A Short History of the World in 50 Books

A Short History of the World

by Daniel Smith

The book has a unique status as an emblem of human culture and civilization. It is a vessel for sharing stories, dispersing knowledge, examining the nature of our extraordinary species and imagining what lies beyond our known world.  Books ultimately provide an invaluable and comprehensive record of what it means to be human.

This volume takes a curated list of fifty of the most influential books of all time, putting each into its historical context. From ancient game-changers like the Epic of Gilgamesh , through sacred texts and works of philosophical rumination by the likes of Confucius and Plato, via scientific treatises, historic ‘firsts’ (like the first printed book) and cultural works of enduring impact (think Shakespeare, Cervantes and Joseph Heller), these are volumes that are at once both products of their societies and vital texts in molding those same civilizations.

It would take a lifetime and more to read and absorb all of them. But this volume allows you to become ridiculously well read in just a fraction of the time. This isn’t a celebration of the canon, it’s about the books that have changed how we think and live – and which have changed the course of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Books About Books, Literature, Audiobook, Historical

288 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2023

About the author

Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

Update My bestselling birthday card in the shop for years (no one sends them anymore, it's all 123greetings) was one with the words JESUS LOVES YOU and the pic of a church lady on the front. Inside it read, THE REST OF THINK YOU'RE A BITCH. It went down quite well in offices. I think that this book would be a great present in a secret santa exchange. (I think the card was probably sent anonymously too! LOL)

Now I've seen the contents, thanks Elentarri msg 16, I've decided to save my money and not get this book. Nor will I order it for the shop. I can't see it appealing to anyone much, just my opinion. It sounds boring as hell.

Changed my mind about getting the book. Errors of attribution, everything Shakespeare wrote listed as a single book, books that have no appeal to me at all... It sounds like a really horrible present for someone who has to be bought for but isn't very much liked. Then it will end up
__________

Very tempted to get this, if only to disagree with the selection, but also be inspired by it to read some of the ones I'm bound to find intriguing. A good book for the shop as even it doesn't sell, people will leaf through it and may find books they want to buy.

[Cristina Lazăr · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://carti.blog/2025/07/23/scurta-...

[Niko · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author explores the greatest, most timeless or simply most well-known books of history. Ranging from the Epic of Gilgamesh, millenia BC, to Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom" (1994), the books chosen are diverse and ordered into their historical era.

Not only do we get a summary of the key points of each piece of literature, more importantly the historical background and the impact on historical and modern society is explained more or less in depth. This gives the reader an amazing insight into why each of these books have earned their claim to timelessness and why they should be remembered for a long time to come.

It's a crucial read to understanding the development of books and literature from the past up till the present. The different books are presented in 'bite-sized' chapters, which are easy to read. And, as a guy on the train told me whilst he saw me reading the book (and I'm paraphrasing): "Wow, you're almost done, you must've already gotten so much smarter by now!"

And I can't argue with that!

[Steve Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a tough ask to put the history of the world into just 50 books!!

These books were selected not just because of the contents but in a lot of cases what was happening in the world, for instance, the creation of the printing press.

Some of the books featured include The Iliad, Aesop's Fables, Catch-22, Long Walk to Freedom, Collected Works Of Shakespeare, War and Peace, and the English Dictionary.

A great collection from all eras of the world's history. Now, to read the 50.

[German DarthSith · Rating 4 out of 5]

No es un libro pretencioso. No pretende dictaminar cuáles son los 50 mejores, se refiere o reseña los libros que marcaron hitos en la historia. Me pareció una lectura exquisita, que expande nuestra cultura. Además, una secuencia muy bien lograda,explicando porque deberíamos conocerlos, deberían estar en nuestro imaginario , tenerlos en nuestras bibliotecas y si es posible, leerlos.

[Joshua Schadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zoals de titel van het boek al zegt, dit boek schetst de geschiedenis van de mensheid uitgelegd aan de hand van de 50 meest invloedrijke boeken. Deze 50 uitgekozen boeken zijn uiteraard subjectief gekozen door de schrijver. De schrijver legt haarfijn uit waarom hij dit boek zo invloedrijk vind voor de mens.

In eerste instantie wordt per boek uitgelegd, aan de lezer, door wie het boek is geschreven en waarom hij/zij dit boek heeft geschreven. Want waarom schreef Sigmund Freud zijn boek “inleiding tot de Psychoanalyse”? Vervolgens wordt het boek tot in detail uitgelegd wat het inhoud. Tot slot wordt uitgelegd waarom dit boek zo belangrijk is voor de mens en de link naar het heden.

Aan de hand van boeken zoals: de bijbel, the Oddesy (het eerst geschreven fictie boek) en Naturalis Principia Mathematica (het boek geschreven door Newton) wordt dit gedaan.

Wat mij betreft een fantastisch boek voor iedereen die meer wilt weten over de mensheid en welke boeken ons verder hebben ontwikkeld. Het boek leest makkelijk weg en nodigt de lezer uit verder onderzoek te doen en mogelijk zelfs de boeken zelf te lezen.

[Cees Oomens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boekje heb ik tijdens een vakantie in Canada gekocht bij de prachtige boekenwinkel Munro’s Books in Victoria. In die vakantie heb ik een paar hoofdstukken gelezen en het boekje vervolgens thuis in de boekenkast gezet en ben ik het vergeten. Onlangs kwam ik het bij toeval tegen en besloot het helemaal te lezen en dat was een plezierige ervaring. De auteur heeft 50 geschriften en boeken uit de wereldgeschiedenis gekozen en behandelt die in chronologische volgorde. Het gaat niet persé om de mooiste staaltjes wereldliteratuur, maar gaat vooral om de impact die het geschreven werk heeft gehad op de wereld. Veel titels herkende ik nog uit mijn geschiedenislessen van de middelbare school, maar ik had geen idee meer waarom. Voorbeelden: Gilgamesh epos, Ilias en Odysee, La Divina Comedia en De Vorst van Machiavelli. Sommige boeken heb ik ooit gelezen, zoals “1984” van Orwell en “A Brief History of Time” van Stephen Hawking. Het is duidelijk dat het merendeel van deze boeken alleen leesbaar zijn voor specialisten en niet voor leken. Daarom is het nuttig dat Daniel Smith de boeken kort samenvat in gewone-mensen-taal, iets vertelt over de tijd waarin ze zijn geschreven, de context en het belang van de geschriften die soms doorloopt tot de moderne tijd. Voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in geschiedenis, literatuur en filosofie is dit een leuk boekje om te lezen. Per boek is het allemaal wat kort, maar verdere diepgang is voor de liefhebber te bereiken met de bibliografie aan het eind van het boekje.

[Paola Rubiano Buitrago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not many surprises in the list of 50 books chosen for this, but expected considering those books should be universally known and appreciated/ recognized for their impact on history. It's worth mentioning the elegancy in which the author describes each book, their historical context and their legacy in less than six short pages.

[Jacob Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were quite a few books that I had never heard of in this list. It is a good read if you are into books of historical significants. I will definitely read some of these in the future.

[Verba Non Res · Rating 1 out of 5]

Telling the history of the world through fifty books is an impossible exercise, but that does not make it any less interesting. I am not sure, however, that this particular book succeeds in doing it. Perhaps I am being unfair for having read something that was not, strictly speaking, meant for me: I suspect that versions of the history of the world in fifty animals or in fifty musical piece, which seem perfectly reasonable to me, would irritate the experts. But there is a particular problem here: the subject is identical with the medium, and that ought to raise the level of the intended audience at least a little.

Even if we grant that it was written for someone who knows nothing about books and wants to learn, it still does not work especially well. To begin with, Dan Smith seems to have a rather confused idea of what, exactly, a book is. And if he has a more precise idea, he neither manages to explain it nor to sustain it. The introduction already hints at this; the list confirms it. Sometimes the entries are texts; at other times, material artifacts, such as the Madrid Codex or the Book of Kells; at times they are not even books properly speaking, like Magna Carta. The Bible does not appear as such, but the Gutenberg Bible and the King James Version do. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is included, even though it is a short story. The Four Great Classical Novels of China are lumped together into a single entry, because why not. In Shakespeare’s case, the “Complete Works” count as a boo, and of course they can be published that way, but then I do not see why one would not also include the complete works of Plato, Aristotle, or any other author on the list. The choices are, moreover, fairly predictable, and some of them add very little, except, I take it, as tokens meant to represent a particular culture or geographical region. Smith’s list is also too Anglocentric and American-centric: nothing against Johnson’s dictionary, Harriet Jacobs, or Martin Luther King, but they do not to belong on the same league as other possible names.

To get the bad taste of this book out of my mouth, I set about compiling my own list of fifty, with the sole initial requirement that none of Smith’s entries be included. For me, each entry ought to signify something, and all the better if it is not something immediately obvious to the reader. There are famous books alongside more obscure ones, and the occasional capricious choice that nevertheless stands for far more than it may seem to at first glance. Perhaps next time I will try to make a list composed exclusively of that kind of marginal choice. It will also be noticeable that this selection is Argentina-centric; I would like to say that this is meant to show how absurd Smith’s choices are, but in this case I think the two authors included were necessary. Here it is:

1. Enuma Elish — anonymous — c. 2nd millennium BCE
2. The Egyptian Book of the Dead — anonymous — c. 1550–50 BCE
3. Odyssey — Homer — c. 8th century BCE
4. Poems — Sappho — late 7th / early 6th century BCE
5. History of the Peloponnesian War — Thucydides — 5th century BCE
6. Works and Days — Hesiod — c. 700 BCE
7. The Book of Zhuangzi — Zhuangzi — 4th century BCE
8. Phaedo — Plato — c. 360 BCE
9. Organon — Aristotle — c. 335–322 BCE
10. The Gallic War — Julius Caesar — 58–50 BCE
11. Lotus Sutra — anonymous — 1st–2nd centuries CE
12. Satires — Juvenal — early 2nd century CE
13. Confessions — Augustine of Hippo — 397–400
14. The Letters of Heloise and Abelard — Peter Abelard and Heloise — 1130s
15. The Saga of the Volsungs — anonymous — c. 1270
16. The Thousand and One Nights — anonymous — 8th–14th centuries
17. Zohar — attrib. Moses de León — late 13th century
18. The Travels of Marco Polo — Marco Polo — 1298
19. Canzoniere — Petrarch — c. 1327–1374
20. The Canterbury Tales — Geoffrey Chaucer — c. 1387–1400
21. Malleus Maleficarum — Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger — 1486–1487
22. Utopia — Thomas More — 1516
23. On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books — Andreas Vesalius — 1543
24. Essays — Michel de Montaigne — 1580
25. The First New Chronicle and Good Government — Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala — 1615
26. Leviathan — Thomas Hobbes — 1651
27- The Sceptical Chymist — Robert Boyle — 1661
28. Ethics — Baruch Spinoza — 1677
29. Encyclopaedia — Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert — 1751–1772
30. Critique of Pure Reason — Immanuel Kant — 1781
31. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Mary Wollstonecraft — 1792
32. Theory of the Earth — James Hutton — 1795
33. Frankenstein — Mary Shelley — 1818
34. Geometrical Researches on the Theory of Parallels — Nikolai Lobachevsky — 1840
35. An Investigation of the Laws of Thought — George Boole — 1854
36. Madame Bovary — Gustave Flaubert — 1856/1857
37. From the Earth to the Moon — Jules Verne — 1865
38. On the Genealogy of Morality — Friedrich Nietzsche — 1887
39. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion — anonymous — 1903
40. The Trial — Franz Kafka — 1925
41. In Search of Lost Time — Marcel Proust — 1927
42. Genetics and the Origin of Species — Theodosius Dobzhansky — 1937
43. Action Comics #1 — Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — 1938
44. Fictions — Jorge Luis Borges — 1944
45. Philosophical Investigations — Ludwig Wittgenstein — 1953
46. The Congo Diary — Ernesto “Che” Guevara — 1966
47. Discipline and Punish — Michel Foucault — 1975
48. Gender Trouble — Judith Butler — 1990
49. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama — 1992
50. The Secret — Rhonda Byrne — 2006

I will be happy to answer any questions about the listed texts and the reasons for their inclusion.


---------------------------Reseña en español-------------------------------------


Contar la historia del mundo a través de cincuenta libros es un ejercicio imposible, pero no por eso deja de ser interesante. No estoy seguro, sin embargo, de que este libro lo sea. Quizás soy injusto por haber leído algo que no estaba, en rigor, destinado para mí: sospecho que las versiones de la historia del mundo en cincuenta animales o en cincuenta piezas musicales, que a mí me parecen razonables, irritarían a los expertos. Pero aquí hay un problema particular: el tema es idéntico al medio, y eso debería elevar un poco la idea de público a la que se apunta.

Aun si concedemos que está escrito para alguien que no sabe nada de libros y quiere enterarse, tampoco en ese caso resulta una obra especialmente lograda. Para empezar, Dan Smith parece tener una idea bastante confusa de qué es, exactamente, un libro. Y si tiene una idea más precisa, no consigue explicarla ni sostenerla. La introducción ya lo deja entrever; la lista lo confirma. A veces se trata de textos; otras, de artefactos materiales, como el Códice de Madrid o el Libro de Kells; a veces ni siquiera de libros propiamente dichos, como la Carta Magna. La Biblia no aparece como tal, pero sí la Biblia de Gutenberg y la versión King James. “Los crímenes de la calle Morgue” figura en la lista, aunque es un cuento. Las cuatro novelas clásicas de China aparecen reunidas en una sola entrada, porque por qué no. En el caso de Shakespeare, “Obras completas” cuenta como un libro, y desde luego puede editarse así, pero entonces no veo por qué no incluir también las obras completas de Platón, Aristóteles o cualquier otro autor de la lista. Las elecciones son, por lo demás, bastante predecibles, y hay algunas que no suman gran cosa, salvo, entiendo, para representar una determinada cultura o región geográfica. La lista de Smith peca también de anglocéntrica y americanocéntrica: nada contra el diccionario de Johnson, Harriet Jacobs o Martin Luther King; pero no parecen estar a la altura de otros nombres posibles.

Para sacarme el mal gusto de haber leído este libro, me puse a compilar mi propia lista de cincuenta libros, con el único requisito inicial de no incluir ninguno de los mencionados por Smith. Para mí, cada entrada debería significar algo, y mejor todavía si no se trata de algo inmediatamente evidente para el lector. Hay libros famosos junto a otros más opacos, y alguna elección caprichosa que, sin embargo, representa bastante más de lo que parece a simple vista. Quizás la próxima vez intente hacer una lista compuesta exclusivamente por ese tipo de elecciones marginales. También se notará que este repertorio es argentinocéntrico; me gustaría decir que eso sirve para mostrar lo absurdas que son las elecciones de Smith, pero en este caso creo que los dos autores incluidos eran necesarios. Aquí va:

1. Enuma Elish — anónimo — c. 2.º milenio a. C.
2. El libro egipcio de los muertos — anónimo — c. 1550–50 a. C.
3. Odisea — Homero — c. siglo VIII a. C.
4. Poemas — Safo — fines del siglo VII / comienzos del VI a. C.
5. Historia de la guerra del Peloponeso — Tucídides — siglo V a. C.
6. Trabajos y días — Hesíodo — c. 700 a. C.
7. El libro de Zhuangzi — Zhuangzi — siglo IV a. C.
8. Fedón — Platón — c. 360 a. C.
9. Organon — Aristóteles — c. 335–322 a. C.
10. La guerra de las Galias — Julio César — 58–50 a. C.
11. Sutra del loto — anónimo— siglos I–II d. C.
12. Sátiras — Juvenal — comienzos del II d. C.
13. Confesiones — Agustín de Hipona — 397–400
14. Las cartas de Eloísa y Abelardo — Pedro Abelardo y Eloísa — 1130s
15. La saga de los volsungos — anónimo — c. 1270
16. Las 1001 noches — anónimo — siglos VIII–XIV
17. Zohar — atr. Moisés de León — fines del siglo XIII
18. Los viajes de Marco Polo — Marco Polo — 1298
19. Cancionero — Petrarca — c. 1327–1374
20. Los cuentos de Canterbury — Geoffrey Chaucer — c. 1387–1400
21. Malleus Maleficarum — Heinrich Kramer y Jacob Sprenger — 1486–1487
22. Utopía — Tomás Moro — 1516
23. De la estructura del cuerpo humano en siete libros — Andreas Vesalius — 1543
24. Ensayos — Michel de Montaigne — 1580
25. Nueva corónica y buen gobierno — Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala — 1615
26. Leviatán — Thomas Hobbes — 1651
27. El químico escéptico — Robert Boyle — 1661
28. Ética — Baruch Spinoza — 1677
29. Enciclopedia — Denis Diderot y Jean le Rond d’Alembert — 1751–1772
30. Crítica de la razón pura — Immanuel Kant — 1781
31. Vindicación de los derechos de la mujer — Mary Wollstonecraft — 1792
32. Teoría de la Tierra — James Hutton — 1795
33. Frankenstein — Mary Shelley — 1818
34. Investigaciones geométricas sobre la teoría de las paralelas — Nikolái Lobachevsky — 1840
35. Una investigación sobre las leyes del pensamiento — George Boole — 1854
36. Madame Bovary — Gustave Flaubert — 1856/1857
37. De la Tierra a la Luna — Jules Verne — 1865
38. Genealogía de la moral — Friedrich Nietzsche — 1887
39. Protocolos de los sabios de Sion — anónimo — 1903
40. El proceso — Franz Kafka — 1925
41. En busca del tiempo perdido — Marcel Proust — 1927
42. Genetics and the Origin of Species — Theodosius Dobzhansky — 1937
43. Action Comics #1 — Jerry Siegel y Joe Shuster — 1938
44. Ficciones — Jorge Luis Borges — 1944
45. Investigaciones filosóficas — Ludwig Wittgenstein — 1953
46. Diario del Congo — Ernesto “Che” Guevara — 1966
47. Vigilar y castigar — Michel Foucault — 1975
48. El género en disputa — Judith Butler — 1990
49. El fin de la historia y el último hombre — Francis Fukuyama — 1992
50. El secreto — Rhonda Byrne — 2006

Estaré complacido de responder cualquier pregunta sobre los textos listados y las razones de su inclusión.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

50 boeken, in één boek! Van tijdsbesparing gesproken! We kennen allemaal de werken van Sun Tzu (de kunst van het oorlogsvoeren), Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes (Don Quichot) of het dagboek van Anne Frank.

Dit boek gaat ietsje dieper in op de korte inhoud, de tijd dat het geschreven werd en de auteur zelf.

Over Anne Frank vond ik het bijzonder om te weten hoe dit boek juist tot stand is gekomen. Toen zij op de radio hoorde dat de Nederlandse overheid na de oorlog de dagboeken en aantekeningen over de Duitse bezetting zou verzamelen, begon zij met het herschrijven van haar dagboek. Het idee dat haar dagboek een breder doel zou dienen sprak haar aan, ze wilde tenslotte journaliste worden.

Zo kan je over elk boek ietsje meer te weten komen! Best interessant, maar dit soort "verzamelwerken" zijn sowieso een beetje saai om te lezen. Je kan af en toe enkele bladzijden lezen en dan dit boek terug aan de kant leggen... ongeveer 6 pagina's uitleg per boek.

[Wilco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erg interessant boek over 50 boeken, die de voortgang van de menselijke geschiedenis weerspiegelen en die geschiedenis ook veranderd hebben. Geen literaire top 50 dus. Het gaat van boeken van Homerus tot Einstein, van Jean-Jacques Rousseau tot Freud en van Shakespeare tot Marx. In een paar pagina’s wordt het leven van de schrijver, het boek en de impact van het boek op de geschiedenis beschreven. Het leest makkelijk.

[Mark Borgman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een prachtig overzicht waarin beknopt de boeken en diens gevolgen worden uiteengezet.

Zoals de auteur op het einde quote: "Across the millennia an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you."
Of in dit geval 51

[Coen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fijn verteerbare reeks introducties in 50 van de belangrijkste boeken uit de wereldgeschiedenis.

[Gianni BM Duvillier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ideaal afscheidscadeau van mijn collega’s en dan ook een kostbaar kleinood dat mij zeer dierbaar is

[Joris Reijnierse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi overzicht van boeken. Toegankelijk geschreven samenvatting zonder pretentie compleet te willen zijn.

[Kerstin Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Short History of the World in 50 Books provides an interesting and reasonable choice of 50 books you should at least know of, if not yet read. While I had already read some of them, the book made me remember how great the titles themselves were and what impact they still have on today‘s society. This volume made me add some more titles onto my wishlist, with a special focus on history books. Especially the latter part of the book refreshed my historical knowledge and made my appetite for it grow larger. It has to be said though that there‘s a clear tendency towards books/authors of the western world.
While it took me some time to engage with the book at its beginning, I really learned to love it towards the end, with the final pages making me finish it with a smile on my face and a list in my head of the next books I‘m going to read.

[Aeslinn Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright. Albeit a bit dry, it does provide a good list of, arguably, some of the most influential books the world has read. I appreciated that the author prefaced his selection by maintaining that it isn't a list of the best books in the world, but rather a chronological account of written works that defined history. I think that was very important to say for a book like this; and even then, the selection is highly subjective (which the author also acknowledges). Overall not a bad read. Originally I thought it might be good for research purposes but I've read some other reviews that mention how the referencing is a bit out of it - so maybe not.

[Maria Alejandra Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I was hesitant to continue reading as there wasn't a clear storyline and it felt I was going to read a 300 page website article of the "best books in history", but I'm glad I stuck through it. The overarching storyline is, as the title states "a short history of the world". I'm really glad I read it, I felt smart to recognize various titles, and added a couple of books to my reading list! Now I'm curious to read the sister books "a short history of the world in 50 places" and "... in 50 animals". How interesting!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but useful little reference work and quick-guide....although some of its choices are rather obscure, while the late 20th century choices seem more to do with the authors than the actual books. Frankly, there are any number of titanic choices that could have been made, compared to what is provided at the end of this volume.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

- it wasn’t the slay that I thought it would be :/
- sometimes the descriptions felt too general but also a bit too detailed?
- nonetheless it was interesting to read about these very influential books
- but the text on the back made it seem like it would be more fun fact-y and it wasn’t :/

[Rohit Kumar]

I tried. It's shitty.
Euclid wasn't a real person. Omar Khayyam was no giant, these arabians weren't the ones who did what's attributed to them. I tolerated this bs then in just the next chapter, he quoted gandhi and nehru about bhagwat geeta and that was it. I am not trying anymore with this.

[Nico Van Der Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting summarisation of 50 books which in some way influenced society or technology in their own time and some which had an influence beyond. There are no significantly new revelations in the book, but there are some interesting lesser known facts.

[Wayne Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet and a pretty good, detailed listicle about the history of a largely western centric world through books. Entertaining and informative. And light.

[Edward Donelan]

Very interesting choice. Good educational tool and guide to some of the world's best literature - I guess everyone would have a slightly different list.

[Christine Turland]

Wonderful! Should be required reading. I want to make sure all of the books described are in our core collection at BBIS Secondary School Library.

[Patrycja · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

[Anil · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's nice, but meshing so many books, each representing a different field and suggesting various ideas, makes it look a bit scattered.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun. Loved it

[Victoria Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful bite sized hopscotch trip from the earliest written works through the 20th century.