a little spice or vinegar to the storyline which makes a refreshing walk down through history.