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History is like a stack of 2-dimensional maps, the time stamp increasing with the thickness of this stack. Take any person. His or her personal history would be like a space curve winding inside this stack of maps. Write a book about this person. If you're sufficiently meticulous, you would be able to include a great deal of details while trying to track his worldline.

But take a wider event, or a collection events, which in itself is extended over a continent. The Second World War, for example. It wouldn't any more be possible to include "all" the details, not even "a great deal" of details while trying to track the war's world-surface inside the stack. When you write a book about the war, you would be able to follow a narrow, curved worldline but not the entire curved surface.

This is how I see history, like a bird's eye view on a map. Map which changes with time. This changing with time can be frozen by stacking those maps which are updated, say, once a day.

Isn't any attempt to include everything in history books doomed to fail?

Of course. But someone has to try at least.

Indeed. Don't you know that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it?

Did you not know that Churchill said that, referring to Germany trying to take over Europe?

Again?

No, but they almost did, didn't they?

In my opinion, Churchill was wrong. History is about things that don't repeat.

You do not believe that civilizations rise, decay, then collapse?

That ambitious megalomaniacs arise, lead their people down a path of aggression, only to die, and another comes along, and another;Genghis Khan, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Cortez?

Aren't those examples of similar cases, similar megalomaniacs? None of them is a repetition of any other. There's always variance. The expression "as like as two peas" doesn't apply in history. One might stretch this to mean that it's impossible to learn anything from history alone.

I have to say that I agree to some extent.

Couldn't one learn general concepts, even if specific circumstances were to vary?

And hasn't it all got a little bit serious in here?

Am I not a serious person?

Not always. Otherwise why would you hang out predominantly in 'Off the Wall', rather than PPR?

Could it be that my English just isn't good enough for PPR?

Do you not realise that your English is almost perfect, and better than a lot of people I know for whom it is their first language?

Low self-esteem?

Sympathy and a cup of tea?

Oops, sorry, I mean strong coffee. Or bone vodka.

How could I refuse? Thank you.