Most Important People Ever Quiz

This is a pretty good list, but the most glaring omission to me is Archimedes.

Both omissions seem particularly bad. Although, can you imagine how different the world would be without birth control? That guy belongs on the list, imo.

Just thought I'd mention it because it's interesting. I've heard that a large percentage of Cohens share the same Y-chromosome, meaning they are descended from the same man. In Jewish tradition, all Cohens are descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses. So maybe he did exist in real life? But, yeah, if we're going on the Bible then Noah should be #1, since we'd all be dead otherwise. :)

I also noticed the DaVinci omission, and I thought it was strange. And not to sound like a crazy feminist or anything, but there are only two women on a list of 100 people? No Marie Curie? None of the suffragettes? Clara Barton or Florence Nightingale? Amelia Earhart? Cleopatra? Catherine the Great? I realize history is mainly patriarchal, but I didn't realize it was this bad.

Great book! I recommend you all read it. A few pointers though: (A) JFK was listed because of his responsibility for instituting the Apollo Space Program; and NOT because of any of his political policies. (B) The reason Da Vinci wasn't listed is because, as impressive a man as he was (and the author writes in his Honorable Mentions, that he is perhaps the most brilliant universal genius that ever lived), he was NOT one of the 100 most INFLUENTIAL. In the words of the author:"It is possible that Da Vinci was the most talented person who ever lived, but his enduring accomplishments were comparatively few." It's just important to keep in mind that the list is the 100 most Influential and NOT the 100 most important or anything else.

I thought the list was pretty good... and although archimedes, ghandi, lincoln, da vinci, etc. were left out, kenny 15 has a great point - it is a list of most influential, not talented/important... and the list was made by one guy, not a team of experts, so if ur that mad about, write your own best-seller

What about Benjamin Franklin? Sheesh.

socrates?

I've taken this quiz three times, taking a different bent each time (once political, once science, once arts/culture) after listing the founders of the major religions each time. I realize this is all one person's point of view but some of the ones missing and some of the ones listed are so off-the-wall as to be ludicrous. "Influential", right? So Mali is on there? Now I'm a fan of Kennedy, but really, if your looking at Americans, Kennedy over LINCOLN or FRANKLIN for influence? Really? Where's Victoria? Heck, where are any women at all beside the two OBVIOUS tokens that are on here? Cleopatra? Hatshepsut? Hildegard von Bingen? Eva Peron? Wu Chao of China? Cahterine the Great, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Marie Curie, Jane Addams, Indira Ganhhi, Sappho? Wanna' talk influence, where's Anne Frank or Mother Theresa? As women comprise more of the population than we men do, not ONE member of the centuries long women's rights movements? Completely meaningless and lacking in influence or just completely unimportant to thi

Seriously? JFK but no MLK?

Couldn't "Zarathustra" be an acceptable answer for Zoroaster?

I found this list to be very sexist. There are what two women on here? No Clara Barton? No Eleanor Roosevelt? Some women in history are more important than half of the men on these list, especially considering that the general public has never even heard of half of them. 86% of test takers have only heard of 32 of these, there's something wrong with this test.

This isn't about the author, but Newton and Edison are wayyyyy overrated, since they just took other people's work.

i was surprised when mother theresa and the dalai lama didnt come up

There's no way anyone should outrank Jesus on this list. One day,... far into the future Watson & Crick will show up on this list.

also, how do fdr and churchill BOTH not make it? without them, the world may be an extremely different person. or harry truman for dropping the only atomic bombs ever. i mean come on, i know i'm biased towards western, specifically american, history but there seems to be glaring omissions.

Interesting list... Though could "Paul the Apostle" for "St. Paul", and "JFK" for "John F Kennedy" be accepted? Typed both in, but missed out on the technicality. Also, Lenin has a first name (Vladimir).

^ Socrates, too! He wasn't there? That's kind of crazy!

" Even though it's completely arbitrary..." yeah indeed :D

Apparently (because I have not read Hart's book, so I looked him up online), the author of the book has proposed that the USA be divided into separate parts based on race. So to me it is telling that so many of the people he considers influential are white men. Great quiz for generating impassioned discussion, and maybe getting people to think about who is really influential throughout history.

kennedy? freud? composers? what about attilah the Hun chairman Mau, genghis khan, oda nobunaga, gahndi.

i think the most glaring omission is mary, the mother of jesus. there wouldn't be a jesus without her. although you could say that about all these people.

(continued!)...modern world would be a very different place today without them!

I haven't read the book, so I'm pretty happy with my 30/100

I feel like Lincoln should be on the list... I mean, eventually slavery would have been abolished, but he thought well beyond his years and peers.

I know others have said to 'read the book' but I don't care...this guy's list is one of the dumbest I've ever heard, and his criteria are so subjective and silly that the fact that even one person read his book is puzzling to me. So Abraham Lincoln, who was the President who ended slavery in the USA, who waged a war that changed the national identity and reality for the United States as a nation and a world power, who waged a war that in its tactics showed how World War I would be fought, and who had some of the most moving and important speeches in American (some would say human) history is left off? Gandhi is left off? A man who inspired an entire nation to gain its independence? A nation that is the 2nd largest population-wise on earth and is projected to become 1st by 2050? And, regardless of what others say, Jesus is NOT accepted historically by "most modern scholars." There ARE no contemporary accounts of his life...first mentions of him historically come from the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, who

Also: no mention of Alexander Hamilton, the man who created the financial system of the US that eventually became the world's financial system that everyone is railing against now...Just nuts to leave him out.

everyone there are alot of extreeemely important people missed out but to be fair the guy who made this quiz went by Michael H. Hart's book so fair beanz to him

what about peeps like rasputin who didnt impact the world but are important in the history of other countries (in this case russia) you should do one for each county

or you could do a couple for each country and if you cant find one for each country make it up by putting extra in others

where the heck is aeschylus the first ever playwright william shakespeare would not be on there without him

racist,sexist,ignorant that is all i have to say btw i am an African American female who loves history :P

Can you accept William of Normandy?

I know this is arbitrary, but really, no Da Vinci? What does a man have to do to be considered important? xD

Freud was the father of psychoanalysis and not psychology. Gutenberg did not invent the printing press; he invented the movable types that revolutionized the printing press. Before that, paper-size blocks were carved and used in printing presses.

Damn, typed GorBACHev and got Bach, then forgot to retype Gorbachev. I guess there's not much that can be done about that...