History of the World (Updated)

History of the World (Updated) - J.M. Roberts, Frederick Davidson The author makes history come alive and the next minute of listening is as exciting as the previous. If I had one wish, it would be to be able to memorize this book. The book is overwhelming for it does cover over 2 million years of human history in one volume.

The author writes with snark which only adds to the story telling ("the coliseum represents the greatest display of violence until the Hollywood spectacles came along").

The book has a British slant and the narrator's British accent adds to the listening pleasure.

Listening to the book today (2012) adds to the experience because you can pick up on the 1989 perspective the author writes into the modern history part. Somethings that were important in 1989 are not as important as we thought they were and so on. It just shows that even good histories are a product of their times.

The beginning of the book until the 1800s is incredibly exciting and the author's snark is hilarious and adds an attitude to the story telling. The obvious biases of the time the book was written add to the listeners understanding of the real arc of history. There's probably not a better volume on world history than this book.