Catching Up Author:Charles Veley Jacket flap: — Ever wish you could remember half of what you've forgotten from Culture 101? Or feel that your lack of knowledge about art, music, philosophy, history or whatever puts you at a disadvantage? — Today, knowing the Right Things is not simple. There are too many distractions; there is too much to do. One feels the need to catch up - but... more » where to start?
CATCHING UP is the sine qua non for the person who is rushed or easily bored yet wants to know what's what, from classical philosophy to modern art, without having the Britannica thrown at him.
Written in an entertaining style, free if academic jargon or pretension, CATCHING UP tells you everything you need to know from the ancient world through the medieval, the Renaissance, and on to the present day - the best ideas and names, with dates, pronunciations, and the stories that make them memorable. It also tells you what not to bother with and why, and how to use what you know to best advantage.
CATCHING UP, in short, explains the few essentials in each area that can be most useful to today's civilized mind. It tells you what you should know about Atlantis, and why you needn't remember more than a line or two about Giotto or Locke; why it's worth knowing about Mozart and why Tennyson is camp. It also looks at the phrases and opinions of contemporary critics, along with those classics to which they most frequently refer.
CATCHING UP is brief rather than encyclopedic, in keeping with the impatient spirit of our times, and with the Law of Brevity set down by Sherlock Holmes in the past century:
"... depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out useful ones."
So start CATCHING UP! Why should the experts have all the fun?« less