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The Times Compact History of the World
The ultimate small-format single-volume illustrated history of the world. The 5th edition of The Times Compact History of the World is a fully-updated, authoritative, detailed and visually-exciting guide to the world - past and present. From the emergence of the first modern humans to recent acts of terrorism, technological breakthroughs, and global issues of the environment and economy, The Times Compact History of the World covers the whole spectrum of human development through an integrated approach of concise yet accessible text, lavish and informative mapping, stunning illustrations, and evocative photographs.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 15, 1995
10 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Parker
98 books172 followersGeoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History and an Associate of the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University. He has published widely on the social, political and military history of early modern Europe, and in 2012 the Royal Dutch Academy recognized these achievements by awarding him its biennial Heineken Foundation Prize for History, open to scholars in any field, and any period, from any country.
Parker has written or co-written thirty-nine books, including The Military Revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 1988), winner of the 'best book prize' from both the American Military Institute and the Society for the History of Technology; The Grand Strategy of Philip II (Yale University Press, 1998), which won the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society of Military History; and Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century (Yale University Press, 2013), which won the Society of Military History’s Distinguished Book Prize and also one of the three medals awarded in 2014 by the British Academy for ‘a landmark academic achievement… which has transformed understanding of a particular subject’.
Before moving to Ohio State in 1997, Parker taught at Cambridge and St Andrews universities in Britain, at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and at Illinois and Yale Universities in the United States, teaching courses on the Reformation, European history and military history at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He has directed or co-directed over thirty Doctoral Dissertations to completion, as well as several undergraduate theses. In 2006 he won an OSU Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award.
He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has four children. In 1987 he was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. His latest book is Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II (Yale University Press, 2014).
Parker has written or co-written thirty-nine books, including The Military Revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 1988), winner of the 'best book prize' from both the American Military Institute and the Society for the History of Technology; The Grand Strategy of Philip II (Yale University Press, 1998), which won the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society of Military History; and Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century (Yale University Press, 2013), which won the Society of Military History’s Distinguished Book Prize and also one of the three medals awarded in 2014 by the British Academy for ‘a landmark academic achievement… which has transformed understanding of a particular subject’.
Before moving to Ohio State in 1997, Parker taught at Cambridge and St Andrews universities in Britain, at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and at Illinois and Yale Universities in the United States, teaching courses on the Reformation, European history and military history at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He has directed or co-directed over thirty Doctoral Dissertations to completion, as well as several undergraduate theses. In 2006 he won an OSU Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award.
He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has four children. In 1987 he was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. His latest book is Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II (Yale University Press, 2014).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 7, 2017
Not bad. It's definitely not a book that you sit down and read all at once. It is packed with information - the font is small, each sentence carries its own thought, and the maps and graphs are filled with data.
Good book for having out (or having in the bathroom) to read a page or two at a time before coming back to it.
Good book for having out (or having in the bathroom) to read a page or two at a time before coming back to it.
September 25, 2017
An ambitious book full of interesting history that has some major flaws. The maps are so busy that some of them are practically unreadable and most will leave you with a headache. The font size of the text is miniscule as well. Would have been a better book if it weren't so 'compact'.
April 14, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed reading every page. This book was enormously helpful in learning both modern and ancient geography.
April 13, 2018
This compares favourably in many ways to the 2-tone (blue and black) Penguin historical atlases that I’ve read.
The maps are legible full colour and there is very good accompanying content.
I have issues with a few things though: the Anglo-Euro centricity of the author exposes itself many times - sometimes subtly, other times overtly - when discussing “conquest” and “resistance” of various military, cultural, and commercial excursions by European nations in America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It hints at a wistfulness for the Rule Britannia imperial era.
Next is the layout - I cannot conceive why “map 1”, chronologically first and textually referenced first, is regularly placed on the right hand page, where it is naturally seen second; while “map 2”, which follows, is on the left hand page. Several times I had to hunt the micro key for the map’s designation to understand which of the 2 was relevant to what I was reading.
The small font size is also a concern, though somewhat understandable for the amount of content packed into the portable format.
The maps are legible full colour and there is very good accompanying content.
I have issues with a few things though: the Anglo-Euro centricity of the author exposes itself many times - sometimes subtly, other times overtly - when discussing “conquest” and “resistance” of various military, cultural, and commercial excursions by European nations in America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It hints at a wistfulness for the Rule Britannia imperial era.
Next is the layout - I cannot conceive why “map 1”, chronologically first and textually referenced first, is regularly placed on the right hand page, where it is naturally seen second; while “map 2”, which follows, is on the left hand page. Several times I had to hunt the micro key for the map’s designation to understand which of the 2 was relevant to what I was reading.
The small font size is also a concern, though somewhat understandable for the amount of content packed into the portable format.
February 22, 2022
4.25/5: Brilliant succinct 2-page visual layouts (maps, timelines, graphs) on the most significant events and transitions in world history. It got me interested in so many gaps that I'd missed in my scattered readings, particularly the Balkan states and the newly-independent "stans" of the former-USSR. I really appreciate the rich infographics which work a lot better for me than plain encyclopedic prose. If only they included some DK-esque hand drawings of recognizable figures this would be perfect! It comes really close.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews