Illustrating his open, connective theme in the form of a journey across the web, Burke breaks down complex concepts, offering information in a manner accessible to anybody -- high school graduates and Ph.D. holders alike. The journey touches more than one hundred interlinked points in the history of knowledge, ultimately ending where it began. Gateways, set at various points in the narrative, allow readers to jump through literary hyperspace to other different but related concepts throughout the book.

At once amusing and instructing, "The Knowledge Web" heightens our