How the Scots Invented the Modern World

Great book
On the dashboard of my truck so my wife can read it on road trips

Bought it for my mom for Christmas and she loved it.

Not to be a spoil sport, but all those "How the [insert ethnicity] Saved Civilization" books are pseudo-historical crap. Love the Scots. Love the Irish. Let's face it, though: the best thing they've ever done was let themselves be conquered by the English.
Don't get me wrong, those books are great money makers and easy reads. Just short on historical accuracy or evidence. Extremely narrow and exaggerated at very best. Read it as fiction and enjoy it. Just don't believe any of it.

Oh, put a sock in it!

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Not to be a spoil sport, but all those "How the [insert ethnicity] Saved Civilization" books are pseudo-historical crap. Love the Scots. Love the Irish. Let's face it, though: the best thing they've ever done was let themselves be conquered by the English.
Don't get me wrong, those books are great money makers and easy reads. Just short on historical accuracy or evidence

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I did have this in mind while reading it. Author could easily be a Scot and be pretty biased towards his heritage. However, they did invent antibiotics, they made the advancements to steam engines necessary for trains to be possible, David Frume is called the unofficial author of the constitution, and Adam Smith is still cited today. Just those 4 achievements are worthy of the title of the book in my opinion and that's leaving a few things out.

What I do wonder is whether other people came up with the same ideas at the same time as often happens in history, in which case just because the Scots did it first doesn't mean it wouldn't have happened without them.

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On the dashboard of my truck so my wife can read it on road trips

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You mean you hope she'll read on trips instead of talking.

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David Frume is called the unofficial author of the constitution, and Adam Smith is still cited today. Just those 4 achievements are worthy of the title of the book in my opinion and that's leaving a few things out.

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Individuals of Scottish descent did some things. Is there any evidence whatsoever that being a certain ethnicity had anything to do with their accomplishments?
Plenty of French people did things too. Does that mean the French saved civilization? One can say the same for the Dutch, the Chinese, the English, the Arabs, or any given ethnicity that played any part in any influential civilization throughout history.

I commend the authors of these books, though. A great way to make a crapload of money by cherry picking a few individuals, exaggerating their ethnicity, and creating a simplistic narrative that will make certain readers feel good about themselves.
Genius.

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For history fans, you should definitely pick up this book. I wish I had read it before I went to Edinburgh because it gives you a whole new appreciation for Scotland. Reads really well, and some of the early political background reminds me of game of thrones as it goes into the major players, their motivations and maneuvers, and the context of the times to figure out how a tiny and relatively poor country was able to shite out intellectual milestones for 2 centuries.

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Book Summary...

Thanks!

On bookbub today for 2.99$
Don’t need bookbub just search on your kindle-will be that price.