World history in a nutshell

dahamsta

Looking for a readable distillation of history, preferably standard-sized paperback small enough to read in bed. I just want to flick through the last 2k years without getting caught in the folds of Wikipedia or drowned in boring details. Any recs?

(A recent trip to Tunisia and current troll of Da Vinci Code topics on Wikipedia has demonstrated that I know bog all about general history outside of Europe. (What were they teaching me in school ffs!?) Might as well brush up on European history while I'm at it.)

adam

ateam

I suspect it would be difficult to find a book on "world history" spanning 2k... If you do find one, find out who the author is first. Why not get a leaving cert history text book on Europe.

PHB

There's no such thing as it's quite a topical discussion and for someone to have to balls to do it would be unreal.

The best thing you can do, just to ya know, figure out what happened, is to get the leaving cert textbook for europe and ireland since 1870, get the british textbook, get the american textbook, then you got quite a bit of knowledge to begin with.

If you really want to learn about general history, learn Roman and Greek history, it's much cooler and way more practicably useable.

funktastic

The New Penguin History of the World: Fourth Edition by J.M. Roberts, a very good modern historian, now dead. There are other general histories of the world by him in earlier editions.

83ste

Not sure about the last 2k years but for the 20th century try 'The Twentieth Century World' by William R. Keylor - amazing synthesis, everything makes so much more sense after reading it!

mcgarnicle

For the past 2,000 years it might be a good idea to take a look at the two Junior Cert history textbooks, they begin back in the stone age and move right up to modern times I think

dahamsta

Thanks for the tips folks, keep them coming. I'd prefer to avoid academic titles if at all possible, I'm really looking for something factual but readable, along the lines of The Code Book by Simon Singh.

adam