Why do you like History?

BCLG100

BCLG100

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So after my exams finally ending i was able to relax and have a beer but then got in a heated debate on why History was awesome. So i was wondering what you guys feelings on the subject were.

Personally my interest stemmed from civ and horrible histories and the fact WH smiths did buy one get 5 free many a year! But i also like analysing history to see the circles in which it goes and to what extent them circles can be avoided. Initially i liked the idea of military history but in practice i worked out it wasn't just reading about chivalrous battles but something else entirely but not my greatest interest is the medieval to early modern period.

Anyways thoughts?
 
BCLG100 said:
So after my exams finally ending i was able to relax and have a beer but then got in a heated debate on why History was awesome. So i was wondering what you guys feelings on the subject were.

Personally my interest stemmed from civ and horrible histories and the fact WH smiths did buy one get 5 free many a year! But i also like analysing history to see the circles in which it goes and to what extent them circles can be avoided. Initially i liked the idea of military history but in practice i worked out it wasn't just reading about chivalrous battles but something else entirely but not my greatest interest is the medieval to early modern period.

Anyways thoughts?
Click to expand...
History is terribly important and really colors most of my opinions on virtually everything. Military history has (clearly) always been my favorite, mostly because I grew up as an Army brat and segued into history from geography and RMP as it was.

...but I don't much like it, mostly because all of the people and things that I find myself interested in are depressingly destroyed. Got me disillusioned for awhile.
 
History helps understand the present.
 
I'd always viewed the history of the world as one great story and the main aim in life is to read and to write it. What we see around us and what we are today is just one stone in a road which never ends. I define history as the entire human race, everything it is and ever was or will be and everything which it will one day accomplish. History is everything of value.

I also think it's important to moralise the past, to draw inspiration from examples and to understand why disasters have happened. Reading about history is absolutely necessary in order to understand and sympathise with different world-views. The past shows us clearly that there is no good and evil, there are only those who are led astray by what they see around them and their experiences and those who are less so.
 
i come from a more literary and "humanities" background, but i find that history itself is the best story out there ever. i am the kind that likes to daydream and imagine a lot, especially in my younger years, and if one is tired and doesn't want to make up stuff, history is an easier method.

even without that, i find that history has taught me much about the people here, today. past gave us, the present, of course. i can see, too, how the present is not so different from the past - similar themes and plots run through.
 
My interest in history more or less stemmed from playing Civ, Medal of Honor, Age of Empires and other historical video games. Military history & WW2 are my favourite subjects. Never really thought about why I like it, I just sorta do.
 
All of the coolest stuff happened in the past. All the cool things that happened in the future have not even happened yet. By the time they happen they will be part of history, therefore history is cool!
 
History makes me aware of what life is made of. I breath history, I see history and I become history.

.. yeah so what, I wanted to become an archaeologist as a kid and dig up dinosaurs until I started playing civ1 thanks to my girlfriend at the age of 12 and when civ2 arrived I was hooked on history :p
 
I'm just interested in Social Studies which links into History.
 
Dachspmg said:
...but I don't much like it, mostly because all of the people and things that I find myself interested in are depressingly destroyed. Got me disillusioned for awhile.
Click to expand...

It's funny, one of the reasons I started liking history was that it showed some human attitudes and motivations have been recurrent. In our world that apparently changes so fast, I fount it comforting...

Now I just find that reality does indeed beat fiction. The stories told by historians may include some terrible episodes from humanity's long evolution, but for each act of destruction recoded there is likely some wonderful story of creation to read about too. :)
 
Because all of the crazy things that have happened in history, like Teddy Roosevelt giving a speech after being shot but before going to the hospital.
 
I like it because history is rather easy for me to learn, yet interesting. History gives you "what-if" situations that you can think about. You can think about what you would have done in the shoe's of a great ruler.
 
It's fun, especially if you always contextualize both the events described and who described them. It's like a game, where you always have to be one step ahead.
 
I'm interested in many different subjects; politics, linguistics, warfare, etc.. There is only one discipline which encompasses all of these different things. History.

If you study history, you inevitably learn about other things as well, just by default. Politics, religion, psychology, all these things are basically the same now as they thousands of years ago, only the names and terminology has changed. I also find that knowing how something develops gives you far more of an insight to that thing than simply knowing what it is, now.

In short, I just love history in general. The past is terribly interesting, and informative. While there are many interesting things about the present, and future, the past informs and creates all of them, so the past must be studied in order to understand the future and the present. I love knowledge, so I try to understand everything, therefore, history is the most important thing for me, excepting survival.
 
I first became interested in history when I was in the 4th grade. That is when our school system first taught history as a subject. This love for history continued to grow until the 8th grade, when I decided that I wanted to be history teacher. In about three years I will be retiring from the teaching profession. My love for history is even greater now than at any time in my life. Evey human endevor has a history and these histories are all linked. Nothing happens in a vacuum. I think the thing that I love the most is the fact that history is full of outrageous people doing outrageous things. Technology and situations constantly change, but throughout the ages, human nature remains the same.
 
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