# History as a braided rope You can imagine history as one of those thick braided ropes meant to hold boats in place. You can follow single threads through the entire length - this is like looking at the history of a place, the evolution of a specific technology, or a theme like women’s rights. Or you can slice through the rope and see *everything* that was going on in, say, 1945. It’s very hard to do both because the human brain and stories can’t really hold them. ### Related * [[Fourier transform on history]] <!-- #mental-model --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/History+as+a+braided+rope) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/History+as+a+braided+rope)