The King's 28 letters have been described by scholars as the world's best alphabet and the most scientific system of writing.

One person making a wrong decision affects the whole country.

History as well as life itself is complicated -- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency.

To science we owe dramatic changes in our smug self-image. Astronomy taught us that our Earth is not the center of the universe, but merely one of nine planets circling one of billions of stars. From biology we learned that humans were not specially created by God but evolved along with tens of millions of other species.

All recognized famous inventors had capable predecessors and successors and made their improvements at a time when society was capable of using their product.

All human societies go through fads in which they temporarily either adopt practices of little use or else abandon practices of considerable use.

It invites a search for ultimate causes: why were Europeans, rather than Africans or Native Americans, the ones to end up with guns, the nastiest germs, and steel?