"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Friday, March 31, 2017

Civilization & Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century - The Perspective of the World (Fernand Braudel, 1979)

Started this book in 2012 and left off for whatever reason.  Resumed this year, but I still don't really get it.  Interesting information throughout on an anecdotal level, but I don't have enough knowledge to grasp what he's saying about "world economies" and the like.

French author; this translation from 1992.

The idea that cities in the north - Bruges etc. - were built from scratch.  Italian cities hearkened back to Rome, Byzantium, etc.

Reiterates that the Champagne fairs were a big deal; year-round; gathered from north and south;  in 12th and 13th centuries.

Lots of interesting discussion about the rise of the Dutch, the manner in which they operated their colonies, and then being overtaken by Britain.  The idea that England gained from finally "losing" its French possessions and becoming a true island.

Sections on Russia, Ottoman Empire, China, etc.
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