(Part 2) Best products from r/todayilearned

We found 107 comments on r/todayilearned discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 6,417 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

Top comments mentioning products on r/todayilearned:

u/jimmythefrenchfry · 13 pointsr/todayilearned

I bought the Jefferson Bible about two months ago. I went for the nicer "Smithsonian Edition". So worth it. Each page is a high resolution scan of Jefferson's handwritten notes, and annotations. And you can see how Jefferson literally cut paragraphs and sentences out form the King James bible and pasted it into his own "bible".

Example of the differences between the traditional King James Version, and Jefferson's Bible: The Story of Finding Young Jesus in the Market Preaching to the to the old Scholars.

KJV/NIV Version: The story goes that Joseph and Mary left the city of Bethleham, and realize they left Jesus behind (people in those days travelled in caravans and kids were running around everywhere I guess). So they travel back to the city and search for young Jesus. They find him in the Temple preaching to the old Scholars, who were blown away by Jesus's teachings. Mary goes up to young Jesus and says, "why'd you leave us? Don't you know how worried we were?". Young Jesus famously responds: "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

Jefferson's Version: Same as above...Mary goes into the Temple, finds young Jesus talking to the old Scholars of the city, who all seem blown away by how smart Jesus is. . Mary goes "don't you know you worried us?" ...No response from Jesus. Jefferson cut out the God-like sounding "Don't you know you were in my Father's house?", but left the fact that Jesus was in fact found in the the Temple and that the old smart guys were blown away by the intellect of Young Jesus.

The Jefferson Bible is fascinating. I recommend everyone get a copy if they have the slightest interest/background in Catholicism/Christianity.

Btw, Jefferson didn't call it his "Bible". He called it "The Morals of Jesus Christ".

Fun trivia fact: Jefferson thought Paul the Apostle was a quack.

Source: I'm more or less an Atheist, and think Jesus was an insanely smart prodigy for his time who was very wise and said peaceful nice things that made good/common sense. I believe all the miracles/magic were added to the Bible by later people to make it seem more inspiring and awesome. All that stuff is bullshit. (I heard Jefferson thought that too, so I bought his compiled book, aka: The Jefferson Bible.)

EDIT: The version I bought: http://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Smithsonian-Morals-Nazareth/dp/158834312X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1449859239&sr=8-2&keywords=jefferson+bible

There is also a Kindle Version that is super cheap (99 cents I think). Pretty sure you can just google it and find PDF versions.

u/bandman614 · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

I think I'm one of the few people that switched to safety razors for the financial savings and actually got that savings, because I didn't get sucked into all of the accessories.

Honestly, I use my relatively generic safety razor ($35) and got bulk double-edged blades ($10). I did that....three years ago? And I'm maybe halfway through.

I don't shave every day, but honestly, I'm good shaving a surprisingly many number of times on the same blade. If I had been going through my old standby of Mach 3 (turbo (express (vibrating))) or whatever it is now, God only knows how much money I'd be in for.

The single biggest improvement in my shaving life was when I went to an old school barber and told him that I kept getting massive razor burn under my neck with a safety razor, and he was like, "that's because you're doing it backwards". I was shaving down, from my chin toward my chest. My hair doesn't grow that way - I need to shave from the bottom of my neck up toward my chin. (you may be different).

After I figured that out? Never going back. Also, I use conditioner instead of frothy mugs of soap. It just works better for me.

u/DerJawsh · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Sennheiser HD 518s, geared for more electronic music, far better than Beats, Open Ear for beautiful sound

~$70

Sennheiser HD 558s, balanced all around, improvement over the 518s but less geared for electronic music. Open ear

~$100

Sennheiser 598s, practically similar to the 558, just further improved for more accurate sound reproduction

~$150

Sennheiser HD 380 PRO, closed back, extremely good sound reproduction

~$100

Audio-Technica M50x, closed back, one of the most popular Audiophile headphones on the market

~$150

2 Closed Back, 3 Open Back. As you can see, I strongly prefer open for the much cleaner and natural sound, but closed back is still an option.

I mean, if your looking for, "audio tuned to only emphasize the very highs and the very lows", then yeah, maybe beats are for you, however, that doesn't make them of higher quality at all, they are literally doing the opposite of what you would want in a headphone, it's just that you would apparently prefer it. If you had a headphone that was completely flat, then you could hear the exact amount of bass the artist was intending. For example, I have Dual-Subs in the back of my car inside a ported box. If I listen to a deadmau5 song on those with the bass settings tuned way up, I'll get an overpowering bass that basically shakes the car and drowns out the rest of the music. However, when I go home and listen to the song on say my HD518s, I'll get to listen to the song as a whole, and the bass is represented exactly at the level it should be for the song, where you can feel it, you can hear it, but it doesn't drown out the rest of the song.

u/zubumafeau · 672 pointsr/todayilearned

The story of Henrietta Lacks is super interesting, but also really sad. Her cells were harvested at a blacks only hospital without her consent or notification. Later, the doc who harvested them went on to make buckets of money selling the cell line to researchers all over the place. People still make buckets of money off that line, and her family never saw, and will never see, a dime of it.

It wasn't all bad, though, as her cell line also helped to produce standards for cell culturing/storage/growth/an entire industry that all began with her cell line. It literally started a new era of research.

If you ever get a chance to read Skloot's book give it a read. Very eye-opening for me in terms of patient rights and medical ethics at the time.

EDIT: As /u/Halsfield pointed out, there actually has been a legal development in the situation. Two of her surviving family members now sit on a committee that controls scientific access to the DNA, as well as recognition in published papers using this line. There's no reported financial compensation, but apparently the family wasn't all that interested in cashing in. In fact, it sounds like it's opened up a ton of lucrative speaking engagements for her remaining family. I'm glad to see a happy ending, hats off to Rebecca Skloot. Without her, Henrietta would be nothing more than a footnote in history.

EDIT2: I am not as good with details as I'd hoped. Hopkins, where she was admitted, had a black wing and a white wing, and the Dr. who collected the sample did not make buckets of cash. It did spring a healthy business producing/shipping the cells to other researchers, but buckets of money might not be the best description. For clarity's sake I'm leaving my original comment as is.

u/lkajsdflkajsdflkaj · 5 pointsr/todayilearned

Yes, LA is full of actors who've dedicated their life to the craft. Many manage to earn a comfortable living -- and very few of those dedicated actors will earn hundreds of millions of dollars.

This is a near universal dynamic across many career paths in which moderate success is common and outstanding success is rare and extremely lucrative.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book on this very subject: Outliers: The Story of Success. I suggest you read it.

u/Quackattackaggie · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

Somebody asked a couple months ago how genghis khan funded his Empire. I thought I'd paste my answer here as it contains some really interesting information.

Genghis Khan left the cities to be ruled by their own people for the most part if they surrendered, which left them completely intact. The city would be required to pay a percentage of all goods to the Khan. In fact, this was substantially the Mongolian economy. For the most part, Mongols could not smelt, make pottery, craft with silk, mine, etc. Despite this, the entire Kingdom grew exponentially wealthy as peoples were conquered. It took a truly huge empire that spread across most of Asia, into the middle east, and into Europe. It would have encompassed more land if the heat didn't mess with their horses, men, and bows so badly. If the leaders did not surrender, or refused to pay tribute, there was no mercy. Cities could be razed. People were killed needlessly to instill fear. He could be brutal if it benefited him.

For the most part, conquered cities didn't need to produce military goods. They may have contributed arrows, but the Mongols mainly fought from horseback. They preferred to fight from distances as they believed getting blood on you would contaminate your soul. They conquered infantry and only used the troops they capture to lead a charge as a sacrifice to ease mongol losses. They had little need for heavy armor, swords, etc. In fact, their armor was very light and modtly covered their fronts to prevent retreat or to lighten the load. What they did enjoy were siege machines. The Mongols played a direct role in creating and furthering the catapult, flame thrower (gun powder with a slow burn), and cannons.
The Mongols also thoroughly pillaged towns. They would evacuate the town and systematically go building to building looking for anything valuable. Before Genghis Khan (pronounced jane-gis not gain-gis by the way), pillagers kept whatever they found. But under Genghis Khan, all of the booty was piled up and distributed by a shares allocation.

This is going beyond the question, but I thought I'd add how stable the land was that was conquered. Genghis Khan is largely shown as a barbarian in modern depictions. However, this is in a large part due to a play of Voltaire depicting him that way. He was using him as an allegory of the French king to avoid being prosecuted, but the image stuck to the great Khan. Genghis khan built and ensured safe roads, thousands of public schools, a writing system, freedom of religion, diplomatic immunity, paper money, and his influence is still reverberating through the modern world. They also assembled one of the largest sailing fleets in history, inspiring the British and Spanish armada. Edit: as I clarify later in this thread, he wasn't a nice guy. He was often brutal, but always cunning. He was constantly learning and was as elite a strategist as has lived.
Edit: to add another fascinating point related to your question, the armies of the Mongols spread out for miles. It could take days to ride from the left side to the right side, even in organized hunts as opposed to war. This was due to the horses needing to graze since everybody was mounted and each soldier had up to four or five horses. When they conquered an area, they often trampled crops so the land would return to grazing ground. They viewed the farmer peasants as little more than animals eating vegies and living in one area where their food was located. This was far different from the meat heavy diet of the Mongols.

All of this and more is available in the highly recommended and thoroughly captivating book "Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world." The audio book is equally captivating and was recently on audible for $5. Currently $4 on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/1491513705

u/MoonChild02 · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

It's How the Scots Invented the Modern World. Similar titles include How the Irish Saved Civilization, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, and Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. None of them are by the same author, but they're all interesting historical books with similar titles (How some great culture did great things that built what we have now), none the less.

I would love to find similar titles about other countries, cultures, and civilizations. They're always so interesting!

u/[deleted] · 5 pointsr/todayilearned

Well, there was a string of less-than-savory Rockefellers to come out of the bloodline. Several went in to politics. But we're really getting beyond my realm, now. I pretty much only ever concerned myself with the man.

The book that got me in to Rockefeller is Titan by the brilliant Ron Chernow. I want to say it's almost 900 pages long - but don't let that intimidate you. The book is absolutely chock full of fascinating nuggets about the America of the day, and gives you an almost blow-by-blow look at how Clark & Rockefeller Produce and Commission went on to become pretty much the biggest beast our planet's ever seen.

Anyway, it reads quick and is a good go-to for me whenever I want to brush up.

u/mdk_777 · 6 pointsr/todayilearned

Just gonna copy-paste from another comment:

I can't support all his claims, but it turns out Auschwitz scrip actually does exist and is on display the at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Source


I also found a secondary source now, Auschwitz.org, which references scrip as well as a camp canteen offering cigarettes (no mention of movies) and free visits to the bordello.


Source
Note: This website belongs to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.


Found some more sources, the Jewish Virtual Library has an article on it. The site looks kind of sketchy, but looking at it it's run by the American-Israeli Cooperation Enterprise, who's goal is partially to provide educational materials and help people research Jewish history and culture, so I don't have too much reason to doubt it's validity.

Here's the article, which is interesting.


The article in question also cites a book called Jewish Ghettos’ and Concentration Camps’ Money (1933-1945) by Zvi Stahl, a lecturer at the Israel Numismatic Society. It seems like you can buy the book on Amazon, it was translated from it's original Hebrew.

Book

u/fizzyboymonkeyface · 214 pointsr/todayilearned

Correct. He also made it a point to donate at least 10% of every dollar he made from youth and made good on it. He is one of the fathers of modern philanthropy.

He was a ruthless businessman, BUT prior to taking out/absorbing a competitor he would meet with them, offer them fair value for their business or stock in Standard Oil, and would go as far as to simply open his company's book for them so they can see the futility of competition. Very interesting life. If anyone wants to learn more about him, they should really read Chernow's "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller" Excellent book.

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303

u/yeahhhsortof · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

If anyone wants to learn more about Holmes' story or just hear about things that were going on in 1898 Chicago during the planning of the World's Fair, I highly recommend Devil in the White City. Great read, 100% non-fictional, but it's written in such a way that it feels like a fiction thriller. Really anything by Erik Larson is great.

u/anomoly · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

> ... and totally not known even remotely enough in general.

I think this is one of the reasons I'm so open about recommending his work. He seems to have the ability to take topics that most people may not be exposed to and make them comprehensible. It's similar to the way I feel about Mary Roach in books like Stiff, Bonk, and Gulp.

Along with that, Bryson has some purely entertaining works like A Walk in the Woods, Notes From a Small Island, and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir that are just a joy to read. I guess I'll stop now because I'm starting to feel like shill.

Edit: spelling is hard.

u/Mchammerdad84 · 103 pointsr/todayilearned

I have this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Greenworks-PRO-80V-145-MPH/dp/B01N11IBJU/ref=sxin_3_ac_d_pm?ac_md=4-2-QWJvdmUgJDIwMA%3D%3D-ac_d_pm&keywords=electric+leaf+blower&pd_rd_i=B01N11IBJU&pd_rd_r=309a04c8-3171-4451-9b18-b69529885534&pd_rd_w=D12NK&pd_rd_wg=zU0pj&pf_rd_p=02e79b16-eab7-4369-852f-d04a58a4d9b5&pf_rd_r=1B7X77649GGR6ZNZ1RBY&psc=1&qid=1572525186

Promise you won't continue to have that problem with power/lasting.

​

Edit: I forgot to mention the best part of an electric leafblower. No emmisions means you can use it indoors. Its the best thing I've ever used for waking up my children. 100% success rate, plus they enjoy it... after a few seconds.

u/samisbond · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

JasonMacker is correct, they were indeed monolateral polytheistic.^1 What Algenib is talking about is simply what some forms of modern Jewish interpretation cover, but he should have been more clear in his post, as many people seem to think this meaning exists within the text, which we know it cannot.^a

---
References:

|^1 “Israelite Religion”, H. W. Attridge, ed., The HarperCollins Study Bible, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), pp. xliv-xlv

Notes:

|^a I recommend HarperCollins Study Bible or The New Oxford Annotated Bible - both will go over the subject in great lengths - but any scholarly study Bible will do.


Further Readings:

Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman

"In the Beginning", A History of God by Karen Armstrong.

u/purexul · 12 pointsr/todayilearned

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff

It's more fictionalized (and satirical) than precisely what you're describing, but it's one of the best books I've ever read, as well as one of the most hilarious.

u/220hertz · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

If any of you are interested, I'd suggest Jim DeFede's The Day the World Came to Town. It's a well written account of what went on in Gander, N.L. on Sept. 11 and the following days. Being an Atlantic Canadian, I was impressed by how he captured the whole thing without making Newfies sound like bumpkins. Good read, highly recommended.

u/JetreL · 18 pointsr/todayilearned

Bill Bryson's - One Summer: America, 1927 talks a great deal about this. Given the source it's a very interesting read and correlates a lot of interesting happenings at this time. It just goes to show Freedom isn't Free.

u/manachar · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

Reminds me of David MaCaulay's fantastic Motel of Mysteries which involves a humorous take on clueless future archaeologist's investigation of a motel.

My favorite was the picture that had the archaeologist's wife "reenacting" wearing parts of the toilet in a way similar to Sophia Schliemann. About as accurate too.

Modern archaeology has gotten loads better at trying to avoid using past ruins to build a modern narrative. There really should be a rule like Occam's razor for history: If debating between two equally compelling and supported narratives, the one with the most pragmatic underpinnings is the one most likely to be true.

u/OneBigBug · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

Ehhhh..They are almost definitely sharper overall. To be clear, I don't agree with basically anything the poster whom you responded to said, but I think if you interpret a very reasonable amount of context, 'sharper' is a fair thing to say of razor blades.

Gillette cartridges. Not even the most expensive kind, just something that you'd buy at the store.

Double edge razor blades for a safety razor. Not the least expensive, again, just something you'd typically buy for your razor or would come with your razor.

For the sake of argument, let's say they're both identical sharpness and material when you buy them (I have no reason to believe they're not). Each time you use it, it gets a little less sharp. Shave with the same one for a few days, it's not going to cut as cleanly anymore. One costs $0.10 per blade, one costs $2.25 (at the low end, if you get them by volume), how often are you going to replace each?

Before I bought a double edge, I was using a Gillette Fusion. I would make those carts last for a couple weeks of shaving because they cost so damn much. Like $5 each. Now I could shave with a fresh blade every day of the month and only spend a small fraction of the price doing it. It depends on how cheap you are, but unless you're spending a pretty considerable amount of money to shave, just buying blades instead of carts will result in you shaving with a sharper blade over time.

u/AKeeneyedguy · -5 pointsr/todayilearned

Oh, my goodness. That article is terrible.

The snakes are an allegorical reference to illiteracy and the ability to write.

For a GOOD resource, please read How the Irish Saved Civilization.

Basically the TL;DR version is this:

St. Patrick was a slave that escaped his captors and brought reading and writing to Ireland. The Irish, having a voracious appetite for this new learning, begin making copies of every book they can get there hands on. Which turned out to be a good thing as the rest of Europe was on a huge book burning kick at the time.

u/jlking3 · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

You can get into wet shaving so cheaply! There's a double-edge razor that gets positive reviews at wicked_edge that's less than $3 from Amazon. It comes with one blade, but you can get a 5-pack of DE blades at Family Dollar for $1. Walmart sells a brushless shave cream called Cremo that's a very good value for under $4. You'd spend as much on one Fusion razor.

Also, you can get double edge blades even cheaper. $7.50 for 100 blades. (A minimum of 200 shaves.)

u/NPPraxis · 10 pointsr/todayilearned

It's hard to define "credit" in such scenarios.

For example: If I build an app from scratch and it takes off and I become a millionaire, I did that, myself, completely, right?

But...if I had the free time to do that because my parents gave me free housing and food, and they happened to live in Silicon Valley, giving me easy access to market it to higher-ups- didn't I technically have an advantage over someone else who might've been able to do the same thing?


But that doesn't take away from all the work I did.


The book Outliers is a fascinating take on this subject. The basic conclusion is that all (most?) ultra-successful people are a combination of luck (through birthright or location) and skill, but we as people want to believe it's primarily skill.

u/curtistalls · 1 pointr/todayilearned

My uncle was an air traffic controller in Gander who helped land a lot of those planes. If you're interested, there's a great book he recommended me called When the World Came to Town that covers a lot of interesting stories from the different passengers stranded there.

u/penclnck · 8 pointsr/todayilearned

http://www.amazon.com/The-Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/dp/1400052181

This is a very good book, highly recommend. And it touches on the chicken heart.

u/ThrowOhioAway · 6 pointsr/todayilearned

Hello, my name is Levi who is called Biff, Joshua's childhood friend, whatever you need to know can be found in the book I wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815

(Seriously, both a funny and very well written book, I recommend it to anyone of any religion who knows about Christianity)

u/Tary_n · 10 pointsr/todayilearned

The book also spends close to 50% of its time discussing Louis Sullivan and the politics/architecture of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Those chapters can be dry, but they hold a ton of cool information. That is one of those crossroads of history events that saw people like Wild Bill, Thomas Edison, and other huge names of history come together.

The chapters about Holmes and his house are haunting. Just worth noting that it is not only about HH Holmes; don't want people to be put off by the other content.

Get it here!

u/Coma_Guy · 1 pointr/todayilearned

They're really very comfortable. Super high quality. I can wear them for hours and not feel any discomfort.

Amazone is selling them for $160.

If you look hard though, you could probably cop them for $140, which is how much I paid.

u/monocle_and_a_tophat · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

On a sort of related note, here's a hilarious fiction/comedy novel involving cargo cults:

http://www.amazon.com/Island-Sequined-Love-Christopher-Moore/dp/0060735449

A bunch of this author's other (old) stuff is good too, like "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal":

http://www.amazon.ca/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815

u/Digitalabia · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

Chris Farley's attorney brother wrote a biography on Chris. I read it, it's pretty good and well written.

u/jkersey · 1 pointr/todayilearned

The Chris Farley Show

Great book. A lot of interviews with family, friends, and other cast members.

u/kiss-tits · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

Mary Roach writes some pretty interesting novels, such as Stiff, the curious lives of human cadavers

I used her as a source for a paper in college and found that book very informative.

u/ducatimechanic · 9 pointsr/todayilearned

Early Romans yes, later Romans, no. So, the simple answer is "yes", and this is why all the related words.

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0142001619

The link above is for Mark Kurlansky's book "Salt" that basically tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Sodium Chloride, but were afraid to ask.

He also has books on Cod (the fish), Birdseye (the guy who froze vegetables), and several others. He's a social historian who focuses on specific topics and then shows how they've connected history and the development of society throughout time. They're good reads if you're into learning about the details of common things that had a huge impact.

u/gh3rkin · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

I highly recommend reading Salt: A world history. This is one of the many accidental discoveries that happened due to the hunt for salt. Another interesting one is the discovery of natural gas in china that they ended up piping through bamboo and using for cooking etc.

u/DrkKnght1138 · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

You could probably get a copy from the Library. Otherwise, they're not that terribly expensive depending on how you go.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Jefferson+Bible

This is the one I have, and it's a scanned copy of the original with notes, and other documents. Well worth the extra investment.

http://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Smithsonian-Morals-Nazareth/dp/158834312X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450106577&sr=8-2&keywords=Jefferson+Bible

u/ChagSC · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

It's far too complicated to explain in a post. Here is the easiest way if you really care to know:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Chris-Farley-Show-Biography/dp/0143115561

u/motivational_tweaker · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

One of my favorite books growing up was Motel of Mysteries, which is a discussion of a dig site in what used to be a motel by archaeologists in 4022 and their interpretations of what things like toilet bowls were used for (religious ceremonies).

u/ewwwwww987 · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Darn, you beat me by 10 minutes. It was a pretty good book. boop

u/wdr1 · 30 pointsr/todayilearned

> anyone who is bigoted towards islam almost certainly doesn't realize they are essentially the only reason we still have access to the knowledge of the greeks.

That's really, really reaching.

And at least give some credit to the Irish too.

u/GoldLegends · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

But it wasn't his intention to murder people just because he wanted to kill people. It was actually the contrary. Mongols didn't even like having blood being spilt on them due to their culture. This was how war campaigns were done by all civilization in the past. The Mongols only had a high death toll because they were more successful than any other conquerors.

If anything, Genghis Khan was a lot more merciful than any other conquerors back then. He gave cities a chance to surrender and to be considered his "kin" if they were to surrender without fighting. But I'm not saying he was a saint. He did plunder villages and impressed civilians of those that didn't surrender to the frontlines of battles. But I want to reiterate that this was how the world back then was. War was quite common. Unlike other nations, he never tortured anyone. European, Persian, and Chinese leaders would resort to terrorizing torture but Genghis Khan never allowed torture.

And fine, even during their standard the Mongols did commit horrendous things, but they did open up the East/Asia to Europe which led to the rebirth of the civilization (which we call the Renaissance). They were one of the first civilization to promote religion tolerance and the first to have it's own continental postal system. They also vastly promoted trade.Without the Mongols, Columbus would probably have never gained support from Spain to sail West to gain access to the Mongol riches of the East.

The Mongols were not evil. They were just a product of their time's constant turmoil.

Source: "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford

u/arrsquared · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

If you like the concept but not delivery, you may like Christopher Moore's comedic book Lamb, about Jesus lost years in which he visits & learns in China and India.

u/FenderBellyBodine · 7 pointsr/todayilearned

The Devil in the White City is a great book http://www.amazon.com/Devil-White-City-Madness-Changed/dp/0375725601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418244016&sr=8-1&keywords=devil+in+the+white+city intertwining the organization/construction of the World's Fair and Holmes' escapades. Fascinating read.

u/GreatArkleseizure · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Yeah, all the rest of the crap in that URL is tracking info. Might as well make all of us click on banner ads while you’re at it!

I’ve always just used this style of URL: www.amazon.com/dp/B01N11IBJU , but your way is nice too.

u/MrVicePresident · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

There is a whole book about the history of salt. It's been awhile since I read it but it's really good imo.

Amazon Linky

u/_phedex · 1 pointr/todayilearned

ATH M50's - Best headphones I've ever owned.

u/Sarahpitbull · 1 pointr/todayilearned

There was an awesome book written about the events of this.... So awesome... there's a link to the book, I highly suggest reading it
http://www.amazon.com/The-Day-World-Came-Town/dp/0060559713

u/ctarbet · 1 pointr/todayilearned

I argue that it's just plain immoral to crave that level of luxury while many people in the world don't even have running water. We could get all high-minded and call it "antisocial" or "unethical" if you want, but I like "douchebag".

Becoming a multi-multi-millionaire is not the result of hard work. It takes fortune and luck. It takes being in the right place at the right time.

u/gopher33j · 1 pointr/todayilearned

http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/1491513705# || Great book, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Read it, if this is interesting to you.

u/ArchieTheStarchy · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

You can read the actual book this idea is based on rather than assuming he presents none. Not concrete proof (that would be basically impossible) but supporting evidence and ideas.

u/GlowingStrand · 7 pointsr/todayilearned

This book was required reading at my Christian seminary.

Two other relevant, interesting and easy-to-read texts from my M.Div. program were Denzey’s Intro to “Gnosticism” and Ehrmam’s The New Testament

u/Scullery_Knave · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

Bill Bryson writes about this in his most recent book, One Summer: America, 1927. Excellent read.

u/PaperParakeet · 3 pointsr/todayilearned

And if you're intrigued about the decomposition of the human body, or what might happen after you donate your corpse to silence, here's a good read!

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393324826/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-lE.yb3TNHSXQ

It's one of my long time favorites. It's the first place I read about this skin slippage, termed "gloving."

u/yellowfeverisbad · -1 pointsr/todayilearned

Please read the The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400052181/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_lFFGwb4HMQB9G not justifying or defending anything. I think the Internet is full of Donald Trumps and very rarely a thought out and balanced close look at both sides of the issue. This book did that.

u/BloodInMySaltStream · 1 pointr/todayilearned

I just finished this book. If you want to hear more about human cadavers - its really really cool. I'd advise the audiobook, personally.
http://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/0393324826/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411046472&sr=8-1&keywords=stiff%27

u/ModusMan · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Actually, according the the book "How the Irish Saved Civilisation" he was an exiled/kidnapped Welsh Prince. http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Saved-Civilization-Hinges-History/dp/0385418493

u/hookdump · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

I really recommend a book about this whole topic: Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930

u/OgFinish · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

There's actually 311 pages of evidence and "scientific merit". Why don't you thumb through his book and tell me exactly which parts of his argument you have issues with, considering your hardcore claims and his reputation as a well respected ethnobotanist.

http://www.amazon.com/Food-Gods-Original-Knowledge-Evolution/dp/0553371304

u/bothan_spy_net · 6 pointsr/todayilearned

Read: The Food of Gods. Magic mushrooms were quite cultural all over South America, and still are. A fascinating read, even if it isn't scientific or anthropology driven it does contain a fair amount of history on mushrooms and other drugs pre "drugs are bad m'kay."

u/faedrake · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

Sure. A new book is being written about her. Here's one article and the book link.

u/wickedren2 · -1 pointsr/todayilearned

Here's the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

It was excellent and not at all what you expect. The compelling aftermath of Jim Crow racism that places Mrs. Lacks unwitting sacrifice to science in perspective. And Ms. Skloot breaks every rule of a biographer, and lets the story rope her in.

The little known story of the discovery of the Hela cell line and the woman who unknowingly changed science could not have been without the thoughtful voice of Ms. Skloot.

u/Level_32_Mage · 1 pointr/todayilearned

I've been peeping these for a while, I think they might be an alright investment.

u/FencerPTS · 5 pointsr/todayilearned

Pro tip. You can link shorten an amazon link by finding the ASIN product number, i.e. B01N11IBJU. Then just use www.amzn.com/B01N11IBJU

u/FaustinFI · 1 pointr/todayilearned

> Rockefeller couldn't care less about people getting drunk.

He was a devout southern baptist who practiced and preached temperance WELL before the movement took off, mostly due to his experiences growing up with a father who was a heavy drinker.

He continued to practice it and punish his (adult) children for drinking well into his retirement.

Read: https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303

You will learn a tonne about Rockerfeller. He was a devout and pious man who was somehow capable of totally suspending his ethics in his professional work to collude with railways to form monopolies. His involvement with prohibition had nothing to do with his professional enterprise though.

Here's a far more detailed Quora comment rebutting this myth:

https://www.quora.com/Did-Rockefeller-bankroll-the-Prohibition-because-Henry-Ford-was-more-inclined-to-create-a-car-which-runs-on-ethanol

u/joosier · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

I remember a book being written about future civilizations uncovering a motel room and completely misinterpreting everything about it.

Found it! Motel of the Mysteries: https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

u/TinyPinkSparkles · 8 pointsr/todayilearned

There are a LOT of uses for cadavers.

Reading this book made me want to donate my body to science.

u/juicius · 1 pointr/todayilearned

There is a book titled [Stiff] (http://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/0393324826) by Mary Roach. Entertaining and macabre reading. It talks about using human cadaver for crash testing.

u/amcintosh · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

I remember seeing that book when it came out. I've never read it though.
Amazon Link to book

u/lastingd · 8 pointsr/todayilearned

This book is an essential read, as is COD by the same author. Riveting stuff.

u/jdoug13 · 1 pointr/todayilearned

There has been at least one, /r/nanichuki posted this




u/NinjaHippoMonkey · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Not sure where you read it, but this is Mckenna's book

u/LooksAtClouds · 15 pointsr/todayilearned

They have to. They need to calibrate the sensors on the crash test dummies.

Read more about it - and many other creative uses for dead bodies - in Mary Roach's book, Stiff.

u/EvisGamer · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

They did try to treat her cancer, using radiation therapy. She had ovarian cancer at first, so they jammed rods of radioactive material up her yoo-hoo. Her cancer was particularly nasty, and even with today's medicine and knowledge it's doubtful there's much they could have done for her by the time she went in.

Her family received next to nothing in compensation for using Henrietta's cells, although they were most definitely aware that Johns Hopkins had taken them and was using them in a business venture. They knew they were being exploited, but were essentially powerless to do anything about it.

Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for a better understanding.