Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
I will try and tip toe through this  .
Scripture is the Old and New Testaments (or either), especially if capitalised, or sacred writings or records (authority check was the Oxford English Dictionary). So its meaning is wide.
I don't know much of Tom Holland who wrote the notes to item 10, but am assuming he is the English author. I have only read his "Rubicon:..." and seen a few articles of his and my suspicion is that, unlike some of the others in the list, he has no particular activist barrow to push. His notes also do not capitalise scripture.
So, for myself, I have interpreted his claim to world changing as referring to, at least, both the Bible and the Koran (his notes cover both and he alludes to their common roots).
Looking at all ten books my view is that those covered by Helen Lewis, Paul Kingsnorth, Paul Mason and Bonnie Greer are just self-serving to their own activism rather than from a detached viewpoint (as I have alluded to already). However, that said, I think Paul Mason's The Communist Manifesto was world changing but perhaps not as important as he promotes.
I don't think I would like to compile a list of the 10 most world changing books, I think I could come up with 10 that would tie for first place . But it makes a good story for a rag. |
Tom Holland is a popular historian. He wrote a pretty interesting and rather controversial book on the early years of Islam, In the Shadow of the Sword.