Russell wrote his book because he was tired of seeing the idea quoted in elementary, high school, and college history text books. He has, of course, had little impact. It's a short book. Before people ever allow 'flat earth' to escape their lips again, they should read it. This is as elegant a piece of historiographical work as I have ever read. --
MichaelTinkler, who is tired of typing the ISBN, and from now on will simply cross reference.
Article seems one-sided, even argumentative. Not that I believe in a flat earth myself, I consider my views well-rounded.
Instead of saying that Russell debunks all the myths, why not cite a myth or two and show how Russell debunks 'em? --Ed Poor
The article, I think, goes overboard on its scope, and if this is the position taken by Russell then he's done the same. There is no doubt people once thought the world was flat, and educated people no less - you can see it in the early Greek philosophy which portrayed the world as a circular disk floating in the ocean. That the idea was given up much sooner than most people think doesn't mean it was never popular, and as for flat earth beliefs among the uneducated, they verifiably exist today at the very least.
- Added circular disk thing and another bit. Russell retains 81% of the coverage, though. Fair enough? --Ed Poor
Has anyone else noticed that this article contradicts itself? Also, which Greek philosophers thought that? Also, from the way this is written, oone could infer that Russell is writing outside his field. Russell is a medievalist who specializes in History of Christianity and the problems of evil and the Devil -- however, he *has* been teaching the first third of the western Civ sequence for about 25 years...and is well-respected by his peers.
I am removing the links to Amazon and Pricescan, since I see no valid reason for thier existenceunless they are sponsoring the wikipedia. JHK
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)