A Short History of the World Kindle Edition

3.5 StarsNot a bad overview for the general reader, but he does skip around quite a bit. It makes it harder to follow the progression. He writes well, but usually, history is easier to read if things are a bit more linear. (-1 star)Also, he takes every opportunity to push some kind of agenda for environmentalism (bad fossil fuels, global warming, etc.). That would be fine in other contexts but I don't prefer that in what is a very brief 'history' book. (-1 star)Also, while there are some errors and erroneous conclusions in the book, I didn't deduct any stars for them because it is supposed to be a very concise book. Plus, he does give some nice little tidbits along the way that are interesting. (+1 star)If you need a broad brush of world history it is a nice book to read. I would recommend it.

This book is a short overview of the history of mankind. I've read other books with the same theme, this book is a very good example of that genre. The author gives a time line of when the genus homo began, when homo sapien developed, the exit from Africa, the migration patterns that settled the world and the beginning of man living in cities as the agricultural revolution allowed civilization to begin.He covers ancient civilizations starting with the Sumerians and Egyptians, but also covers India and China. He hits the highlights of the ancient world, the Assyrians, Hittites, Hebrews, Babylonians etc. The Persian empire is covered and the interaction between it and Ancient Greece with the affect on western civilization that the Greek victories in the 5 th century BC had.He covers the development of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam and the resulting affect these religions had on world history.He continues with a good overview of world development after the fall of Rome into the modern system we live under now.All in all this would be a great first book for someone to get a good overview of world history so that they would be stimulated to investigate whatever strikes their fancy in detail. It is a fast read, you could probably do it one sitting.

A really fascinating read. I love history books, and as I look back on my school days I realize what a piecemeal education in history I was given. Just dates, battles and kings, one country at a time. Mr. Lascelles has the right idea - tie it all together so that the advance of civilization makes sense. You can only do that globally. I'm most interested in the way humankind has fumbled around trying to work out how government should work and how to "do" law. This book comes closer than any other in explaining that, for all the different areas of the earth. A massive undertaking. Good job!

This book is exactly what it says it is...A Short History... I thought it was well done so if you want an easy to read and digest history then give this one a shot.

To paraphrase the author in the introduction, it is one thing to take history classes in school, where you get bits and pieces of world events, and another thing to understand how the history of earth came to be and how each of the pieces fit together to form what we now have. I liked that the book started with the Big Bang, and progressed to life in the present time, including everything in between. For the sake of brevity everything is condensed, but supplies enough information to give the reader an understanding of what took place and how it affected the events that followed. The book includes several maps that fit the timeline of what is happening and help the reader's understanding. I enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it.

While dubious at first of the author's ability to describe even the highlights of the entire planet, I ended up being very impressed of how he identified the critical path events and do it in a concise manner. While there is much that got left behind, this discourse provides an excellent overview from which the reader can decide where to delve into grater depths. I would recommend to all to help develop a better understanding of what was going on in different parts of the globe that may not have been highlighted in each of our national perspectives of the world.

This book is exactly as advertised. It's an easy read that gives the reader a quick view of the history of, well, history. It is well-written with dozens of fun and fascinating facts. I plan to read it again.For the most part the book seemed very balanced and fact-based. My only criticism, and the only reason I deducted a star, is the author let his left-leaning political bias creep into his writing about recent events in the Middle East and climate change. Specifically, "the threat of Iraq developing nuclear weapons that the USA used as an excuse to invade the oil-rich country in 2003," completely ignoring the sanctions approved by the UN, the multiple times Saddam was given to agree to inspections and avoid any military conflict, and the other countries involved in the action. Politics and Current Events are separate categories and I'd prefer to keep it that way.

Amazingly captivating story telling amidst breaking down a topic that would be a cumbersome read otherwise. Keywords for this book - short, summary, for people in a hurryWho this book is for: if you're looking to get a general picture or head start on world history broken down into milestone periods, this is for you. It is a quick read along with maps and good story telling.Who this book isn't for: if you are looking for a year by year, full detail dive into history, this isn't for you. You're best suited for an encyclopedia.

It seems that most historians feel the need to write like scholars, thereby producing works of tedious lists of names, dates and places, peppered with words you're never heard of and presented using interminable sentences that exhaust the reader and obliterate the meaning. I think they write for each other.Having given up on the Penguin book on this subject as the worst example of this tendency, I was wary of trying again.But this book does the job perfectly. The author tackles what is an intimidating project with simplicity and enthusiasm, and creates a book that is readable, informative and well structured.Absolutely five stars.

I decided to rewrite my original review after just finishing my second reading of this book (I wasn't happy with my original review).It really is a great book, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it and learnt a lot. It's definitely not one of them books you only read because you feel you SHOULD read it. It honestly is a real page turner. So I often I found myself saying, "Oh, never knew that..." Also the author, when talking about (for example) an ancient kingdom, explains where that kingdom was relation to the modern day world.The numerous maps are also very handy. My only criticism of the book would be that I would have liked a more detailed table of contents, and list of the maps at the front of the book. But they only minor criticisms.Overall 5 Stars.11th April 2012 : Update to my earlier reviewI don't often write an update on a book review, but then again I've never re-read a book as often as this one. That's not to say that you can't digest it all in just one read through because you can. It's just rearding myself the more I re-read something, the more it sinks in. And this book is short enough and so well written that it's easy to do.As someone with experience of trying to read (and giving up on!) several world history tomes in the past, THIS is the book to get if you want the best (and digestible) account of world history

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. In condensing the history of the world into a length suitable for the modern attention span, the author exposes the rhyming stanzas of the story of mankind and makes a neat poem.Remarkably prescient without trying to be (for example it warns early on in the book of how ethically dubious rearing of animals can come back to bite us...), it is an enjoyable and leisurely read that feels like spending an afternoon with a history professor in a nice relaxed cafe, and letting him explain world history over coffee.

I thought I was pretty good on history, but this book connects events around the world so that I now have a much better understanding of how events in one country or on one continent affect others. Not only that, the presentation makes it accessible for everyone from those with a deep interest in history to those who just need an overview. Highly recommended.

A really interesting read, I admit that I knew precious little about the conflicts and varied civilizations from the recent and distant past.Of course, this book does not claim to cover everything but it did teach me a lot, and in just enough detail.Two very minor criticisms:The maps were too small to make any sense for meThe chapters/sections were a butt too long in my opinion, they could have been broken down without losing any continuity.These points do not detract from the enjoyment I had though and I would thoroughly recommend this book.