What do you think?
Rate this book
Το Χρονικό του Κόσμου
Σε τούτο το βιβλίο ο Ασίμωφ επιστρατεύει όλες του τις ικανότητες για να αφηγηθεί την πιο συναρπαστική ιστορία: την ιστορία του κόσμου μας και των λαών του, από τη Μεγάλη Έκρηξη μέχρι τον Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο, και από την τιθάσευση της φωτιάς μέχρι την πυρηνική σχάση. Προχωρώντας πέρα από τα βασικά γεγονότα και τις ημερομηνίες, η πανοραμική αυτή θεώρηση επιτρέπει στον αναγνώστη να παρακολουθήσει τις ιστορίες που κρύβονται πίσω από την Ιστορία: την εμφάνιση και εξαφάνιση ειδών, τις πολιτικές μηχανορραφίες και τις στρατιωτικές στρατηγικές πάνω στις οποίες στηρίχθηκαν μεγάλες αυτοκρατορίες και κράτη, τις μεγάλες νίκες και τις ήττες τους, τις προόδους και τις υποχωρήσεις της επιστήμης, τις τεχνολογικές και τις οικονομικές εξελίξεις, τους πολιτισμικούς δεσμούς και τις επιρροές που διαμόρφωσαν τον πολιτισμό και την τέχνη κάθε κοινωνίας. Με το ζωηρό και γλαφυρό του ύφος, ο Ασίμωφ μας δίδει ένα απολαυστικό και διδακτικό βιβλίο που θέτει την παγκόσμια ιστορία στη σωστή της προοπτική.
1200 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
69 people are currently reading
1409 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,337 books27.6k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 2, 2022
Curioso mamotreto de la historia del mundo (no solo de la humanidad) desde los albores del tiempo hasta 1945. Una cronología no muy al uso. Asimov nos la presenta por segmentos temporales, que, a su vez, subdivide en regiones y países. En estos segmentos se destacan los eventos históricos más importantes, y luego también incluye sumarios sobre los acontecimientos tanto científicos como culturales de dichos segmentos. Aunque el estilo puede dejar algo frío al lector, no cabe duda de que, en conjunto, es una obra superlativa que todo aficionado a la historia debería tener en su biblioteca.
Pero, reitero, no es una cronología de consulta eventual, ya que carece de un índice temático o de términos, lo que la hace difícil de uso para consultas particulares. El pequeño índice que incluye no sirve para este tipo de consultas. Por lo tanto, la recomiendo como lectura global, pero no como medio de consulta diaria. Tampoco incluye ni mapas ni lustraciones, con lo que refuerzo mi consejo de no utilizarlo como lo que no es, una guía de consulta eventual. O te llevarás un chasco.
El libro que yo tengo es de segunda mano (1996), comprado en una feria del libro. A día de hoy creo que es bastante difícil hacerse con un ejemplar. Si te interesa la historia, es una opción interesante, aunque no la más recomendable. En otro momento reseñaré cronologías más útiles para consultas puntuales. Más útiles para mí, dicho queda.
Pero, reitero, no es una cronología de consulta eventual, ya que carece de un índice temático o de términos, lo que la hace difícil de uso para consultas particulares. El pequeño índice que incluye no sirve para este tipo de consultas. Por lo tanto, la recomiendo como lectura global, pero no como medio de consulta diaria. Tampoco incluye ni mapas ni lustraciones, con lo que refuerzo mi consejo de no utilizarlo como lo que no es, una guía de consulta eventual. O te llevarás un chasco.
El libro que yo tengo es de segunda mano (1996), comprado en una feria del libro. A día de hoy creo que es bastante difícil hacerse con un ejemplar. Si te interesa la historia, es una opción interesante, aunque no la más recomendable. En otro momento reseñaré cronologías más útiles para consultas puntuales. Más útiles para mí, dicho queda.
February 17, 2017
This is a huge book in so many ways, from its physical size and weight to the topic it covers. I have always been a fan of Asimov and his approach to writing, from tales of Robots and Foundations to his Choice of catastrophes he has approached them all in his own particular way. During his life there seemed to be no subject he could not approach and write an entertaining and fascinating book about.
Now this book as you can imagine has to be selective about what it covers considering it really does cover off the chronology of the world from 15 billion BC to the end of the second world war in 1945.
Now over the course of 675 pages events and dates are marked by year and country so you can see at a glance what has happened anywhere. Now I will amid that history is one of my weakest subjects and never really appealed to me at school. So now I feel like I am playing catch up (with often events that others know off by heart surprising me and catching me out) This book was a very welcome guide to bringing me at least part way up to speed although I will not admit how many years I have been dipping in and out of the book.
In short if you enjoy the non-fictional work of Asimov this is a brilliant book (I can remember the long Sunday afternoon reading his scientific essays on everything from black holes to electromagnetism). It also stands as a sad reminder that the world has lost another great commentator, someone who took raw facts and data and made it interesting - something I wish I had while still at school.
Now this book as you can imagine has to be selective about what it covers considering it really does cover off the chronology of the world from 15 billion BC to the end of the second world war in 1945.
Now over the course of 675 pages events and dates are marked by year and country so you can see at a glance what has happened anywhere. Now I will amid that history is one of my weakest subjects and never really appealed to me at school. So now I feel like I am playing catch up (with often events that others know off by heart surprising me and catching me out) This book was a very welcome guide to bringing me at least part way up to speed although I will not admit how many years I have been dipping in and out of the book.
In short if you enjoy the non-fictional work of Asimov this is a brilliant book (I can remember the long Sunday afternoon reading his scientific essays on everything from black holes to electromagnetism). It also stands as a sad reminder that the world has lost another great commentator, someone who took raw facts and data and made it interesting - something I wish I had while still at school.
December 13, 2016
Είναι εντυπωσιακό πώς μπορεί να χωρέσει ιστορία δισεκατομμυρίων ετών μέσα σε 1000 σελίδες! Ο Asimov τα καταφέρνει θαυμάσια, με πιστότητα, γλαφυρότητα και αρκετή δόση καυστικής κριτικής.
January 10, 2016
Το έχω κόσμημα της βιβλιοθήκης μου, το μόνο που απαγορεύεται ρητά να εξέλθει του δωματίου! Είναι treasure chest με όλο τον ανθρώπινο παράγοντα από τη στιγμή που πάτησε στα 2 του πόδια. Ξεμπερδεύει και με τον Β'ΠΠ και μόνον τότε σταματάει. Ο τρόπος αφήγησης θα θυμίσει στους παλιότερους τις ποδοσφαιρικές ραδιοφωνικές περιγραφές από τα Ελληνικά γήπεδα. Πχ ανοίγω στην τύχη μια σελίδα, πέτυχα την 50. Κεφάλαιο 2500 εως 2000 πχ. Μέχρι την 54 σελ. μας "συνδέει" με ΣΟΥΜΕΡΙΑ-ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΣ-ΚΡΗΤΗ-ΙΝΔΙΑ-ΧΕΤΤΑΙΟΙ. Εκεί παίζονται οι αγώνες της ανθρωπότητας όπως είναι κατανοητό. Φυσικά όσο περνούν οι αιώνες και γυρνούν οι σελίδες, το παιχνίδι χοντραίνει. Πιότεροι λαοί, με τους ηγέτες τους και τις άλλες μεγάλες τους μορφές γεμίζουν με πλούσιο υλικό άφθονες σελίδες που μυρίζουν μπαρούτι από τους επικούς πολέμους και ίντριγκα από τα καπρίτσια των επιφανών. Ναι, μυρίζει και η ίντριγκα. Βρωμιά, διαφθορά, προδοσία... αλλά υπάρχουν και πολλά άλλα "αρώματα". Ηρωισμοί, ανακαλύψεις, οτιδήποτε άλλαξε τον κόσμο. Ανεκτίμητης αξίας βιβλίο πολύ παραπάνω από ένα λογοτεχνικό μυθιστορηματάκι.
January 5, 2023
Σε τούτο το βιβλίο ο Ασίμωφ επιστρατεύει όλες του τις ικανότητες (μιλάμε για κοχόνες μεγατόνων) για να αφηγηθεί την πιο συναρπαστική ιστορία: την ιστορία του κόσμου μας και των λαών του, από τη Μεγάλη Έκρηξη μέχρι τον Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο (αν και τεχνικά αυτή είναι η μοναδική Ιστορία της οποίας έχουμε επίγνωση και αυτό θα αλλάξει μόνο αν επισκεφθούμε άλλο σύμπαν).
Έξυπνα δομημένο και κατατμημένο χρονικά και εδαφικά, παρόλο που το έργο είναι ταυτόχρονα τεράστιο και συνοπτικό, καταφέρνει να μην κουράσει τον αναγνώστη, ο οποίος θα δει και το σπινθίρισμα του χιούμορ σε μερικές παραγράφους όπου ο τεράστιος Ασίμοφ δεν αντέχει να μη σχολιάσει βιτριολικά.
Διαβάστε το και μετά αναγκάστε και τα παιδιά σας που έχουν καταντήσει αχλαδόκωλα από την τηλεόραση και το PS να το διαβάσουν κι αυτά. Κι όταν τα παιδιά σάς κάνουν εγγόνια, επαναλάβετε.
Έξυπνα δομημένο και κατατμημένο χρονικά και εδαφικά, παρόλο που το έργο είναι ταυτόχρονα τεράστιο και συνοπτικό, καταφέρνει να μην κουράσει τον αναγνώστη, ο οποίος θα δει και το σπινθίρισμα του χιούμορ σε μερικές παραγράφους όπου ο τεράστιος Ασίμοφ δεν αντέχει να μη σχολιάσει βιτριολικά.
Διαβάστε το και μετά αναγκάστε και τα παιδιά σας που έχουν καταντήσει αχλαδόκωλα από την τηλεόραση και το PS να το διαβάσουν κι αυτά. Κι όταν τα παιδιά σάς κάνουν εγγόνια, επαναλάβετε.
November 10, 2018
Asimov’s Chronology of the World, Isaac Asimov [1920–1992], 1991, 649pp, ISBN 0062700367.
A one-volume education.
Asimov gives us not only events and dates, but causes and consequences of what happened. Not just wars, but discoveries and ideas. As a biochemistry professor, Asimov knows which discoveries were significant, and why. Very concise, yet thorough. Asimov was brilliant. And interested in everything. And prolific.
Focusing on events influencing Western culture (p. 30). The Big Bang through V-J Day, September 2, 1945. In the epilog he says he had thought to extend it to the present, 1991—but that the rate of change since 1945 has been off the charts—it would take another 650 pages to cover 1945–1990. [And the rate of change hasn’t slowed. 1991 was when Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web.]
It’s not possible to remain a pure pacifist after reading Asimov’s account of German aggression in WWII.
Introduction: pp. 1–3
Big Bang through 12,000 years ago: pp. 3–23
10,000 BC–600 BC: pp. 23–54
600 BC–1700 AD: pp. 54–269: a section every 50 years, subsections by country
1700–1880: pp. 269–416: 25-year sections 1700s, 20-year 1800–1880
1880–1910: pp. 417–490: 10-year sections
1910–1914: pp. 490–502
1914–1920: pp. 502–531
1920–1930: pp. 532–560
1930–1939: pp. 560–594
1939–1945: pp. 595–647
Epilog: pp. 647–649
There are no notes, no bibliography, and only a feeble index (pp. 653–674). If you forget when silk was smuggled out of China to Europe, google it. Silk isn’t in the index. If you want to know which of the ancients thought the earth orbits the sun, reread the book. Heliocentrism isn’t in the index—nor even astronomy. Only if you know the names of all the astronomers and philosophers you’re interested in, will the index help. There are no maps, no graphs, no tables, no illustrations. Just text. Brilliant text.
Unfortunately, it’s out of print. Used copies are still being offered on amazon. 572 Worldcat libraries have it: https://www.worldcat.org/title/asimov...
Bacteria existed by 3.5 billion years ago. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria allowed an explosion of life by trapping solar energy. They oxygenated the atmosphere. Eukaryotes (with cell nuclei) appeared about 1.4 billion years ago. Jellyfish and worms by 800 million years ago. Shelly animals—and plants—by 600 million years ago. Chordates (like us—spinal cord, gill slits) by 550 million years ago. Life begins to invade land, 450 million years ago. Dinosaurs die out 65 million years ago—leaving mammals an opportunity. (pp. 6–13)
Hominids walk upright 5 million years ago. Homo habilis, larger brain, smaller jaw, flaked stone for cutting and scraping tools, 2 million years ago. Homo erectus 1.6 million years ago, 6 feet tall, brain up to 40 oz, hunted mammoth, reached Java and Peking. Ice age 600,000 years ago. Sea level down 300 feet as glaciers cover land. Fire in use at least by 500,000 years ago, maybe by 1.5 million years ago. Neanderthals, brains larger than modern humans’, by 300,000 years ago. Entered Europe. Buried their dead, often with food and flowers. Modern human, taller, slender, weaker, smaller brain than Neanderthal, by 50,000 years ago. Neanderthals extinct by 30,000 years ago. (pp. 15–21) [Non-African modern humans have Neanderthal DNA.]
By 25,000 years ago, all continents are peopled except Antarctica. Cave art, Spain and France, about 20,000 years ago. Dogs domesticated by 14,000 years ago. Goats by 12,000 years ago = 10,000 B.C. in Middle East. Herding allowed increased population. Sahara desertifies. Last glaciers recede. Sea levels rise. Americas and Australia will be isolated until 1492. (pp. 21–23)
Wheat and barley farming, N. Iraq, 8,000 B.C. World population explodes to 5 million. [If world population was 10,000 after Tova erupted 72,000 BCE, average population increase was 0.01%/yr for those 64,000 years.] (p. 23) Unrelenting toil from now on. “The population of an agricultural region quickly reached a height that could not be supported in any other way.” Sedentary life, and “property” began. Where nomadic bands’ territorial disputes rarely were lethal—the weaker band left—farmers had to stand and fight interlopers. Warfare, and enslavement of losers, begin. Cities begin for mutual defense. Humans no longer group by tribe (extended family), but by city. “In almost every case, people were willing to trade freedom for security.” Food surplus permits division of labor. The drive toward urbanization is still continuing, all over the world. Jarmo, northern Iraq, dates from about 8000 BC: 100–300 people. Jericho may date from about then. By 7000 BCE, city-states were on the Euphrates and the Nile; Jericho had 2500 population on 10 acres. (pp. 24–26).
Asia Minor and Greece farm by 6000 BC. Southeast Asia grows rice. Pottery. Soup, stew, casserole. Flax was grown for fiber well before 6000 BC. (Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber tells us /string/ was in use by 20,000 BCE.) Cloth. Clothing. Rafts. Cattle domesticated. (pp. 27–28)
Sumeria, first “high” civilization, on lower Euphrates by 5000 BCE: irrigation. Priest-kings. “Religion had become institutionalized and made to support the state, which has been its usual function ever since.” Sailing ships on Euphrates. Andean llama and alpaca are domesticated. Mexicans grow avocadoes and cotton, weave cloth. South Asians grow dates. Ukranians domesticate horses. (p. 28)
Ur, Sumeria 4000 BC. World population may be 85,000,000 [average 0.07%/year increase since 8000 BC]. Wine and beer—safer to drink than the water! In moderation! Metallurgy (never to reach the Americas nor Australia until after 1492). Indus Valley civilization, Pakistan. (pp. 29–30)
Copper-tin alloy: Sumeria enters Bronze Age, 3500 BC. Wheel: potter’s, cart. Oared ships on Euphrates. Plowing with oxen. Loose unions of city-states: Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt. Cities appear along lower Hwang-Ho (Yellow) river, northern China. (pp. 30–32)
Sumerians tally by 12, 60, 360: we still use dozens, 60 min/hr, 360 degree circle. Cuneiform writing by 3100 BC. “History” begins—allowing for self-serving lies! Each symbol stood for a word. Just a few scribes could read and write. Two worlds: settled, literate, technologically-advanced city-dwellers; tribal nomads, no agriculture, no writing. Nomads often tried to conquer rich city lands. When they won, they took over the culture—so civilization also won. Akkadians enter northern Sumeria 3000 BC. Narmer (Menes) unites Lower and Upper Egypt: world’s first nation, 3100 BC. (pp. 32–33)
Quiz:
https://www.goodreads.com/trivia/work...
Permalink:
https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/Tom...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A one-volume education.
Asimov gives us not only events and dates, but causes and consequences of what happened. Not just wars, but discoveries and ideas. As a biochemistry professor, Asimov knows which discoveries were significant, and why. Very concise, yet thorough. Asimov was brilliant. And interested in everything. And prolific.
Focusing on events influencing Western culture (p. 30). The Big Bang through V-J Day, September 2, 1945. In the epilog he says he had thought to extend it to the present, 1991—but that the rate of change since 1945 has been off the charts—it would take another 650 pages to cover 1945–1990. [And the rate of change hasn’t slowed. 1991 was when Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web.]
It’s not possible to remain a pure pacifist after reading Asimov’s account of German aggression in WWII.
Introduction: pp. 1–3
Big Bang through 12,000 years ago: pp. 3–23
10,000 BC–600 BC: pp. 23–54
600 BC–1700 AD: pp. 54–269: a section every 50 years, subsections by country
1700–1880: pp. 269–416: 25-year sections 1700s, 20-year 1800–1880
1880–1910: pp. 417–490: 10-year sections
1910–1914: pp. 490–502
1914–1920: pp. 502–531
1920–1930: pp. 532–560
1930–1939: pp. 560–594
1939–1945: pp. 595–647
Epilog: pp. 647–649
There are no notes, no bibliography, and only a feeble index (pp. 653–674). If you forget when silk was smuggled out of China to Europe, google it. Silk isn’t in the index. If you want to know which of the ancients thought the earth orbits the sun, reread the book. Heliocentrism isn’t in the index—nor even astronomy. Only if you know the names of all the astronomers and philosophers you’re interested in, will the index help. There are no maps, no graphs, no tables, no illustrations. Just text. Brilliant text.
Unfortunately, it’s out of print. Used copies are still being offered on amazon. 572 Worldcat libraries have it: https://www.worldcat.org/title/asimov...
Bacteria existed by 3.5 billion years ago. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria allowed an explosion of life by trapping solar energy. They oxygenated the atmosphere. Eukaryotes (with cell nuclei) appeared about 1.4 billion years ago. Jellyfish and worms by 800 million years ago. Shelly animals—and plants—by 600 million years ago. Chordates (like us—spinal cord, gill slits) by 550 million years ago. Life begins to invade land, 450 million years ago. Dinosaurs die out 65 million years ago—leaving mammals an opportunity. (pp. 6–13)
Hominids walk upright 5 million years ago. Homo habilis, larger brain, smaller jaw, flaked stone for cutting and scraping tools, 2 million years ago. Homo erectus 1.6 million years ago, 6 feet tall, brain up to 40 oz, hunted mammoth, reached Java and Peking. Ice age 600,000 years ago. Sea level down 300 feet as glaciers cover land. Fire in use at least by 500,000 years ago, maybe by 1.5 million years ago. Neanderthals, brains larger than modern humans’, by 300,000 years ago. Entered Europe. Buried their dead, often with food and flowers. Modern human, taller, slender, weaker, smaller brain than Neanderthal, by 50,000 years ago. Neanderthals extinct by 30,000 years ago. (pp. 15–21) [Non-African modern humans have Neanderthal DNA.]
By 25,000 years ago, all continents are peopled except Antarctica. Cave art, Spain and France, about 20,000 years ago. Dogs domesticated by 14,000 years ago. Goats by 12,000 years ago = 10,000 B.C. in Middle East. Herding allowed increased population. Sahara desertifies. Last glaciers recede. Sea levels rise. Americas and Australia will be isolated until 1492. (pp. 21–23)
Wheat and barley farming, N. Iraq, 8,000 B.C. World population explodes to 5 million. [If world population was 10,000 after Tova erupted 72,000 BCE, average population increase was 0.01%/yr for those 64,000 years.] (p. 23) Unrelenting toil from now on. “The population of an agricultural region quickly reached a height that could not be supported in any other way.” Sedentary life, and “property” began. Where nomadic bands’ territorial disputes rarely were lethal—the weaker band left—farmers had to stand and fight interlopers. Warfare, and enslavement of losers, begin. Cities begin for mutual defense. Humans no longer group by tribe (extended family), but by city. “In almost every case, people were willing to trade freedom for security.” Food surplus permits division of labor. The drive toward urbanization is still continuing, all over the world. Jarmo, northern Iraq, dates from about 8000 BC: 100–300 people. Jericho may date from about then. By 7000 BCE, city-states were on the Euphrates and the Nile; Jericho had 2500 population on 10 acres. (pp. 24–26).
Asia Minor and Greece farm by 6000 BC. Southeast Asia grows rice. Pottery. Soup, stew, casserole. Flax was grown for fiber well before 6000 BC. (Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber tells us /string/ was in use by 20,000 BCE.) Cloth. Clothing. Rafts. Cattle domesticated. (pp. 27–28)
Sumeria, first “high” civilization, on lower Euphrates by 5000 BCE: irrigation. Priest-kings. “Religion had become institutionalized and made to support the state, which has been its usual function ever since.” Sailing ships on Euphrates. Andean llama and alpaca are domesticated. Mexicans grow avocadoes and cotton, weave cloth. South Asians grow dates. Ukranians domesticate horses. (p. 28)
Ur, Sumeria 4000 BC. World population may be 85,000,000 [average 0.07%/year increase since 8000 BC]. Wine and beer—safer to drink than the water! In moderation! Metallurgy (never to reach the Americas nor Australia until after 1492). Indus Valley civilization, Pakistan. (pp. 29–30)
Copper-tin alloy: Sumeria enters Bronze Age, 3500 BC. Wheel: potter’s, cart. Oared ships on Euphrates. Plowing with oxen. Loose unions of city-states: Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt. Cities appear along lower Hwang-Ho (Yellow) river, northern China. (pp. 30–32)
Sumerians tally by 12, 60, 360: we still use dozens, 60 min/hr, 360 degree circle. Cuneiform writing by 3100 BC. “History” begins—allowing for self-serving lies! Each symbol stood for a word. Just a few scribes could read and write. Two worlds: settled, literate, technologically-advanced city-dwellers; tribal nomads, no agriculture, no writing. Nomads often tried to conquer rich city lands. When they won, they took over the culture—so civilization also won. Akkadians enter northern Sumeria 3000 BC. Narmer (Menes) unites Lower and Upper Egypt: world’s first nation, 3100 BC. (pp. 32–33)
Quiz:
https://www.goodreads.com/trivia/work...
Permalink:
https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/Tom...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 10, 2017
Τι να σχολιάσω γι αυτην την εγκυκλοπέδια, δεν ξέρω. Ένα σύγγραμα που ο καθένας μας θα έπρεπε να έχει στη βιβλιοθήκη του. Ο Ασίμωφ είναι έτσι κι αλλιώς ο αγαπημένος μου συγγραφέας. Εξαιρετική δουλεία απο έναν εξαιρετικό συγγραφέα! Το "Χρονικό του Κόσμου" είναι αυτό που λέει, μία σύντομη αναδρομή της Ιστορίας απο την Μεγάλη Έκρηξη ως τον πρόσφατο σε μας Β παγκόσμιο πόλεμο.
September 1, 2014
This one definitely requires some explainin'. The book starts with the creation of the universe and covers all of pre-history and history ending in 1945 when WWII ends. It starts off with each section covering massive chunks of time (billions of years) and as we know more about the eras the sections cover short time frames when in the late 19th century he is doing about 25 pages (small print, double column, large pages) per decade. Each section usually starts off with the dominant civilization and then checks in with the other major and minor cultures. By the 20th century you are getting 30 or so nations per decade from superpowers like US/Russia/UK all the way down to the Baltics and Balkans and the independent African states. Sometimes the list of kings gets a little tiresome but he does a good job of weaving themes and patterns through the chronology and it is really interesting to see the sometimes isolated cultures side by side in chronology. He definitely biases a bit towards the west in terms of detail, but he does cover Asia and Africa with more coverage once they start to interact with western powers. And as he was a man of the left, as you get closer to the 20th century you start to see his political bent start to influence his coverage a bit. Because he is Issac Asimov, he also threads in the history of science in addition to wars and conquests which was really nice for balance.
This took me a LONG time to make it through but it was a nice one to keep around and read a few sections in between other books. I learned a ton. Keeping a tablet with you to look up maps and Wikipedia when you want to learn mroe definitely enriches the experience. Asimov's non-fiction continues to be wonderful. He's a simple and clear writer and his breadth of knowledge is really impressive.
This took me a LONG time to make it through but it was a nice one to keep around and read a few sections in between other books. I learned a ton. Keeping a tablet with you to look up maps and Wikipedia when you want to learn mroe definitely enriches the experience. Asimov's non-fiction continues to be wonderful. He's a simple and clear writer and his breadth of knowledge is really impressive.
January 18, 2008
I've always heard a great many words about Asimov, but for some reason have just never bothered to check his stuff out. Perhaps it's those eerie, emotionless 1950's robots populating his book covers that keep driving me away.
But that's all another story - this here is about the Chronology of the World. Asimov's chronology as only Asimov could write it. Damn!! This thing is intense and its packed with everything. The way he breaks it down over time, from the Earth as a whole till eventually he's naming off individual countries. From the very beginnings up through WWII (anything after would fill a whole other book on its own with the advancement of live media), this is one hell of a read for any history nut. Amazing read!!
But that's all another story - this here is about the Chronology of the World. Asimov's chronology as only Asimov could write it. Damn!! This thing is intense and its packed with everything. The way he breaks it down over time, from the Earth as a whole till eventually he's naming off individual countries. From the very beginnings up through WWII (anything after would fill a whole other book on its own with the advancement of live media), this is one hell of a read for any history nut. Amazing read!!
October 24, 2018
This is one of those books where you always have to make sure there is a copy in your home. If you are out then typically you either steal it from another family member who has two or you order a new copy.
Sometimes you order copies for family members that can't FIND their copy. Then they have two.
And so on....
Sometimes you order copies for family members that can't FIND their copy. Then they have two.
And so on....
January 12, 2024
Ένα χρονικό του πλανήτη Γη από τη δημιουργία του, ουσιαστικά από την Μεγάλη Έκρηξη, μέχρι και το τέλος του δευτέρου παγκοσμίου πολέμου. Αν και συνοπτικό, είναι πολυ ακριβές όπως κατάλαβα από τις ιστορικές περιόδους που γνωρίζω καλά. Τελικά είναι αξιοθαύμαστο σαν έργο ενός μόνου ανθρώπου.
19η τροπολογία (ΗΠΑ), ψήφος στις γυναίκες.... Οι γυναίκες ψήφιζαν ακριβώς όπως και οι άντρες, με το ίδιο μείγμα λογικής και μωρίας, που είναι επαρκής λόγος, ώστε και τα δύο φύλα να αντιμετωπίζονται με τον ίδιο τρόπο.
19η τροπολογία (ΗΠΑ), ψήφος στις γυναίκες.... Οι γυναίκες ψήφιζαν ακριβώς όπως και οι άντρες, με το ίδιο μείγμα λογικής και μωρίας, που είναι επαρκής λόγος, ώστε και τα δύο φύλα να αντιμετωπίζονται με τον ίδιο τρόπο.
January 21, 2025
Sometimes I’ll be envious of people who living in the world where have the freedom for publish and people who have the chance since childhood to read such book.
This book definitely is a good guide oder key for child to open the mind and pave the foundation for curiosity of knowledges.
This book definitely is a good guide oder key for child to open the mind and pave the foundation for curiosity of knowledges.
December 26, 2022
What a ride! It took me a few months to finish this book due to its extension, and it was only during holidays that I could afford to invest the time needed to wrap it up. It is really a full chronology of the world.
I bought the edition on a second-hand handler, and it was hard to get it through the most common channels. Neither did I know that Isaac Asimov has such an extensive bibliography of non-science fiction books, which I will surely be checking out.
The book starts with the formation of the Universe, and finishes in 1945. It is divided in time periods that are increasingly sinking, until the one covering the 1939-1945 period. Each chapter focuses on a geographical area, highlighting the most representative ones for each time period (although there is a clear Anglo-Saxon bias that the author acknowledges.
It is fascinating to see how the empires and the balance of power switch as time passes by, and empires seemingly invincible give way to new and fresh ones. It sheds a light also on how powerful the British empire has been historically (mainly due to their navy, their control of the sea and their position as an island), how the US grow up to be the most powerful empire the world has ever seen, and explains a few historical alliances and distrusts that could well explain some aspects of the world today.
Asimov is a fantastic writer, as probably everybody that read his SciFi work knows. Little I know that his talents expand as well into history.
As a small note of criticism, besides the already mentioned marked bias, are some historical inaccuracies (i.e., saying that the "Spanish flu" received this name because it impacted Spain more severely). Overall this does not detract from the global quality of the book. I would have loved to see an edition covering the time period between 1945 and the more modern periods. But overall this book is a gem that I can strongly recommend to anybody.
I bought the edition on a second-hand handler, and it was hard to get it through the most common channels. Neither did I know that Isaac Asimov has such an extensive bibliography of non-science fiction books, which I will surely be checking out.
The book starts with the formation of the Universe, and finishes in 1945. It is divided in time periods that are increasingly sinking, until the one covering the 1939-1945 period. Each chapter focuses on a geographical area, highlighting the most representative ones for each time period (although there is a clear Anglo-Saxon bias that the author acknowledges.
It is fascinating to see how the empires and the balance of power switch as time passes by, and empires seemingly invincible give way to new and fresh ones. It sheds a light also on how powerful the British empire has been historically (mainly due to their navy, their control of the sea and their position as an island), how the US grow up to be the most powerful empire the world has ever seen, and explains a few historical alliances and distrusts that could well explain some aspects of the world today.
Asimov is a fantastic writer, as probably everybody that read his SciFi work knows. Little I know that his talents expand as well into history.
As a small note of criticism, besides the already mentioned marked bias, are some historical inaccuracies (i.e., saying that the "Spanish flu" received this name because it impacted Spain more severely). Overall this does not detract from the global quality of the book. I would have loved to see an edition covering the time period between 1945 and the more modern periods. But overall this book is a gem that I can strongly recommend to anybody.
June 5, 2020
I can't believe I read the whole thing.
The reason for my reading this massive (and rather unnecessary) book goes back to my high school days. Back then, I was a loser and a misanthrope, and at lunch I would eat quickly, then go up to the library and read. This book was part of the collection. I decided to try and read it all the way through before graduation, but my lunch periods were short, and I had wised up and decided to spend lunch around human beings instead of languishing among books, and I only ever got up to the fall of the Roman Empire.
Now, because of COVID, I have a lot of time on my hands and nothing to do but languish among books, so I figured I would fill the gaps in my knowledge of world history. I have been doing nothing for the last two weeks but reading this book. I imagined it as some sort of Borgesian quest for arcane knowledge and that my brain would grow larger and stronger so I could be said to have one of the strongest and best brains, but this was probably boredom and isolation making me crazy. In hindsight, though, it's a credit to Asimov's skill as a writer that he was able to keep my attention for two straight weeks on just very involved, yet very general, world history.
The most interesting part of the book, therefore, is after all those dates and detailed descriptions. It is the epilogue, where Asimov explains why he chose to stop at 1945. In that year, he argues, a "historical discontinuity" occurred, an event that suddenly changes the entire world to the degree that all are aware at once of the change. According to Asimov, this paradigm shift occurred because of a. the nuclear bomb, b. global warming caused by industrialization, c. human population explosion, d. decolonization, and e. the ability for humanity to sustain its comfort and safety permanently through technology, all of which could be acknowledged at the end of WWII. He also considers the speed at which events have accelerated after 1945, and his old age, as reasons for stopping where he did, and says he may or may not write it (he never did).
It of course occurred to me during the reading of this book that history that I was living through an incredible moment in history, and by that I mean the George Floyd Protests. Things have died down a bit it seems, but all across the country, people are defying quarantine to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter activists and getting brutalized by sicko, jackbooted, racist cops as a result. Calls are increasing to rein in these thugs, even defund or abolish their departments, and I for one am with them (not physically, I'm not going outside until there's a vaccine, but I've been giving to bail funds at least). It remains to be seen what effect this will have, but it's significant at least in that more people than ever have come out in open defiance of the government and more seem to be realizing how irredeemable and out of control the authorities are, and this is all happening in America, whose population rarely questions the righteousness of its own government.
Even before this I was questioning some of Asimov's choices in what is covered in the book, and it really seems as though it's more like a Chronology of European History. Parts of the globe such as Africa and the Americas, before European contact, are left out almost completely or are marginal compared to the kingdoms of Europe, while similar dynastic struggles in places like China are minimized. You get page after page on the War of Lithuanian Succession with lines and lines on which prince was married to which member of the Carolingian line and how he was a fifth cousin of the Albanian prince, and then it gets to China and all you see is "the Ch'ing dynasty continued to reign in this period."
There are a few likely justifications for this. One, which Asimov puts forth several times, is that he's writing for an English-speaking audience, and near the end of the book he especially emphasizes events in Great Britain and the United States. The other justification is that history is driven by technology — including writing, one must assume — and by a certain point, Europe was leading in this respect to the degree that it could, and did, dominate the rest of the world.
I won't go as far to say that this is racist or colonial, and indeed Asimov is very sympathetic to the forces of good throughout history. He has a lot of coverage of the American and English labor struggles, for instance, and he's even rather impartial to the Soviet Union, from which he fled to the U.S. when he was two years old. But in broad strokes the book is very Eurocentric and this reveals a certain shortsightedness. Vast swathes are seriously detailed only when they reach contact with Europe, perhaps because Asimov feels he can only use what is scientifically proven, but still. I think he could have endeavored to be more inclusive, especially culturally. Just because the Aztecs, for instance, didn't write down their history the same way as the Greeks, it doesn't mean they should be relegated to a footnote in the grand tapestry of world history. It's more interesting to hear about their civilization than every notable book released in England in the 1890s. (On a similar note, the archaic spellings throughout the book, the lack of Pinyin Chinese for example, are also very annoying.)
Anything else I would have to say on the book would dive breathlessly into more politics, and Asimov presents a very rounded, liberal view of world history that I don't see the point in arguing with. So I'll end with a note on the future, with is impossible to see despite best efforts. I have read this whole book, I have studied the patterns of history within it, and somehow, I have come out on the other end optimistic, because I can see that evil always loses, always takes too much, always overplays its hand. This is happening now, for while the American police state is powerful, perhaps more powerful than any force on Earth ever was, it is losing its psychic power. It is losing the ability to control through silent consent, and it never really had it in the first place because there was always a voracious opposition to Trump. After that, all it has are its guns, and its gas canisters, and its tanks, and its other stupid toys, and most of all, its dwindling energy, and all of those can run down. They can only shrink, and we can only grow, and we already outnumber them.
The reason for my reading this massive (and rather unnecessary) book goes back to my high school days. Back then, I was a loser and a misanthrope, and at lunch I would eat quickly, then go up to the library and read. This book was part of the collection. I decided to try and read it all the way through before graduation, but my lunch periods were short, and I had wised up and decided to spend lunch around human beings instead of languishing among books, and I only ever got up to the fall of the Roman Empire.
Now, because of COVID, I have a lot of time on my hands and nothing to do but languish among books, so I figured I would fill the gaps in my knowledge of world history. I have been doing nothing for the last two weeks but reading this book. I imagined it as some sort of Borgesian quest for arcane knowledge and that my brain would grow larger and stronger so I could be said to have one of the strongest and best brains, but this was probably boredom and isolation making me crazy. In hindsight, though, it's a credit to Asimov's skill as a writer that he was able to keep my attention for two straight weeks on just very involved, yet very general, world history.
The most interesting part of the book, therefore, is after all those dates and detailed descriptions. It is the epilogue, where Asimov explains why he chose to stop at 1945. In that year, he argues, a "historical discontinuity" occurred, an event that suddenly changes the entire world to the degree that all are aware at once of the change. According to Asimov, this paradigm shift occurred because of a. the nuclear bomb, b. global warming caused by industrialization, c. human population explosion, d. decolonization, and e. the ability for humanity to sustain its comfort and safety permanently through technology, all of which could be acknowledged at the end of WWII. He also considers the speed at which events have accelerated after 1945, and his old age, as reasons for stopping where he did, and says he may or may not write it (he never did).
It of course occurred to me during the reading of this book that history that I was living through an incredible moment in history, and by that I mean the George Floyd Protests. Things have died down a bit it seems, but all across the country, people are defying quarantine to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter activists and getting brutalized by sicko, jackbooted, racist cops as a result. Calls are increasing to rein in these thugs, even defund or abolish their departments, and I for one am with them (not physically, I'm not going outside until there's a vaccine, but I've been giving to bail funds at least). It remains to be seen what effect this will have, but it's significant at least in that more people than ever have come out in open defiance of the government and more seem to be realizing how irredeemable and out of control the authorities are, and this is all happening in America, whose population rarely questions the righteousness of its own government.
Even before this I was questioning some of Asimov's choices in what is covered in the book, and it really seems as though it's more like a Chronology of European History. Parts of the globe such as Africa and the Americas, before European contact, are left out almost completely or are marginal compared to the kingdoms of Europe, while similar dynastic struggles in places like China are minimized. You get page after page on the War of Lithuanian Succession with lines and lines on which prince was married to which member of the Carolingian line and how he was a fifth cousin of the Albanian prince, and then it gets to China and all you see is "the Ch'ing dynasty continued to reign in this period."
There are a few likely justifications for this. One, which Asimov puts forth several times, is that he's writing for an English-speaking audience, and near the end of the book he especially emphasizes events in Great Britain and the United States. The other justification is that history is driven by technology — including writing, one must assume — and by a certain point, Europe was leading in this respect to the degree that it could, and did, dominate the rest of the world.
I won't go as far to say that this is racist or colonial, and indeed Asimov is very sympathetic to the forces of good throughout history. He has a lot of coverage of the American and English labor struggles, for instance, and he's even rather impartial to the Soviet Union, from which he fled to the U.S. when he was two years old. But in broad strokes the book is very Eurocentric and this reveals a certain shortsightedness. Vast swathes are seriously detailed only when they reach contact with Europe, perhaps because Asimov feels he can only use what is scientifically proven, but still. I think he could have endeavored to be more inclusive, especially culturally. Just because the Aztecs, for instance, didn't write down their history the same way as the Greeks, it doesn't mean they should be relegated to a footnote in the grand tapestry of world history. It's more interesting to hear about their civilization than every notable book released in England in the 1890s. (On a similar note, the archaic spellings throughout the book, the lack of Pinyin Chinese for example, are also very annoying.)
Anything else I would have to say on the book would dive breathlessly into more politics, and Asimov presents a very rounded, liberal view of world history that I don't see the point in arguing with. So I'll end with a note on the future, with is impossible to see despite best efforts. I have read this whole book, I have studied the patterns of history within it, and somehow, I have come out on the other end optimistic, because I can see that evil always loses, always takes too much, always overplays its hand. This is happening now, for while the American police state is powerful, perhaps more powerful than any force on Earth ever was, it is losing its psychic power. It is losing the ability to control through silent consent, and it never really had it in the first place because there was always a voracious opposition to Trump. After that, all it has are its guns, and its gas canisters, and its tanks, and its other stupid toys, and most of all, its dwindling energy, and all of those can run down. They can only shrink, and we can only grow, and we already outnumber them.
November 17, 2013
Es un trabajo herculano el tratar de describir la historia del mundo, sin embargo, Asimov logró poner en relieve todos los acontecimientos que son de alguna relevancia para el desarrollo de nuestro planeta y sobre todo del hombre. Si en ocasiones llega a abordar personajes y acontecimientos someramente y en otras a excluirlos en su totalidad, no se debe a la negligencia o descuido del autor sino a la naturaleza misma de la obra. Asimov escoge los hechos que van a dar forma a la narración de SU historia. Iniciando por la explosión que dio nacimiento a la realidad y finalizando con la partícula infinitesimal que fue la figura del megalomaniaco Hitler, Asimov detalla el origen de la vida, su evolución a través de los milenios y su culminación en lo que actualmente es la especie dominante del planeta y como ésta ha tenido la creatividad y el ingenio para desarrollar la tecnología, la ciencia, el arte, la cultura y la civilización; y lo dedica a la historia humana: "A dark and turbulent stream of folly, illuminated now and then by flashes of genius".
September 21, 2008
The best History book EVA! I am re-reading it for the 5th time. While History as a subject can sometimes be boring, Isaac's wry wit makes the collection of human events easily accessible. You would be hard pressed to find a historical event or person (pre 1945) not at least mentioned in this tome.
One of the best things is Asimov's spending the beginning of the book not only setting up the historical record of humanity, but taking existence all the way back to the "big bang" motoring through millions of years in a succinct and easy to understand way. Simply amazing that so much could be condensed into so little space.
One of the best things is Asimov's spending the beginning of the book not only setting up the historical record of humanity, but taking existence all the way back to the "big bang" motoring through millions of years in a succinct and easy to understand way. Simply amazing that so much could be condensed into so little space.
March 18, 2025
This is really one of the best books of history I’ve read; a real tour de force of intelligence, concision, and overall grasp of how the events of the past have shaped our world. I especially appreciate how Asimov explains the inherent biases in the telling of historical events, glorification or vilification, depending on whether the sources recording events are Persian, Judean, Greek, or Roman.
The book will be easy to use in the future should I need a refresher on anything. It is organized firstly by timeline, at first in blocks of a thousand years, then five hundred years, then as civilization spreads out, every hundred years, until we approach the modern era where each block is just a decade. Then it is organized by country or region, with each entry relating key historical events such as who the king or queen were, key battles, natural disasters, and who the most influential people were in terms of artists, writers, musicians, scientists and innovators. Let’s say I need a perspective on what happened in the decade leading up to the First World War: since the timeline is given at the top of each page it takes me about four seconds to thumb to that section. But let’s say you are a student writing a report on a country. Could be anything: New Zealand, Ethiopia, Sweden, Japan, or the Kingdom of Hawaii. Just cruise through each of the time headers and look for your subject header in easy-to-find bold lettering.
I find this organization much more user-friendly than the primary competitor, Peter Stearn’s Encyclopedia of World History. Plus the entries in the encyclopedia are very dry and mostly just list facts and dates, whereas Asimov provides and engaging narrative throughout.
The first twenty-five pages should be mandatory reading for every high school student, for it explains briefly and in plain language why countries developed as an acceptable loss of freedoms over a hunter gatherer mode of existence, how the idea of personal property arose, how the idea of a specialized workforce arose to the benefit of all, and how law and order allow civilizations to thrive while accepting that certain personal liberties will be curtailed (i.e. we don’t just drive through a red light because we do whatever we feel like doing). Especially important, given the conflict of Russia and Ukraine, and the Middle East: “one of the miseries of history” is that “every nation remembers how things were at the time of its maximum extent [of territory] and power, which is what it considers just and natural. Naturally, there are overlappings in every direction and the territorial quarrels never end.”
Asimov conveys the most salient information without getting bogged down in detailed minutia. For example, the timeline section of 1775-1800 contains four-and-a-half pages on the American Revolution and its founding as a new country. It explains that the celebrated Fourth of July was not really the birth of a new nation; that was simply a declaration that the thirteen colonies no longer wanted to be part of the British Empire. But, as Asimov explains, they remained a bitterly divided groups of colonies that didn’t as yet see themselves as united. Asimov leaves out specialist information like the proposed three confederations (New England, Middle Atlantic, and Southern colonies), and doesn’t mention the monarchist movement headed by Ben Franklin’s son, then governor of New Jersey. Sentiments were still too raw for those who fought in the war to go back to being British, but it was suggested that perhaps George Washington could become the new king of America. What Asimov does include is that it took a lot of effort to decide how the colonies would unite as a federation and have a centralized banking system to facilitate commerce, and that a workable constitution wasn’t proposed until May 25, 1787, and even then not fully ratified until June 21, 1788. That is the real birthdate of the United Sates, a full twelve years after the Declaration of Independence in 1776. So you see, Asimov conveys essential information without being sidelined by specialist details.
While Victorian England was enjoying its “Blessed Isolation” Otto von Bismarck was busy wielding “remarkable diplomacy” and keeping continental Europe from any major wars for two decades. Asimov dedicates five pages to Bismarck and some of this, while engaging, seems to verge on specialist information. Asimov also spends a lot of time describing the events leading up to WWII, and here I do feel like he spends too much time enumerating each sequential action by Hitler while the French and British attempted appeasement. I think it more important that Asimov should have included a segment on the communist-led independent city state of Freistadt Munchen with its diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and the demographic that in block (68%) voted for communism. This explains where a lot of the tension arose, especially elsewhere in Germany which was staunchly anti-communist, which Hitler was able to tap into.
Overall, the only thing that might have made this better would be the inclusion of maps at the beginning of each of the periods under review, simply to remind the reader of the ever-shifting borders of empires as they come and go. And such maps need only apply to areas of the world where significant change was happening. So maybe that lacking drops the book down to a 4.9/5 rating, but still nearly perfect. I’m very impressed by the wealth of knowledge and wisdom this man possessed.
The book will be easy to use in the future should I need a refresher on anything. It is organized firstly by timeline, at first in blocks of a thousand years, then five hundred years, then as civilization spreads out, every hundred years, until we approach the modern era where each block is just a decade. Then it is organized by country or region, with each entry relating key historical events such as who the king or queen were, key battles, natural disasters, and who the most influential people were in terms of artists, writers, musicians, scientists and innovators. Let’s say I need a perspective on what happened in the decade leading up to the First World War: since the timeline is given at the top of each page it takes me about four seconds to thumb to that section. But let’s say you are a student writing a report on a country. Could be anything: New Zealand, Ethiopia, Sweden, Japan, or the Kingdom of Hawaii. Just cruise through each of the time headers and look for your subject header in easy-to-find bold lettering.
I find this organization much more user-friendly than the primary competitor, Peter Stearn’s Encyclopedia of World History. Plus the entries in the encyclopedia are very dry and mostly just list facts and dates, whereas Asimov provides and engaging narrative throughout.
The first twenty-five pages should be mandatory reading for every high school student, for it explains briefly and in plain language why countries developed as an acceptable loss of freedoms over a hunter gatherer mode of existence, how the idea of personal property arose, how the idea of a specialized workforce arose to the benefit of all, and how law and order allow civilizations to thrive while accepting that certain personal liberties will be curtailed (i.e. we don’t just drive through a red light because we do whatever we feel like doing). Especially important, given the conflict of Russia and Ukraine, and the Middle East: “one of the miseries of history” is that “every nation remembers how things were at the time of its maximum extent [of territory] and power, which is what it considers just and natural. Naturally, there are overlappings in every direction and the territorial quarrels never end.”
Asimov conveys the most salient information without getting bogged down in detailed minutia. For example, the timeline section of 1775-1800 contains four-and-a-half pages on the American Revolution and its founding as a new country. It explains that the celebrated Fourth of July was not really the birth of a new nation; that was simply a declaration that the thirteen colonies no longer wanted to be part of the British Empire. But, as Asimov explains, they remained a bitterly divided groups of colonies that didn’t as yet see themselves as united. Asimov leaves out specialist information like the proposed three confederations (New England, Middle Atlantic, and Southern colonies), and doesn’t mention the monarchist movement headed by Ben Franklin’s son, then governor of New Jersey. Sentiments were still too raw for those who fought in the war to go back to being British, but it was suggested that perhaps George Washington could become the new king of America. What Asimov does include is that it took a lot of effort to decide how the colonies would unite as a federation and have a centralized banking system to facilitate commerce, and that a workable constitution wasn’t proposed until May 25, 1787, and even then not fully ratified until June 21, 1788. That is the real birthdate of the United Sates, a full twelve years after the Declaration of Independence in 1776. So you see, Asimov conveys essential information without being sidelined by specialist details.
While Victorian England was enjoying its “Blessed Isolation” Otto von Bismarck was busy wielding “remarkable diplomacy” and keeping continental Europe from any major wars for two decades. Asimov dedicates five pages to Bismarck and some of this, while engaging, seems to verge on specialist information. Asimov also spends a lot of time describing the events leading up to WWII, and here I do feel like he spends too much time enumerating each sequential action by Hitler while the French and British attempted appeasement. I think it more important that Asimov should have included a segment on the communist-led independent city state of Freistadt Munchen with its diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and the demographic that in block (68%) voted for communism. This explains where a lot of the tension arose, especially elsewhere in Germany which was staunchly anti-communist, which Hitler was able to tap into.
Overall, the only thing that might have made this better would be the inclusion of maps at the beginning of each of the periods under review, simply to remind the reader of the ever-shifting borders of empires as they come and go. And such maps need only apply to areas of the world where significant change was happening. So maybe that lacking drops the book down to a 4.9/5 rating, but still nearly perfect. I’m very impressed by the wealth of knowledge and wisdom this man possessed.
December 27, 2014
History Survey 101 for anyone curious.
Starts with the Big Bang & ends in 1945, gives an insightful & often funny overview of most historical events.
It will likely take me years to finish reading. I can't imagine what went into writing it, especially considering Asimov is one of the most prolific writers in history.
This book has a place on every shelving unit. It works as reference & in a cover-to-cover read.
Starts with the Big Bang & ends in 1945, gives an insightful & often funny overview of most historical events.
It will likely take me years to finish reading. I can't imagine what went into writing it, especially considering Asimov is one of the most prolific writers in history.
This book has a place on every shelving unit. It works as reference & in a cover-to-cover read.
April 15, 2018
A very useful guide, written in Asimov's clear and highly readable style. The organization of this book really underlines just how important foreign affairs are, as we see the influence of key people and events ricochet through the histories of many different nations. As always, Asimov's humanity and curiosity are on display throughout. Highly recommended.
July 5, 2013
Good information presented in a mostly dry fashion. It is at its best when Asimov adds a little commentary. Best read in small bursts.
Oh, and the book ends with WWII. So, if you want to know how it ends, we win. USA! USA!
Oh, and the book ends with WWII. So, if you want to know how it ends, we win. USA! USA!
October 31, 2009
I can't imagine how someone could make the entire history of history interesting, but Asimov did...
August 30, 2010
I keep this with me, and whenever I have a question about history, it answers it. Love it.
April 26, 2013
Isaac Asimov has come closer than any other author to making ancient and medieval history interesting.
March 11, 2016
Probably the best historical reference book I have ever read. Asimov has the ability to make the most complex thing read easily and smoothly. Highly recommended
February 15, 2018
An amazing book. A true wonder. The history of mankind from the beginning to 1945. If I could take only one book to the Island. This would be the one.
February 6, 2018
I doubt there could be a more complete collection of world history that is still an enjoyable read. It's so encompassing that humans don't even show up for the first portion the book. Asimov takes slight tangents to point out interesting stories as he goes chronologically through history, like some kind of tour guide on a time machine. If you can grind through the often repetitive (but true) stories of ancient kings and their often inept successors, there are a lot of very interesting historical stories here. If you quit reading the Bible during the "X begets Y" sections, you might also drop off somewhere during the ~500AD time frame in this behemoth of a book.
This is a great book for anyone who loves history and a terrible book for anyone who doesn't.
This is a great book for anyone who loves history and a terrible book for anyone who doesn't.
June 27, 2021
Good, not great. A history of the world through WWII. History is broken down into time segments, with the segments shorter in duration as modern times are approached. Only in the 20th century are are the beginning and ends of these segments defined by specific events (e.g., the beginning and end of WWII). Within a time segment, Asimov further breaks down his chronology into regions, countries, peoples. He first relates events during the time segment for those groups and then discusses scientific and cultural achievements for each country or people. Asimov's accounting is thorough, but the writing is dry and his approach if overly formulaic. Asimov's Chronology is not nearly as good as some of his other non-fiction, such as his books on organic chemistry.
October 21, 2018
A tour de force! Never would I have believed someone could condense and articulate all of world history into a narrative both comprehensible and exciting but Asimov has done it! It was a page turner from the start and leaves one wanting to delve deeper into learning more about these exciting epochs, peoples and discoveries! Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand the history of our globe and how they and their culture fits into this mosaic, in the past and today!
September 16, 2021
There’s a reason why Asimov was known as “ The Great Explainer “ . He can bring any topic to your attention easily and make it sound interesting without being difficult. It’s interesting to read along year by year , page by page and google certain events to discover each topic in depth .
Want to read
June 18, 2023Question: Is this book a compilation of the 14 "World History Asimov" volumes? Or those are different books?
If different, which is preferable to read? Does Asimov repeat himself, or not too much?
Thank you! I will delete the question asap.
If different, which is preferable to read? Does Asimov repeat himself, or not too much?
Thank you! I will delete the question asap.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews