I am taking world history right now, and I am very interested in what we are learning, (thanks partly to meds) and I really want to learn this stuff. But I just don’t understand how all the different continents fit in. I’m so confused. Now we are starting to read a book called "All the Shah's Men" This class is a foreign language to me. My other classes I’m doing great in, I don’t have that totally lost feeling like I do in history. I haven’t felt this out of the loop since high school! So many times I have been told about the continents, so many times I look at the globe, and it doesnt change one thing in my mind. Does anyone have any helpfull learning ideas for someone like me?:confused:

I guess I don't quite understand what you mean by Continents fitting in... Do you have trouble with knowing where Africa, South America, Asia and places like that are? Or if the lesson refers to someplace like Burma do you have trouble finding what continent it is in? Give us a few more details or examples and we might be able to help more.

One thought I have is go to the campus book store and buy a small world map 81/2 X 11 size and keep it in your note book have it out and refer to it during class and when you are studying. Get maps of continents if you are trying to remeber where countries are. When I read the "Fellowship of the Rings" books I printed off a map of Middle Earth and actually drew lines on it so I could figure out where they going. Yes, I'll admit... I'm a GEEK!! But I can show you exactly where the "Gates of Moria" are.

Those of us with ADD tend to have to learn and remember by constant repetition and by making things fun and interesting. Having maps or globes close by to glance it will help. Play a game with a study partner where you spin a globe and put your finger on it and then you have to give basic details about the country. Language, characteristics of the people, recent news, wars, anything like that. The point is make it fun and interesting and then you will learn. hope that helps.

That’s a good idea, right now we are learning about the Haitian revolution, Slave trade, Industrial revolution, when I think I know where it is that we are reading about the story takes place in a whole diff place w diff people…. I guess its getting the image of who sailed where and conquered what………. I will get a map to refer to during class; I think that since the other people in my class seem to already know all this I feel like I should to. That’s cool that you are so interested in this stuff, Thank you so much for your reply :) I really appreciate

Another thing you can do is download Google Earth. It's free. After you recover from having your mind blown, you may find you have a new appreciation for geography.

the Hatian revolution... That is a heavy topic. The bahamas and West Indies as they were called then are a confusing bunch of little Iselands and every European nation had an interest in them and were fighting each other. That would give you a bad case of brain drain. Yeah, I would probably need to follow along with a map too.

Thanks you guys. Im about to read all the shahs men, Im going to need all the help I can get, I am shamefully clueless about the Middle East!

I’m going to download Google earth now, check that out. Sounds interesting
Thanks for replying, I might ask some questions now and then if you don’t mind?

I have such a geography deficit. I was absent that day in school. I have never been able to learn and put all the continents together. I know just what you mean, even though I am very interested in learning about history and different cultures. I have to tell you, I am in my 40's, and it was only 10 years ago that I could tell you about the Victorian era, the years it covered, what it was like, etc. Even though I "learned" about it in school, it never clicked until I went to a living history museum! SEEING, SMELLING, HEARING, the way of life, live, is what made it all click for me. Then, I could use that for a frame of reference for the rest of it. Weird. Anyway, if you are more of a hand's on type, maybe something like that might help you. At least some videos or documentaries about the area (something more visually stimulating besides the written word) you are learning about might help, if the written words don't make it all connect. You are brave to admit that and to look for alternate ways to make it click for you. Good for you! :-)

Thank you for saying I am brave, if I were really brave I would tell my professor! What’s funny is that I got 50/50 on a reflective essay we had to write, so I get what you mean about understanding the stories, just not grasping the geology part. I get turned around easily, used to be way worse before I started taking meds, id drive around for hours, seriously.

Your awesome 1kid2dogs thanks for the support

Another thing you can do is download Google Earth. It's free. After you recover from having your mind blown, you may find you have a new appreciation for geography.OMG! WOOOOOW! Ok this is the coolest thing Iv EVER seen online before! I mean I’ve seen satellite but not like this. I love it, I could just sit here and watch it bounce from place to place across the earth and never get bored. Thank you so much for the heads up! I never knew about Google earth!:eek: <-------THIS IS ME RIGHT NOW!!!

You might also try historical maps, showing the same topical/physical geography but with the borders, names, and other political matters of a particular time period. This is especially true of the Middle east, where borders and names are very fluid, especially before the 1980's.

This really helped me in ancient history, as Kush, Cathage, Gaul, the Persian Empire, Punt, the Great Zimbabwe, etc aren't on any modern maps.

I really understand your dilema. I have taken many art history classes and the professor always begins the lecture with a map of some sort, illustrating how the cultural interactions happened. I'm sure you could search google and find a historical map for the location and time period you are studying. It would also be interesting to compare it to a modern map. Just letting your professor know that a map would be helpful for your studying, they might give you some good resources.

bumblebe, I found www.maps.com (http://www.maps.com) . You might want to check it out. You can look in the FREE section and find all sort of maps, even historical maps. Here is a map of Iran (http://www.maps.com/ref_map.aspx?nav=RM&cid=694,725,740,840&pid=12095) that might help with all the Shahs' Men.

re: fit in

Are you referring to Colonialism? (Dominant Cultures e.g. Europeans come to "colonize' and subjugate the People's of the N. & S. America & Africa & Australian Continents?)


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I think it is important, too, Bumblebee, to realize that

(a) Europeans have a strong WRITTEN Historical Tradition. Africans and Native N. & S. Americans and Native Australians do not have WRITTEN history.

Their History is communicated as an ORAL Historical Tradition. They are not able to say that "this EVENT happened on January 3rd, 1486". (Somehow, Europeans have always viewed this as meaning other People's were "less than, or less civilized" due to this lack of Textual Historical Recording.

(b) The "winners" (Dominant invaders & war winners & oppressors) are the ones who arbitrarily (one-sidedly) get to 'write the history'. (e.g. Cowboy and Indian mythology. Indians were here first. N. Ameria is their land, etc.)

(c) This means that there are many lost voices and lost stories -- those of the ignored, oppressed and otherwise eradicated peoples.

Okay what are you discussing in history? Is it world History or Western Civilization?