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Compact History of the World
A history of the world from the stone age to the space age.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 15, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 7, 2017
Not bad. It's definitely not a book that you sit down and read all at once. It is packed with information - the font is small, each sentence carries its own thought, and the maps and graphs are filled with data.
Good book for having out (or having in the bathroom) to read a page or two at a time before coming back to it.
Good book for having out (or having in the bathroom) to read a page or two at a time before coming back to it.
September 25, 2017
An ambitious book full of interesting history that has some major flaws. The maps are so busy that some of them are practically unreadable and most will leave you with a headache. The font size of the text is miniscule as well. Would have been a better book if it weren't so 'compact'.
April 14, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed reading every page. This book was enormously helpful in learning both modern and ancient geography.
April 13, 2018
This compares favourably in many ways to the 2-tone (blue and black) Penguin historical atlases that I’ve read.
The maps are legible full colour and there is very good accompanying content.
I have issues with a few things though: the Anglo-Euro centricity of the author exposes itself many times - sometimes subtly, other times overtly - when discussing “conquest” and “resistance” of various military, cultural, and commercial excursions by European nations in America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It hints at a wistfulness for the Rule Britannia imperial era.
Next is the layout - I cannot conceive why “map 1”, chronologically first and textually referenced first, is regularly placed on the right hand page, where it is naturally seen second; while “map 2”, which follows, is on the left hand page. Several times I had to hunt the micro key for the map’s designation to understand which of the 2 was relevant to what I was reading.
The small font size is also a concern, though somewhat understandable for the amount of content packed into the portable format.
The maps are legible full colour and there is very good accompanying content.
I have issues with a few things though: the Anglo-Euro centricity of the author exposes itself many times - sometimes subtly, other times overtly - when discussing “conquest” and “resistance” of various military, cultural, and commercial excursions by European nations in America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It hints at a wistfulness for the Rule Britannia imperial era.
Next is the layout - I cannot conceive why “map 1”, chronologically first and textually referenced first, is regularly placed on the right hand page, where it is naturally seen second; while “map 2”, which follows, is on the left hand page. Several times I had to hunt the micro key for the map’s designation to understand which of the 2 was relevant to what I was reading.
The small font size is also a concern, though somewhat understandable for the amount of content packed into the portable format.
February 22, 2022
4.25/5: Brilliant succinct 2-page visual layouts (maps, timelines, graphs) on the most significant events and transitions in world history. It got me interested in so many gaps that I'd missed in my scattered readings, particularly the Balkan states and the newly-independent "stans" of the former-USSR. I really appreciate the rich infographics which work a lot better for me than plain encyclopedic prose. If only they included some DK-esque hand drawings of recognizable figures this would be perfect! It comes really close.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews