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The Book of Firsts: 150 World-Changing People and Events from Caesar Augustus to the Internet
The Book of Firsts is an entertaining, enlightening, and highly browsable tour of the major innovations of the past twenty centuries and how they shaped our world.
Peter D’Epiro makes this handy overview of human history both fun and thought-provoking with his survey of the major “firsts”—inventions, discoveries, political and military upheavals, artistic and scientific breakthroughs, religious controversies, and catastrophic events—of the last two thousand years. Who was the first to use gunpowder? Invent paper? Sack the city of Rome? Write a sonnet? What was the first university? The first astronomical telescope? The first great novel? The first Impressionist painting? The Book of Firsts explores these questions and many more, from the earliest surviving cookbook (featuring parboiled flamingo) and the origin of chess (sixth-century India) to the first civil service exam (China in 606 AD) and the first tell-all memoir about scandalous royals (Byzantine Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora). In the form of 150 brief, witty, erudite, and information-packed essays, The Book of Firsts is ideal for anyone interested in an enjoyable way to acquire a deeper understanding of history and the fascinating personalities who forged it.
Peter D’Epiro makes this handy overview of human history both fun and thought-provoking with his survey of the major “firsts”—inventions, discoveries, political and military upheavals, artistic and scientific breakthroughs, religious controversies, and catastrophic events—of the last two thousand years. Who was the first to use gunpowder? Invent paper? Sack the city of Rome? Write a sonnet? What was the first university? The first astronomical telescope? The first great novel? The first Impressionist painting? The Book of Firsts explores these questions and many more, from the earliest surviving cookbook (featuring parboiled flamingo) and the origin of chess (sixth-century India) to the first civil service exam (China in 606 AD) and the first tell-all memoir about scandalous royals (Byzantine Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora). In the form of 150 brief, witty, erudite, and information-packed essays, The Book of Firsts is ideal for anyone interested in an enjoyable way to acquire a deeper understanding of history and the fascinating personalities who forged it.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionTrivia
640 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2010
13 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 6, 2014
A major "meh." There's absolutely nothing in here that I either didn't know or couldn't find out within .5 seconds on Wikipedia. The writing is uninspired at best. The author does his very best to yank you out of the narrative with weird asides -- the entry on the 1969 moon landing, for instance, mentions a scene from House where the title character tries to cop a feel on "the luscious Dr. Cuddy." Come again?
November 5, 2023
As history and trivia lover, this book - a chronological catalog of “firsts” through last 2000 years - was a pure joy. eg, early Christians were the first to be tagged “atheists” as they did not believe in the Roman Gods!
November 14, 2018
Enjoyable book.
Some of the events didn't interest me so much. Others very interesting. Probably the nature of a book like this.
Some of the events didn't interest me so much. Others very interesting. Probably the nature of a book like this.
August 3, 2019
Good synopsis of world events in history with colorful characters ideas and issues. Demarcated by centuries.For clarity context of historical background supported every event
December 25, 2010
Who is the first conqueror of Britain: it's king Claudius of roman empire he conquered the island on a war elephant and Rome names it the province of Britania.Rome left Scotland and Treland alone and built the city of Bath
Who was the first Christian missionary: st. Paul who had preached to europe and Asia minor but later beheaded by emperor Nero
The first "barrack emperor": the emperors who had been elected in Rome by the soldiers to further their own goals. they were born during time of chaos in Roman history, the first of which was Maximinus, who was born a shepherd and later murdered the emperor and declared himself emperor. he never set foot in Rome and he was later killed by his officers. many more of this types of emperors followed in Rome.
The first christian monk is St. Anthony of Egypt, who were orphaned at 20 and gave away all his wealth to the poor and ended up living in an isolated place in the desert until age 105.
a small lord in northern India arranged a smart marriage and expanded its own territory and formed the first centrally controlled India emperor and this emperor is Chandragupta I of Gupta dynasty. During his son Chandragupta II's reign, he made India into a golden age and during which time the famous book Journey to the West actually happened here.
Saint Nicolas was a bishop of a small church in Turkey. He was born in Turkey and his story became legend when he gave 3 pounches of gold away to save 3 girls from becoming prostitutes. He later been buried in Turkey and a group of merchants brought him back to Bari, Italy. His idea of gift giving and Roman's celebration of Saturnalia was what really set things off. The Dutch brought this tradition with them to NYC and people started calling him Santa Clause.
Who is considered the first king of France: Clovis I, who united all the Franks
What was the first complete codification of Roman law: Emperor Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis, who combined all the written Roman laws and books such as digest. It became the ancestor of legal system in Europe
Who was the first Christian missionary: st. Paul who had preached to europe and Asia minor but later beheaded by emperor Nero
The first "barrack emperor": the emperors who had been elected in Rome by the soldiers to further their own goals. they were born during time of chaos in Roman history, the first of which was Maximinus, who was born a shepherd and later murdered the emperor and declared himself emperor. he never set foot in Rome and he was later killed by his officers. many more of this types of emperors followed in Rome.
The first christian monk is St. Anthony of Egypt, who were orphaned at 20 and gave away all his wealth to the poor and ended up living in an isolated place in the desert until age 105.
a small lord in northern India arranged a smart marriage and expanded its own territory and formed the first centrally controlled India emperor and this emperor is Chandragupta I of Gupta dynasty. During his son Chandragupta II's reign, he made India into a golden age and during which time the famous book Journey to the West actually happened here.
Saint Nicolas was a bishop of a small church in Turkey. He was born in Turkey and his story became legend when he gave 3 pounches of gold away to save 3 girls from becoming prostitutes. He later been buried in Turkey and a group of merchants brought him back to Bari, Italy. His idea of gift giving and Roman's celebration of Saturnalia was what really set things off. The Dutch brought this tradition with them to NYC and people started calling him Santa Clause.
Who is considered the first king of France: Clovis I, who united all the Franks
What was the first complete codification of Roman law: Emperor Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis, who combined all the written Roman laws and books such as digest. It became the ancestor of legal system in Europe
May 4, 2012
This is a nice overview of history. It starts at year zero, and has a number of essays per century. I found the writing style of the author a little off-putting though. I felt like he was trying to impress the reader with his vocabulary, it was just rather tiring. This would be a clear 4-star if not for that annoying trait. For me, those were like little speed bumps to the reading, not because I didn't know the words, but because they were so gratuitous.
Don't get me wrong, I like a verbose vocabulary, but not a fan of gratuitous use. For example, a battle is described as "Sanguinary". Really? That is better then just saying "bloody battle" how?
Don't get me wrong, I like a verbose vocabulary, but not a fan of gratuitous use. For example, a battle is described as "Sanguinary". Really? That is better then just saying "bloody battle" how?
December 6, 2015
Very, very interesting to see all of humanity's firsts between the covers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews