[( World History )] [by: Philip Parker] [Feb-2010]

Eyewitness Companions

by D.K. Publishing

With more than 10,000 years of history in the palm of your hand, "Eyewitness World History" is the ideal one-stop reference for anyone with an interest in historical events, personalities, societies, and cultures, from the first flowering of human civilization in prehistoric times to the present day.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, World History

Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

"World History" is a fascinating book. It tries to give an overview of human history from prehistoric times right up to the present day - and it succeeds admirably. Admittedly it doesnt go into much detail, but it does provide a framework from which to investigate certain historical events more thoroughly. The book is well illustrated with colour pictures and clear headings. Everything is explored in chronological order and as the book's title implies, the history of the world is covered , not just European history , so we can understand that civilisations developed throughout the world at the same time. India,China and the Americas all had agricultural economies and civilisation long before the Bible , for instance,was written, casting doubt on the Middle East somehow being the cradle of civilisation. Many Eurocentric texts would ignore what was happening in these areas, but not this one. This book is a good reference work if you are wanting to understand the chronology of world history and how humanity has developed over the millennia. I would recommend it to any student of history or to anyone wanting to increase their general knowledge.

[Ela]

This book was fine, but I think I want to look for books focusing on culture or interesting practices more (like the Incas using coloured knots for simple messages and keeping track of taxes and livestock, or the megaliths potential meanings) in the future. While it’s necessary as those were the historical events, the summary of some of them consisted of saying that one person conquered an area then someone else defeated them and the empire prospered before the successors caused a decline in the empire – it wasn’t interesting to read about.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives you a good general understanding of world history and provides you with a foundation to explore the different times and conflicts more in detail later.

[David Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is a physically attractive volume, well-bound and amply illustrated, its everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink approach to its subject makes the actual content of WORLD HISTORY both superficial and a bit dull. Phillip Parker, or perhaps his editors, defined their subject as “the history of everywhere and everything,” which turned the book into a series of very short entries (some just 2-3 paragraphs long) on broad, mainstream historical topics: wars (lots of wars), kings, presidents, inventions. A more productive approach, I think, would have been to follow the lead of William McNeill and other world historians, and organize the book around inter-regional and global connections. Parker's entry on “globalization” depicts this as a very recent phenomenon, but in fact people have been exchanging goods, plants, animals, and ideas from continent to continent for several thousand years. One might include in such a “global history” chapters on the spread of human beings and agriculture, the growth of world religions like Buddhism and Christianity, the development of the Indian-Ocean and Silk-Road trading networks, the navigational revolution and the rise of the “Atlantic World,” the emergence and diffusion of epidemic diseases, and the Columbian Exchange. Parker devotes a few pages to some of these subjects, and his book has some useful entries on East Asian history (too frequently neglected in books like this) and on the challenges of the early 21st century, but overall this book's approach to history is too dated to hold the interest of anyone but the most casual of readers. 3.5 stars.

[Helen Hagon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent attempt to squeeze the whole of human history into a single book. Of course, there are many gaps and some highly significant events are boiled down to the briefest of summaries, but it is an interesting and useful overview and well presented with a good selection of relevant illustrations. Henry VIII, for example, the subject of so many school history lessons, is given only a few words, while Elizabeth I has a single sentence, when the history of this tiny country (Britain) is put into its global context.
On a sombre note, it was sobering to realise what a huge role war and conflict have played throughout the whole of our past. Perhaps, given the information explosion in our modern world, we all need to read more about history if we are ever to learn from our mistakes.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than "eye candy" but a beautiful and compact world history. It does a little more than just list events. It throws in historical quotes and is an excellent place to decide what era or subject to further immerse oneself.

[Grania · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a reference rather than a history. I bought it as a quick travel guide for worldwide histories combined with pictures, but it may have too little detail even for that.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A condensed version of the tedious history books we read as children in elementary school. The entries are often less than a page. Many are a couple of paragraphs highlighting the highs and lows of past and recent history. It's difficult to rate reference works so 3 stars seems fair. This is not a book to get excited about, certainly.

[Francis Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's immensely difficult to write a concise world history. Deciding what to include concisely is more art than science and the author does a very good job picking the facts and laying them out in a readable way. There's enough information to send the reader looking for more details in areas they find interesting.

[Frank Steinborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much focused on chronology and facts, this book provides a good and comprehensive overview of world history. It can be used as a reference guide or a framework from which to start digging deeper.

[Javier Lardone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing deep or analytical. Simply a chronological account of human history, with the many wars and bottles, kings and queen, dates and figures that we learned about in high school.i will keep for my children in case they become history nerds like me.

[Ñà Zø · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

[León Alonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buena las explicaciones del auto, gracias a este libro e aprendido mucho

[Ilya-California · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good visual reference for non-historians like myself. However, I was surprised to notice that there was no coverage of Armenia, which for millennia was a significant power and a major trading and cultural center in ancient Anatolia and Caucuses before the arrival of Seljuk Turks in the 11 century AD and even before the invasion by Parthian Empire in 53 BC. In the 2016 edition of this book Armenia is mentioned only in the context of being invaded by Parthian empire on p. 114 and in the context of being invaded by Seljuk Turks on p. 182. However, nothing is said about Armenia itself, such as the fact that it was the first nation to adopt christianity as its official state religion in 301 AD and the part it played in the history of the Byzantine empire. Nor is the mass extermination of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks in 1915-1918 by the Ottomans is mentioned in the book. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", said George Santayana, a 20th-century philosopher. It is not possible to understand the history of Germany without mentioning the holocaust - likewise, it is not possible to understand the history of Anatolia (now Turkey) without mentioning the genocide committed against the indigenous populations of Anatolia, particularly, the Armenians, only 100 years ago.

[Burton Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic read! No matter which culture one comes from, the history education will inevitably be influenced by the region's nationalistic and geo-politic context, hence pays more emphasis on certain parts of the history than the rest.

DK's world history gives its readers a quick and easy to digest chronological overview of the global human history. Opened my eyes to the lessons learnt from many cultures. A must read really, to learn more about what was important for other cultures in the world.

[Rendy Haruman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a simple historical world history and easy to understand. It is an excellent read that provide global chronology back from prehistoric age to modern world. In between there are some maps that let reader understand the civilization during each age (I wish there were more though). In the index, it provide some interesting lists, such as great rulers, roman emperor, holy roman emperor, great wars, etc. Definitely worth reading !

[Muffin Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who wouldn't want to read a book that tells the story of the world really fast. Not especially flowing prose but a really basic overview on the highlights and some lowlights as well. Nice photos. It also took only 2 pages to get through 100 years of American history so that was nice. Would have saved me an entire semester of American History in college if we would have used this as our text.

[Nickolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best one-volume histories of the world. Systematic and rather comprehensive, mentioning all the major events. One slight drawback for me - no comparison what were happening at the same time in various regions of the world. Instead the author just gives narration of the region' histories.

[Sportyrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. This book is an excellent guide to further reading. The broad range of topics covered were interesting and punchy. I would definitely recommend this book if you want to expand your history trivia or get ideas on what other history topics you want to read about.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

If pictures are worth a 1,000 words, this comprehensive overview does a superb job of illustrating the full scope of human (and some pre-human) history.

[Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Eyewitness books.....just enough info to peak your interest, not enough to sate it.

[Ahmed Buhassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for earlier age

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of world history.

[Sean Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great review of world history. A lot of information packed into one book.