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Question: Do you learn anything by reading about it!?
Or do you have to experience something to believe it!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
To learn about history, we have little choice but to rely on the words of others!. There is no way you can go back and 'experience' things that happened long ago!.

But you make a good point!. You cannot believe all that you read!. Churchill's famous statement that history is written by the victors is not completely accurate, but it is predominately so!. Therefore, to really understand events from the past, we must read various accounts from all sides of the topic!.

The more you read, the more you learn!. From the Book of Genesis to yesterday's news story, you cannot form a complete understanding on just one account!. A historian writes to make a point!. He may not alter the facts, but he will certainly accentuate or downplay (or even ignore) facts to support his point!. Wading through all this takes time, to be sure!. But if you are to really get a thorough grasp of a topic, you really have to absorb multiple views!.

I'll give you a couple examples!. In the last year and a half, I have read five books on Napoleon (including the Tolstoy novel)!. I have learned things from all five!. But any one of them only gave me a partial picture of this very complex man in those turbulent times!. I read two books on the Crusades this year, and both had very different perspectives!. These works did not necessarily contradict each other, they just offered different perspectives!.

It helps your understanding of the past to go visit the places where events occured!. Reading about the Sistine Chapel or Hadrian's Wall or ground zero at Hiroshima is no subsitute for being there!. But not everyone can afford to do that!. I have been able to visit many of the places that have interested me!. And seeing them for myself has been a treasure!. But I have learned far more from the writings of others!. And my appreciation of these places has been infinitely enhanced by my readings!.

To learn about the past, we must use the second, third and even fourth-hand reports of others!. Are they all reliable!? No!. Can you learn from them!? Yes!.

That's my thought on it!.

Thank you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Reading about something can give you a sort of big-picture understanding!. It can give you the background and the way things moved forward afterwords, and it can give you a good idea about who and what was involved!. But to really understand something, you have to be able to see it, or experience it somehow!. hat's one of the problems with history!. The inability to actually experience the events as they happened!. However, you can come close!.

As an example, Custer's Last Stand / Greasy Grass Creek!.
I had read a half dozen works on the subject, and had even mapped out and "gamed" the events on a map table!. Very instructive!. However, going and visiting the battlefield, and walking the ridge line, and going down into the creek bed and looking back up the hill, at the same time of year that Custer met his end, was very, very instructive, and helped explain some of the things that had puzzled me, and forced me to abandon some of my previous assumptions!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

~I read the safety manual that came with my circular saw the other day and it really didn't teach me anything at all!. I had to run the spinning blade across my arm to figure out whether or not that would be dangerous!. Damn, now I've got to type with one hand!. I hear tell that T-Rex was a mean mother and ate meat, but I'm still looking for one to test the theory!. Reading is such a foolish waste of time!. I always wait for the movie or Nintendo game to come out!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Think about it!. If you only believed what you experienced, you wouldn't believe very much!. So of course I do!. I am skeptical about some things I read, but that just means I don't believe everything I read, or see for that matter!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

personally i have learnt lots of things by reading about them!. and the things we can experience are so few if you compare them to the complexity of the universe!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Reading is a wonderful way to learn things!. If you have to experience it, you are certainly going to be limited as to what you will learn!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Personally, I think that there are many ways of learning history!. I learn a lot by reading about history, but some people might need to visit a museum or getting some hands on experience!. It all depends on how you learn best!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I have learned lots of things by just reading about them!. It really depends on the subject!. Some things you need to experience yourself!. Most things you can learn from books!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

How can you experience the Ancients!? or Palaeontology!? Www@QuestionHome@Com

Er, well, yeah!.
I assembled a wardrobe from written instructions a couple of weeks ago!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

i learn from other peoples experience as well as my own!.no one should be as Doubting Thomas was!.Www@QuestionHome@Com