Will I love The Map of Knowledge?

Between the Greeks and the Renaissance lie the Dark Ages, so called for the pall of orthodoxy and repression that afflicted civilization for those lamentable centuries. But what was lost was found again, and modern science has been the marvelous result. Those of us alive and well today have much to be grateful for, and Violet Moller tells us how we came to inherit it all.

Lately, I've been worrying about the end of civilization, but this book made me think that maybe we'll make it through.

Last summer's wildfires, heat waves, and torrential rains can turn you pretty gloomy, and at first glance, Violet Moller's book wouldn't seem to allay those dark thoughts. But she details how the wisdom of the classical Greeks and Romans survived during Europe's Dark Ages because they were cherished by Arabic and Islamic scholars in a series of great centres of learning that stretched from Baghdad to Spain. 

Moller's book shows once again just how resilient people can be. 

A lively account of the ways in which the philosophical and medical ideas of the Greeks were transmitted to Rome, the Arab world, and medieval Italy. What Plato, Aristotle and Galen had said was often changed and even lost on the way, and only partially recovered in Renaissance Italy. A vivid reminder of the influence of the Greeks over many centuries.