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30 Saniyede Serisi
30-Second Twentieth Century: The 50 most significant ideas and events, each explained in half a minute
You probably know, or think you know, quite a bit about what happened in the 20th century – chances are, if you’re reading this, you lived through at least some of it – and you may have referenced the Cuban Missile Crisis, the double helix, or the Wall Street Crash in conversation. But even for people who were there, it was the fastest-moving hundred years in history, so refresh your memory with these pacey profiles on everything from Sputnik to Stonewall.
Twentieth Century presents a unique approach to modern history, condensing 100 years of innovation and art, politics and conflict, triumph and disaster, into 50 graphic snapshots that offer an instant appreciation of the way the world revolves and evolves. Consider which events define a period of history and why. From the Red Army to Black Monday, from Woodstock to the World Wide Web, this is the fastest way to travel in time.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryScience
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
7 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 1, 2022
O Século XX Condensado
Tendo em conta que um evento é o corolário duma teia de eventos que o precederam, para entender na totalidade o momento presente há que investigar o passado
O Passado explica o Presente e, quando combinados, permitem a previsão de eventos futuros, embora com algum grau de incerteza
A História responde a muitos porquês, esclarece variadas dúvidas e permite-nos apostar no que está para vir…
Porém, há uma profusão de livros “obesos” que dela se ocupam, e… quando comparado com a vontade de saber, o nosso tempo de vida é deveras curto
Daí a importância dos livros de saber condensado…
Tendo em conta que um evento é o corolário duma teia de eventos que o precederam, para entender na totalidade o momento presente há que investigar o passado
O Passado explica o Presente e, quando combinados, permitem a previsão de eventos futuros, embora com algum grau de incerteza
A História responde a muitos porquês, esclarece variadas dúvidas e permite-nos apostar no que está para vir…
Porém, há uma profusão de livros “obesos” que dela se ocupam, e… quando comparado com a vontade de saber, o nosso tempo de vida é deveras curto
Daí a importância dos livros de saber condensado…
March 26, 2022
A Gem of a Book
Since any event is a corollary of a web of previous events, to fully understand the present moment we must dig into the past
Past events explain present events and even allow predictions of future ones with a certain degree of certainty
History answers manny questions and clarifies multiple doubts. Moreover, you can even play your own prediction game…
However, there are manny books out there on the subject where the authors tend to digress, losing themselves in insignificant details. As a consequence, we start yawning and think about using those books for our insomnia nights, instead of consuming sleeping pills
That’s why this lil book is a gem…💎
Since any event is a corollary of a web of previous events, to fully understand the present moment we must dig into the past
Past events explain present events and even allow predictions of future ones with a certain degree of certainty
History answers manny questions and clarifies multiple doubts. Moreover, you can even play your own prediction game…
However, there are manny books out there on the subject where the authors tend to digress, losing themselves in insignificant details. As a consequence, we start yawning and think about using those books for our insomnia nights, instead of consuming sleeping pills
That’s why this lil book is a gem…💎
November 4, 2015
Den här har jag alltså läst på svenska och då heter den "1900-talet på 30 sekunder" och den är tokbra!
Lättsmält och lättbegripligt om större personer och händelser jag verkligen borde ha vetat mer om. Kommer definitivt kolla in de andra böckerna i serien framöver!
Lättsmält och lättbegripligt om större personer och händelser jag verkligen borde ha vetat mer om. Kommer definitivt kolla in de andra böckerna i serien framöver!
March 4, 2025
Interesting little snippets on various topics from the 20th century.
The most thought provoking part of this book for me was actually a teeny tiny section that defined the ‘nation’.
It stated, referring to nation states, that “few if any human populations are culturally homogenous or geographically bounded”, and it REALLY got me thinking about how accurate that is.
Of course, your obvious examples are African nation states in which there are literally hundreds of ethnic groups inside an area unnaturally carved out by European colonisers. Of course there is no homogeneity there - none of those borders are natural, and those groups are forced to come under the banner of ‘Nigerian’ or ‘Zimbabwean’ for example, when they themselves belong to already defined existing ethnic groups, with existing cultural traditions.
It then got me thinking about countries that are considered ‘developed’ or have not necessarily had their boundaries so rigidly carved out during the colonial era. Examples like the USA, Spain, UK and Germany. None of these countries are homogenous or culturally united!! There are notable cultural differences in Spain and Germany’s subregions e.g. Catalonia for Spain, Bavaria for Germany etc. You just have to look at the differences between Scotland and England to understand the lack of cultural homogeneity in the UK and don’t even get me started on the regional divisions in the USA… (or we’ll get onto some even more intense topics…)
Anyway, I just thought it was so wild how one teeny tiny sentence could make me think so much about something so obvious, yet nobody ever thinks about it. Countries are considered united under one name, one culture and one strict border, when that is really just not the case. WILD!
The most thought provoking part of this book for me was actually a teeny tiny section that defined the ‘nation’.
It stated, referring to nation states, that “few if any human populations are culturally homogenous or geographically bounded”, and it REALLY got me thinking about how accurate that is.
Of course, your obvious examples are African nation states in which there are literally hundreds of ethnic groups inside an area unnaturally carved out by European colonisers. Of course there is no homogeneity there - none of those borders are natural, and those groups are forced to come under the banner of ‘Nigerian’ or ‘Zimbabwean’ for example, when they themselves belong to already defined existing ethnic groups, with existing cultural traditions.
It then got me thinking about countries that are considered ‘developed’ or have not necessarily had their boundaries so rigidly carved out during the colonial era. Examples like the USA, Spain, UK and Germany. None of these countries are homogenous or culturally united!! There are notable cultural differences in Spain and Germany’s subregions e.g. Catalonia for Spain, Bavaria for Germany etc. You just have to look at the differences between Scotland and England to understand the lack of cultural homogeneity in the UK and don’t even get me started on the regional divisions in the USA… (or we’ll get onto some even more intense topics…)
Anyway, I just thought it was so wild how one teeny tiny sentence could make me think so much about something so obvious, yet nobody ever thinks about it. Countries are considered united under one name, one culture and one strict border, when that is really just not the case. WILD!
October 22, 2022
The Twentieth Century was a time of abnormal upheaval and change. Editor Jonathan T Reynolds did a great job considering the time covered.
Just imagine the changes that occurred over 100 years. In 1900, most people lived on farms, cars were uncommon, airplanes didn't exist yet, and no one took going to the Moon seriously. Most African countries were still under colonial rule, and the world was breaking under nationalism and other varying ideologies.
It wasn't all jeweled goblets and giraffe cakes, though. The twentieth century was a time of untold horrors as well; the Great War, the Great Depression, the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and The Holocaust.
I have no issues with the book, but it was a bit disjointed. The book organizes itself by subject rather than chronology.
Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
Just imagine the changes that occurred over 100 years. In 1900, most people lived on farms, cars were uncommon, airplanes didn't exist yet, and no one took going to the Moon seriously. Most African countries were still under colonial rule, and the world was breaking under nationalism and other varying ideologies.
It wasn't all jeweled goblets and giraffe cakes, though. The twentieth century was a time of untold horrors as well; the Great War, the Great Depression, the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and The Holocaust.
I have no issues with the book, but it was a bit disjointed. The book organizes itself by subject rather than chronology.
Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
April 29, 2019
One of the things I like about the place I work at is that people just leave books around the building, you might bump into 5 or 6 from your desk to the shitter, I've been tempted to take some of them and read while I take a dump, but I haven't done it (yet), I don't think my coworkers would like it.
What I've done is borrowing some to read at home, this is one of them, it took me about a month to give it back, I would dedicate 5-10 minutes to it each day it was fairly easy to break down. But yeah, if you're good at math, it did not took 1500 seconds (25 minutes) to complete, it took more like 4 hours of reading time plus another 4 to digest what the fuck you just read. I mean, most of it was interesting, like all the science, politic and war stuff, but who the fuck wants to read about the first movie with sound o some other shit like that?.
Overall it's a nice read, but I would take some of the art bits and include more of the other topics, highlight on China's cultural revolution, I thought that was very enlightening for the 5 minutes I spent reading about it.
What I've done is borrowing some to read at home, this is one of them, it took me about a month to give it back, I would dedicate 5-10 minutes to it each day it was fairly easy to break down. But yeah, if you're good at math, it did not took 1500 seconds (25 minutes) to complete, it took more like 4 hours of reading time plus another 4 to digest what the fuck you just read. I mean, most of it was interesting, like all the science, politic and war stuff, but who the fuck wants to read about the first movie with sound o some other shit like that?.
Overall it's a nice read, but I would take some of the art bits and include more of the other topics, highlight on China's cultural revolution, I thought that was very enlightening for the 5 minutes I spent reading about it.
July 7, 2018
Oh how little did I know. Perfect read for many level of general knowledge. I feel most people would find something they knew of, but knew nothing about. Even if you had knowledge of everything in this book, at the bare minimum it confirms things you read elsewhere plus a tidbit you probably didn't know. Get to the learning dummy!
September 28, 2021
[4]
Concise. Informative. Thorough.
That's all I have to say. Great Book!
Concise. Informative. Thorough.
That's all I have to say. Great Book!
September 28, 2021
Less art more war
-Confucius
-Confucius
February 9, 2025
Good summary of various important subjects, but to anyone with an interest in the 20th Century you'll likely already know everything contained in this
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews