History, News, and science (and SciFi) are my guiding spirits of the past, present, and future. A Campbell's hero journey of sorts.
It takes me away from the comfort of my day-to-day actions and ideas and throw me to belly of the whale.
History becomes a battleground where I slay the idea-dragons living inside head.
I see other life's, with other ideas, values, and challenges. And then what I was taught, learnt, and believe stop being the truth, and transform in simply a truth. One of many. And Hubris, the idea-dragon dies.
I come back home anew. With superpowers of humility, empathy, and curiosity about other ideas and different point of views.
It forces me build a new perspective of the world... that lasts up until the next journey to the unknown, that is... 😀
How many hours have you got? lol. As a historian, I'm preaching to the choir, but like you, I find it simply fun. We don't even need to fictionalize it because most of it is so good you can't make it up. We are a species hardwired for storytelling, and that's exactly what history is: the story of US. Without it we would live in a perpetual state of arrested development. The future is not yet here, so the present and our past are all we have. Sure, we can learn from it and that's one reason for paying attention to it, but there's also the fact that it's just damn interesting in its own right. It doesn't need to "serve" us, but we certainly should heed it.
I got hooked on history when I ran out of books to read for a normal 3rd grade kid. My dad looked at his book case and pulled down his world history textbook from college. When I finished that he gave me his American history textbook book from college. Love the stories, human drama, etc.
I was probably 11 years old when I first read a poem by Rudyard Kipling that starts with "I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who..."
I imagine historians know this poem well and try to answer each of these "honest serving men." For me, "Why" is the most interesting and elusive of them. If we understand the "Why" of any historic event, it means we understand its causes and can then ask "Why" about each cause. Do this enough and we can (in my childish thinking) understand the world and how it became the way it is. Repetitive themes and human constants come into focus; the puzzle begins to take shape.
While I no longer believe I will ever put the full puzzle together (so many pieces are missing or shattered and it is such a large and complex puzzle), I understand the world so much more because of the pieces you, Daniele, and people like you provide me.
This is why I enjoy history and believe it is extremely important. This is how I wish history were taught when I was in elementary school and high school.
I love that 2 people can have 2 completely different perspectives on the exact same event. What caused it, who was responsible and the factors leading to it. Thanks for studying history and making it interesting. I don't think I would subscribe to a podcast if it was titled "Mathematics on Fire".
History, News, and science (and SciFi) are my guiding spirits of the past, present, and future. A Campbell's hero journey of sorts.
It takes me away from the comfort of my day-to-day actions and ideas and throw me to belly of the whale.
History becomes a battleground where I slay the idea-dragons living inside head.
I see other life's, with other ideas, values, and challenges. And then what I was taught, learnt, and believe stop being the truth, and transform in simply a truth. One of many. And Hubris, the idea-dragon dies.
I come back home anew. With superpowers of humility, empathy, and curiosity about other ideas and different point of views.
It forces me build a new perspective of the world... that lasts up until the next journey to the unknown, that is... 😀
I kept thinking about it, so I post something. Thanks for the trip, sir:
https://open.substack.com/pub/storyvault/p/journey-across-time-and-space?r=fugj5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Dr. Bolelli, Thee “Rain Man” of World History. 🤓🌧️🌎🌍🌏⏰
How many hours have you got? lol. As a historian, I'm preaching to the choir, but like you, I find it simply fun. We don't even need to fictionalize it because most of it is so good you can't make it up. We are a species hardwired for storytelling, and that's exactly what history is: the story of US. Without it we would live in a perpetual state of arrested development. The future is not yet here, so the present and our past are all we have. Sure, we can learn from it and that's one reason for paying attention to it, but there's also the fact that it's just damn interesting in its own right. It doesn't need to "serve" us, but we certainly should heed it.
I read your posts in your voice. I can’t be the only one. Keep up the great work.
thank you!
I got hooked on history when I ran out of books to read for a normal 3rd grade kid. My dad looked at his book case and pulled down his world history textbook from college. When I finished that he gave me his American history textbook book from college. Love the stories, human drama, etc.
I was probably 11 years old when I first read a poem by Rudyard Kipling that starts with "I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who..."
I imagine historians know this poem well and try to answer each of these "honest serving men." For me, "Why" is the most interesting and elusive of them. If we understand the "Why" of any historic event, it means we understand its causes and can then ask "Why" about each cause. Do this enough and we can (in my childish thinking) understand the world and how it became the way it is. Repetitive themes and human constants come into focus; the puzzle begins to take shape.
While I no longer believe I will ever put the full puzzle together (so many pieces are missing or shattered and it is such a large and complex puzzle), I understand the world so much more because of the pieces you, Daniele, and people like you provide me.
This is why I enjoy history and believe it is extremely important. This is how I wish history were taught when I was in elementary school and high school.
I love that 2 people can have 2 completely different perspectives on the exact same event. What caused it, who was responsible and the factors leading to it. Thanks for studying history and making it interesting. I don't think I would subscribe to a podcast if it was titled "Mathematics on Fire".