A Little History of the World: Illustrated Edition

Obviously this book is very dated but I like the way it puts world history in roughly sequential context. Believe it or not, I hadn't read a world history survey like this since high school and this was more comprehensive than that. (yikes!)

There seem to be some huge gaps in the way history is taught in the US (or at least the 90s education I received.). For example, I don't recall ever learning more about World War I than Ferdinand's death was the catalyst. Not the parties involved, resolution, even Wilson's intervention. All learnt after the fact.

I remember randomly spending a month on the French Revolution in a literature class. I could go on and on about the imbalance, but this little book is a nice survey of major world events up to the outbreak of WWII. It is, however, extremely euro-centric.

Veo bastantes quejas de que el libro es demasiado euro-centrico. Desde luego es eurocentrico pero que se puede hacer con menos de 300 paginas?
Para bien o para mal Europa ha tenido hasta ahora una influencia desproporcionada en el mundo en general.

Creo que el libro esta bastante bien para lo que intenta, hoy se sabe bastante mas y posiblemente el peso de Europa en un libro similar seria bastante menor. En cierto sentido es un producto de la epoca.

This wonderful little introduction to the history of the world is written primarily for young people but I found it informative enough for me as well, as I was looking for a book which would make it possible to have a bird's eye view of how humans evolved from building tools with just a stone to making an atomic bomb.

With his simple and direct language, the author makes this book very fun to read and with his own subjective analysis and opinions on the events described within, makes it more engaging than those boring textbooks in schools.

For me, personally, it was a great read because lately, I became very interested in history, and I've found that Gombrich's work did a nice job in introducing different periods throughout the history.

Now, I feel that I have a direction to continue my exploration of historical events, cultures and periods which were the most interesting to me, like Ancient Egypt and their culture, Life in Babylon, the history of Jews from ancient to present times, The Greek and Roman cultures, figures such as the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and also the New Age of adventurous and exciting explorations, the age of Enlightenment, the French and American Revolutions, WW1 and WW2, etc.

So, there are so many topics to explore after reading this book, which just makes you more interested and excited to dive into the history of humanity and study it from other sources as well, but, as I've already mentioned, Gombrich's work is a great introduction to all of that.

This is a brilliant book. A “crash course” or overview of World History, written for young people. The writing is wonderful and I particularly like how at the end the author writes about history that he lived through and then writes about how his viewpoints have changed with time. Illuminating and illustrates how history is not just facts - but an investigation and discussion as to what those facts are.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in history and I would urge all high-school students to read it before commencing their World History class.

Definitely a book I would read again.

Hardly a history of the world (mostly Europe really), but definitely a good starting point for future reading (precisely what I was looking for). The writing is intended for children, so it is a bit strange.
Ends after World War I.

Though written for kids this is a great book for all.

This popular book has been around for many years in over a dozen languages but it has only recently been translated to English. (The reason why is explained in the preface.) Mr. Gombrich originally published this book in Vienna in 1936. It is written for a younger audience which results in a clear, engaging narrative. There are 40 short chapters which include sections on: Ancient Greece and Egypt, the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Jesus, Mohammed, the Middle Ages, the Crusades, Charlemagne, Martin Luther, Napoleon, and so forth up to World War I. Then in the final chapter, the author talks about his experiences during World War II and his hopes for peace. It is a fascinating book, covers a lot of ground, and made many areas of history much clearer for me to understand. I highly recommend it to anyone curious about world history.