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Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
2025 Reading Challenge—New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (Reader Favorites)
NYT - Culture
NYT - Paperback Nonfiction
NYT - Science
NYT - Culture
NYT - Paperback Nonfiction
NYT - Science
Description
One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one--homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the...
4) Heroes of history: a brief history of civilization from ancient times to the dawn of the modern age
Author
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Pub. Date
c2001
Language
English
Author
Publisher
HarperCollins
Pub. Date
c2008
Language
English
Description
An account of human civilization, presented in the series' trademark irreverent style, features twelve accessible chapters that cover such topics as the Dark Ages, terrorism, and the unlikely namesake of the literary character Babar.
Author
Pub. Date
2019.
Language
English
Description
Modern humans have come a long way in the seventy thousand years they've walked the earth. Art, science, culture, trade -- on the evolutionary food chain, we're true winners. But it hasn't always been smooth sailing, and sometimes -- just occasionally -- we've managed to truly f*ck things up. Weaving together history, science, politics and pop culture, Phillips offers a panoramic exploration of humankind in all its glory, or lack thereof. From Lucy,...
Author
Publisher
PublicAffairs
Pub. Date
2019.
Language
English
Description
"A sweeping global human history that describes the separate beginnings of the world's major civilizations and cultural movements -- Confuscianism, Islam, Judeo-Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Nomadism -- and the dramatic, sometimes ruinous, sometimes transformative effects of their ever closer intertwinement that has brought us to where we are today"--
Author
Publisher
W.W. Norton & Company
Pub. Date
[2023]
Language
English
Description
"What good are the arts? Why should we care about the past? For millennia, humanity has sought to understand and transmit to future generations not just the "know-how" of life, but the "know-why"--the meaning and purpose of our existence, as expressed in art, architecture, religion, and philosophy. This crucial passing down of knowledge has required the radical integration of insights from the past and from other cultures. In Culture, acclaimed author,...
Author
Publisher
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"The remarkable story of how nomads have fostered and refreshed civilization throughout our history. Moving across millennia, Nomads explores the transformative and often bloody relationship between settled and mobile societies. Often overlooked in history, the story of the umbilical connections between these two very different ways of living presents a radical new view of human civilization. From the Neolithic revolution to the twenty-first century...
15) A million years in a day: a curious history of everyday life from the Stone Age to the phone age
Author
Publisher
Thomas Dunne Books
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
"Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A Million Years in a Day reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices...
Publisher
Kingfisher Books
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"History leaps from the page in this completely revised and updated edition of the critically acclaimed Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. From humankind's earliest history right through to the technological and social revolutions of the current day -- including the fight for equality, the threat of climate change, the COVID-19 crisis, and the latest space exploration -- this trusted reference provides a one-stop source for research, and is the perfect...
Author
Publisher
Atria Books
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
"From ancient empires to modern economics, veteran journalist Andrew Lawler delivers a sweeping history of the animal that has been most crucial to the spread of civilization across the globe -- the chicken. Queen Victoria was obsessed with it. Socrates' last words were about it. Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur made their scientific breakthroughs using it. Catholic popes, African shamans, Chinese philosophers, and Muslim mystics praised it. Throughout...
18) The Spartans
Author
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
The image of Sparta, and the Spartans, is one dyed indelibly into the public consciousness: musclebound soldiers with long hair and red cloaks, bearing shiny bronze shields emblazoned with the Greek letter lambda. 'This is Sparta!', bellows Leonidas on the silver screen, as he decides to lead his 300 warriors to their deaths at Thermopylae. But what was Sparta? The myths surrounding Sparta are as old as the city itself. Even in antiquity, Sparta was...
Author
Publisher
Overlook Duckworth
Pub. Date
2012
Language
English
Description
Duke professor James Salzman shows how drinking water highlights the most pressing issues of our time--from globalization and social justice to terrorism and climate change--and how humans have been wrestling with these problems for centuries.
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