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Book Description
From the Stone Age to the Space Age – an entertaining journey through our own story that asks not just how we got here, but also, where are we going?
Product Description
A Brief History of Mankind is the thrilling introduction to the big ideas in history combining the latest research in history and archaeology to look for answers to some of the questions we ask ourselves: Where do we come from? Why has the human race been so successful? What are the origins of our religions? In a sweeping, panoramic narrative Cyril Aydon tells the story of our species from origins in Africa, the development of technology, the rise of nations and empires, and the evolution of culture from cave painting to the internet. Packed with fascinating facts and insights, the book also looks to the future and asks is the crisis of climate change one challenge too far for Homo Sapiens?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is my first ever review so please be gentle. I've read quite a number of world histories and wasn't expecting much from this brief work. I was so pleasantly surprised with it (despite some of the points made by other reviewers on Amazon.com) that I decided to give it a 4-star review, 5 stars being reserved for a John Roberts or a William Hardy McNeill. However his coverage of the last century or so reads less like an effort at objective history and more like a series of op-eds where a reader may garner more about the author's views on politics, religion and economics (where opinions are treated as facts) than of alternate viewpoints. Hence my 3 star rating.
History has not been kind to at least one of his confident assertions. He writes glowingly of the Irish economic miracle. Being Irish this was a painful read in 2011. We had a miracle followed by a property bubble of tulipmania proportions. I don't know when the author finished the manuscript (the copywrites are 2007 & 2009) but there were warning voices for several years before the '08 collapse.
The author's method is to paint broad strokes on key themes rather than try to cram in as many facts and figures as possible. This is married with a series of global overviews in 4000BC/1000BC/500AD/1455AD/1763AD/1913AD. I think this method works well for a work of this size and the author writes in a fluent, easy-to-read style.
The book contains a howler of staggering proportions on page 336, "In January 1945, Hitler committed suicide...Four months later, on 8 May, the formal surrender..."
How can something like that get past a reread never mind an editing, printing and revision process?
History has not been kind to at least one of his confident assertions. He writes glowingly of the Irish economic miracle. Being Irish this was a painful read in 2011. We had a miracle followed by a property bubble of tulipmania proportions. I don't know when the author finished the manuscript (the copywrites are 2007 & 2009) but there were warning voices for several years before the '08 collapse.
The author's method is to paint broad strokes on key themes rather than try to cram in as many facts and figures as possible. This is married with a series of global overviews in 4000BC/1000BC/500AD/1455AD/1763AD/1913AD. I think this method works well for a work of this size and the author writes in a fluent, easy-to-read style.
The book contains a howler of staggering proportions on page 336, "In January 1945, Hitler committed suicide...Four months later, on 8 May, the formal surrender..."
How can something like that get past a reread never mind an editing, printing and revision process?
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book absolutely fascinating. It was written with just the right mix of facts and light humour. As it was a set book on my degree course's reading list I was worried it would be very technical and complex but fortunately this was not the case and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It picked out key topics very well and I learnt a lot!
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book yesterday and I already want to return it. If I had read the chapter 'The Birth of India', I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. The authors opinion, stated as facts, about the aryanisation of india are stale. I got a little suspicious when I realized that the author had referred to the 'Discovery of India' by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, as that itself is based on the western theory of aryanisation popular at that time. If the author had made any effort to find out, he would have atleast mentioned, if not supported for some insane reason, that there is an alternate, more scientific theory which is almost universally accepted now. Anyways I don't think I'm going to read it any further as it seems like a half baked and not-so-well researched book.
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