Along the lines of *Sapiens* which I was about to read, but I realized I would only read a history based book once, so I’d like to maximize the best one.
The Dawn of Everything
A New History of Humanity
by David Graeber & David Wengrow
BeardInTheDark on
It’s a “dip-in-and-out” type book rather than a “sit down and read it from start to finish” but **Chronicle Of The World** is a good index to history. It gives an overview of history in newspaper-column format.
It’s also a good Coffee Table book.
As in it’s almost useable *as* a coffee table…
orhantemerrut on
Not necessarily a book on human history, but I found *The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer* by Siddhartha Mukherjee a fascination account of our fraught relationship with cancer, life and death.
IAmTheZump on
> I realized I would only read a history based book once
Can I ask about this? It sounds like you’re saying you’ll only ever read a single history book in your life, which is a bit of an unusual stance.
KennedyFishersGhost on
As odd as it sounds, a History of the World in 1000 objects is really fascinating for this kind of thing. Like, ink. Where would we be without ink? How did they make it, sell it, store it? Brilliant craic and an interesting perspective on humanity.
Hailifiknow on
Blueprint was awesome…about how we evolved and utilize human relationships.
Hunter Gatherers Guide to the 21st Century was amazing.
Also, I thought The Passion of the Western Mind was good, although the author goes a little mystical with it at the end.
I read HG Wells Outline of History and really liked it, even though it’s old and only takes to WWI.
6 Comments
Without doubt:
The Dawn of Everything
A New History of Humanity
by David Graeber & David Wengrow
It’s a “dip-in-and-out” type book rather than a “sit down and read it from start to finish” but **Chronicle Of The World** is a good index to history. It gives an overview of history in newspaper-column format.
It’s also a good Coffee Table book.
As in it’s almost useable *as* a coffee table…
Not necessarily a book on human history, but I found *The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer* by Siddhartha Mukherjee a fascination account of our fraught relationship with cancer, life and death.
> I realized I would only read a history based book once
Can I ask about this? It sounds like you’re saying you’ll only ever read a single history book in your life, which is a bit of an unusual stance.
As odd as it sounds, a History of the World in 1000 objects is really fascinating for this kind of thing. Like, ink. Where would we be without ink? How did they make it, sell it, store it? Brilliant craic and an interesting perspective on humanity.
Blueprint was awesome…about how we evolved and utilize human relationships.
Hunter Gatherers Guide to the 21st Century was amazing.
Also, I thought The Passion of the Western Mind was good, although the author goes a little mystical with it at the end.
I read HG Wells Outline of History and really liked it, even though it’s old and only takes to WWI.