How the Scots Invented the Modern World

I am finally beginning to read How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman. It came out in 2001 when I was overseas. I picked up a copy within two or three years. An intriguing thesis but it came on the back of similar books such How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill.

Large claims with some merit but seemingly overstating their case.

So How the Scots Invented the Modern World has sat on my shelf for some years; not because I disagree but more because of a latent concern that it might just be a publishing house phenomenon. Indeed, I am quite fascinated by the Scots, as I am with the seventeenth century Dutch, the fifteenth century Portuguese, the fifth century BC Athens - people who arose from unpropitious circumstances to have an intellectual and civilizational luster all out of proportion to their originating circumstances.

Now that I am reading How the Scots, I am finding a much more cogent argument than I anticipated and am enjoying it. As with the best of books, Herman is connecting knowledge and ideas you already know, but in a new fashion and from a new perspective, allowing you to make different and more powerful conclusions.