Brilliant book

This book is one of the top 3 I’ve ever read. I prefer non-fiction and it’s hard to find a book (especially an audiobook) with this much information that’s not prohibitively dry. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the world around us and I will be listening to it again soon.

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Great insight

This book was recommended by a lecturer in Egypt within a series of lectures about what truly caused the decline and ultimate collapse of the Muslim empire. The author has a lot of insight into the rise of the west and the decline of the rest, and his theory about the “six killer apps” that led to the ascendancy of the west is probably the only one that I can think of that holds any merit.
The author himself narrates the book, and his performance is superb and kept me engaged throughout.
However, the reason for the less than five stars is his apparent bias against Muslims, which is visible in many sections of the book. He also erroneously relayed a particular myth about the Ottoman Empire to emphasise the decadence of the later decades of the Ottomans. That particular myth has been discredited repeatedly since it was written in a paper by an orientalist, who never bothered to include a citation or a source for their story.
The author also neglected to mention the atrocities committed by colonial powers in their pursuit of the scientific revolution, and only made a minor reference to it in the conclusion of the book.
There’s more that can be said in refutation of some of his suggestions, but overall the book did a great job in explaining the West’s rise to power and is very highly recommended.

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Excellent performance by the author

Lover the performance by the author of the book. I do find it puzzling that they did quotes in an accent similar to original person who made the quote. I find myself wondering if narrator did the accents himself though.

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Amazing book on so many levels

Really loved it. A whirlwind tour of global history and how it impacts today's reality...

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Dated history book, cherry picked examples

I bet the author is fascinating if you meet him in person, his digressions and diversions can be very interesting - but there were times it was truly irriating in the book when you really wanted him to get back to his point.

His ideology did not appeal to me, this was a very pro British colonisation, pro Capitalist point of view. And he completely ignored situations or even countries that did not fit his sweeping generalisations (especially his epilogue - India is the complete opposite of this claims, yet was only mentioned, not discussed).

This is only about 15 years old, yet felt dated.

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Too big to succeed...

I usually enjoy Niall Ferguson's work. I don't always agree with him, but I enjoy his ambition and ability to tackle old subjects in unexpected ways (i.e. The Ascent of Money, The War of the Worlds, etc.). Not this time though. The book sets out to explain why Western Civilization has become the most prominent and successful set of institutions in history —and what our current problems are. This is an ambitious project. Ferguson starts by identifying 6 "killer apps" (values) that underlie this success: 1) competition; 2) science; 3) the rule of Law and property rights; 4) medicine; 5) consumerism; 6) the Protestant work ethic. From there, however, the argument wears thin very quickly.

By competition, Ferguson means capitalistic competition, war, imperialism and revolution. This part is more a defense of decentralized capitalism, of "laissez-faire", than an explanation of how the idea of competition has propelled the West into world prominence. In one of many, many detours, Ferguson explains why good old Edmund Burke had spotted something wrong in the French Revolution (as opposed to the English —Industrial— Revolution). There were caveats in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, which led to political oligarchy. Lots of historical events and anecdotes are then cherry-picked and used as filler to substantiate his point (which is?). About socialism and "class warfare", nothing much beyond saying that Marx was an odious person (I agree with that - but what's your point?). Nothing much, really,about the appalling work conditions in the 19th Century, beyond saying that workers fared "much better" than their farming ancestors.

This recipe is repeated throughout the book, which also takes a positive view of British and French imperialism (focusing mostly on the "benefits") vs. German imperialism (focusing on racism). In one way or another, maybe all forms of imperialism are based on one's sense of superiority over another, regardless of benefits and "applications"? Maybe that's one of the reasons why most colonies fought for their independence?

I was listening to this book over a long trip and was constantly muttering to myself "what's your point"? The chapters on Medicine and on the Protestant work ethic are, in my opinion, the weakest. For example, Ferguson grabs Weber's intuition as a lifeline (for a lack of argument) and holds onto it to the point of implying that the current resurgence of China is due to a "return to religion". I say "imply" because Ferguson, like many similar authors, is much too clever to say it outright, and to open himself to due criticism on what his book is actually about: conservative nostalgia of a world that never truly existed — or that has always had problems managing the unintended consequences of its success (social, political and ecological). Oh, and hard work, thrift and moderation exist in other cultures and other eras.

The book concludes on an attack on Islamic fundamentalism and the dangers it poses to the Western Civilization. Like other reviewers, I agree with that (although I would include all forms of fundamentalism in this argument). But don't use Islam as a means to scare me into going backward and trying to convince myself that religious faith is "essential", in a context where science has demonstrated that the concepts of "faith" and "God" are, at best, cultural constructs. Like many modern Westerners, science has made it quite difficult for me to live happily ever after in Fantasyland.

Based on Ferguson's basic argument, I would suggest that Western Civilization needs to reboot and create different, forward-looking apps. Maybe "creativity" should be considered. And what about our historical ability to rebel against existing political and economic structures, and to reform them accordingly? What about cooperation and collective creation? Just asking.

I was left disappointed and with the impression that this book clearly failed to make any point. No amount of historical filler can replace a cogent, logical, well-sustained argument. It left me with the impression that the solution to our current problems is to go back to "where we once were". The problem is that we're no longer there. And there are reasons why we're no longer there. And some of them have a lot to do with the success of Western Civilization.

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4 people found this helpful