A Less Boring History of the World

by Dave Rear

"Horrible history for adults." A witty and satirical history of everything interesting that has ever happened on planet Earth from 15 billion years ago to the present day.

With Monty Python-esque humour but a lot more informative, A Less Boring History tells you everything you need to know from the Big Bang to Barack Obama, taking in the Byzantines, the Black Death, Bin Laden and the fall of bankers along the way, all boiled down to bite size chunks so that you can finally piece together all the different bits of history - and see how on earth we ended up in the mess we are today.

A Less Boring History refreshes your memory and broadens your mind. And, if that's not enough, it will also make you laugh. A lot.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Humor, Audiobook, Reference, Comedy

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2012

About the author

Dave Rear is a writer and academic who lives and works in Tokyo. He read history at Cambridge and, out of sheer lack of imagination, almost became a school teacher, until he came to his senses and emigrated. He now lectures in English language, history, social science and anything else his students let him get away with. He is married with two children, who occasionally give him five minutes or so to write.

Reviews

[Sohaila Shim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much sarcasm to the degree i couldn't tell which events are real and which are spiced up!

[Lillian Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think people who truly understand history and what went down will really enjoy this book. I had some serious laugh out loud moments. The only reason it's 3 stars and not 4 is because I found the intro (Big Bang, evolution, stone age) not as interesting or funny. However I am so greatful I persevered. I'll be quoting this author in the future.

[Felecia Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

They seriously need to start teaching history to school kids with this book. Not only would you have kids more interested in it, but I'm certain they would retain a lot more of the information as well.

[Erica (sand_between_pages) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Update 11/20/21 - Solid re-listen! The narration is hilarious and very good. If you want a very brief overview of history, this one is a thumbs up!

I had been teaching middle school geography for 5 years, and when I moved to high school teaching, I received a World History section. My World History was a bit shaky, so I downloaded this book to listen to on a road trip to prepare for the upcoming semester. This was awesome! Not only does it essentially cover all the main topics that you encounter in World History, it is hilarious! I was able to use several of the anecdotes in my own classroom, which made history much more interesting to my bored sophomores.
I typically like to read books rather than listen to them, but this is a great listen, and the narrator has excellent comedic timing.

[Atila Iamarino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gostei do livro, mas recomendo para quem já sabe sobre a história contada, caso contrário algumas das brincadeiras podem ser interpretadas como verdadeiras. Boas piadas, várias curiosidades e alguns trocadilhos perdidos com a tradução. Ouvi o audiolivro da TocaLivros, que ficou bem legal narrado por um comediante, mas pecou por alguns nomes e termos com a pronúncia errada.

[L.A. Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Monty Pythonesque version of the history of the world. I don't like Monty Python.

[Laylat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! It's so funny but also has lots of historical information, a whizz through everything that's ever happened on earth.

[Fatema Zaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

No regrets at all! A very light and humours read, though it started off much better than it ended. 4.5/5.

[Megan Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was alright, but honestly? I prefer Horrible Histories, even if it is for kids. It gives you actual knowledge, not 2 sentences of jokes and then one sentence of fact.

[Vrunda Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is really hilarious with the classic British humour. The book isn't biased towards a set of people, it pokes fun at everyone. It points the obvious stupidity of the people and some really great analogies. Even if you aren't a fan of history, give this book a chance and you may just become one.

[Dominic Prout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it. Very funny and great to brush up on some of the history you may have forgotten!

[Hind]

A waste of £4.99! Every time I flipped through a page I thought to myself: is this guy remotely serious?!
While this book is meant to be an entertaining view of history, it fails on two levels; history and entertaining.
Worst book I have ever read.

[Zekiozdogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real fun book to refresh your history

[Joey Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nice concept, but it is such a difficult read because you never know which are jokes and which aren't.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boredom never featured in this book (although in fairness Rear did promise a less boring history and I love history anyway so I'm bias). It was charming, amusing and very few people were spared from his constant witty jokes that were not so hidden gems in this historical masterpiece.

It is a whistle-stop tour of world history with everything from the dinosaurs to Bin Laden. It's an exceptionally fast ride through the formation of the world through to the classics through to the revolutions. Yet, as boring as this may seem it's written as if it's a adult horrible histories story book. It's laugh out loud funny in parts whilst filling in a few gaps in my knowledge.

So yeah, I'd recommend this book. It makes you feel somewhat informed and is also very entertaining throughout.

[Abrar_abdullaha · Rating 2 out of 5]

#كتاب / #a_less_boring_history_of_the_world
للكاتب / #Dave_Rear

رغم أن الكتاب يلخص تاريخ العالم بحق ، بدأ من عصر الديناصورات ، عصور أوربا المظلمه ، حضارة الفراعنة ، الهند ، الصين ، ثورة المعرفة ، نيوتن ، آنشتاين ، إنتهاءً بالحرب العالمية الثانيه ، حرب الخليج ، صدام حسين ، بن لادن و حادثة سبتمبر "ايلول" ، لكنني لم أستمتع و وجدت أن علاقتي بالتاريخ ليست على مايرام ، أعتقد أنني أستغرقت ثلاث أشهر كي أستطيع إنهاء الكتاب بشق الأنفس ، ثقل ما أزيح عن كاهلي ، الكتاب جيد ولكنه لم يكتب لي 😅


لمن يرغب بإقتناءه ، حصلت عليه من جملون ، شدني العنوان و قمت بشراءه فوراً ، لم تكن تجربة سيئة وليست جيدة أيضاً 🤔

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gostei do início do livro, da ideia de contar essa vasta e cheia de detalhes história do nosso mundo, mas achei que a execução não foi tão legal quanto eu esperava, apesar de todo o esforço do autor para fazer piadas com praticamente todos os fatos, achei a leitura massante, passando por detalhes importantes muito rapidamente ou com piadas muito “internas”, de modo que eu não consegui entender muitas delas. Percebe-se que o publico do autor é o norte americano, pois várias piadas são voltadas para a realidade deste povo.
De maneira geral, foi um livro que gostei de ler. Em alguns pontos dei risada mas na maioria dos casos, achei bem fraquinho.

[Vera7 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bilgilendirici ya da komik değil. Bazen ne gerçek ne şaka anlayamıyorsunuz. Bazı tarihi olaylar, kişiler, milletler hakkında az bilgi verilmesi kasti gibi geldi. Kesinlikle çocuklara tavsiye etmem (aslında kimseye tavsiye etmem) Para ve vakit kaybı.
*
Not funny, definitely not informative either. You sometimes don't understand which part is a joke and which part is a fact. Lack of info given on some historical events, figures, nations seems deliberately done. I definitely don't recommend it to children or anyone really. Waste of time and money.

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t say thatI overly enjoyed this book. although it details a whole collection of historical events, personally for meI sometimes struggled to tell what were facts and what were jokes. But this is mainly because i’m not the most quick witted person😂
My historical knowledge is mostly modern history, which helped me to decipher what was true, whereas it did lead me to confusion for the more earlier periods discussed. Maybe a rating of two is too harsh and if I could give it a 2.5⭐️ I would.

[Paulo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uma abordagem humorística sobre a história.

Humor, política e futebol não se discute: cada um tem a sua preferência.

No caso em tela, não me foi palatável o humor do autor concernente aos principais eventos da história.

Assemelha-se mais a jocosidades, faltando aquele "insight" de algo de alto nível.

[Audrey Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the sarcasm occasionally, felt conflicted sometimes and found it tiresome at other times. It might work as a refresher for those who have a good grasp of their history (and don't mind the never-ending sarcasm in the name of wit) but I don't think it will work for anyone looking to broaden their knowledge.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5
The jokes start off amusing and adding humor to somewhat dreary and mundane parts of history to eventually just interfering with the facts. Claims to cut out the “boring” bits and make it more interesting but it is not achieved by the weak attempts made in this book to be funny. Would not recommend.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny (and very British) history of the world. It was an enjoyable read and it made me laugh quite a few times. However, focuses heavily on western and British history, with Australia not even getting a mention. As others have said, the sarcasm does get a bit old. An enjoyable read if you like history.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine history as told by Jimmy Carr with more than a few off-colour comments thrown in by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh... Hilarious, often very offensive, but still informative and highly entertaining. Be sure to take a lot of it with a pinch of salt though!

[Sarah Stirrup · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfunny, outdated jokes. The only good thing about the book is that it’s not biased towards European history, but even then it’s more like “Haha, Europe is so colonial and bad. The French are stupid. Everyone is killing each other. The end. Ps, Wales smells”

[Jordan Webber · Rating 2 out of 5]

You need to know history pretty well already for the jokes to land. The sarcasm was a little heavy handed and the “so what” of events is always a joke rather than actual quick explanation of the significance.

[David O'Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice idea to do a sort of Blackadder-esque humorous history of the world, but way too many of the gags are either too subtle that yr confused by what is actual fact or just not really naff. I struggled to the end.

[Junna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious ! I laughed wholeheartedly at jokes I could identify as jokes / sarcasm / exaggerations… however, topics outside my knowledge base I had to google - holy hell, is that for real ? Nope, just a joke ! A great way for me to learn through humour . Lovage

[Adam Quek · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of humour.

[BeckyisBookish]

DNF almost immediately, could tell right away this wouldn't be for me and I wouldn't enjoy the goofy 'humour'