Short History of the World


(4.5 stars; 2 reviews)

A Short History of the World is a non-fictional historic work by English author H. G. Wells, largely inspired by Wells's earlier 1919 work The Outline of History. The book summarises the scientific knowledge of the time regarding the history of Earth and life. It starts with its origins, goes on to explain the development of the Earth and life on Earth, reaching primitive thought and the development of humankind from the Cradle of Civilisation.The book ends with the outcome of the First World War, the Russian famine of 1921, and the League of Nations in 1922. In 1934 Albert Einstein recommended the book for the study of history as a means of interpreting progress in civilisation. - Summary adopted from Wikipedia (13 hr 51 min)

Chapters

01 - The World in Space 6:10
02 - The World in Time 6:14
03 - The Beginnings of Life 6:11
04 - The Age of Fishes 9:07
05 - The Age of the Coal Swamps 9:38
06 - The Age of Reptiles 8:58
07 - The First Birds and the First Mammals 10:07
08 - The Age of Mammals 9:17
09 - Monkeys, Apes and Sub-Men 9:12
10 - The Neanderthaler And the Rhodesian Man 9:10
11 - The First True Men 9:51
12 - Primitive Thought 10:18
13 - The Beginnings of Cultivation 10:21
14 - Primitive Neolithic Civilizations 10:56
15 - Sumeria, Early Egypt And Writing 10:00
16 - Primitive Nomadic Peoples 9:21
17 - The First Sea-Going Peoples 11:07
18 - Egypt, Babylon And Assyria 14:49
19 - The Primitive Aryans 10:36
20 - The Last Babylonian Empire and the Empire of Darius I 9:11
21 - The Early History of the Jews 12:07
22 - Priests and Prophets in Judea 9:57
23 - The Greeks 12:23
24 - The Wars of the Greeks and Persians 9:24
25 - The Splendour of Greece 8:16
26 - The Empire of Alexander the Great 9:46
27 - The Museum and Library at Alexandria 12:16
28 - The Life of Gautama Buddha 12:15
29 - King Asoka 4:44
30 - Confucius and Lao Tse 12:10
31 - Rome Comes into History 11:52
32 - Rome and Carthage 9:38
33 - The Growth of the Roman Empire 25:09
34 - Between Rome and China 10:29
35 - The Common Man’s Life Under the Early Roman Empire 13:55
36 - Religious Developments Under the Roman Empire 14:38
37 - The Teaching of Jesus 13:42
38 - The Development of Doctrinal Christianity 8:34
39 - The Barbarians Break the Empire into East and West 10:23
40 - The Huns and the End of the Western Empire 12:38
41 - The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires 10:05
42 - The Dynasties of Suy And Tang in China 4:45
43 - Muhammad and Islam 8:14
44 - The Great Days of the Arabs 8:02
45 - The Development of Latin Christendom 17:37
46 - The Crusades and the Age of Papal Dominion 20:38
47 - Recalcitrant Princes and the Great Schism 20:32
48 - The Mongol Conquests 10:57
49 - The Intellectual Revival of the Europeans 21:05
50 - The Reformation of the Latin Church 9:11
51 - The Emperor Charles V 20:03
52 - The Age of Political Experiments; of Grand Monarchy and Parliaments and Re… 24:40
53 - The New Empires of the Europeans in Asia and Overseas 11:23
54 - The American War of Independence 12:04
55 - The French Revolution and the Restoration of Monarchy in France 18:22
56 - The Uneasy Peace in Europe that Followed the Fall of Napoleon 10:10
57 - The Development of Material Knowledge 20:56
58 - The Industrial Revolution 10:25
59 - The Development of Modern Political and Social Ideas 27:47
60 - The Expansion of the United States 18:36
61 - The Rise of Germany to Predominance in Europe 4:13
62 - The New Overseas Empires of the Steamship and Railway 13:21
63 - European Aggression in Asia, and the Rise of Japan 11:57
64 - The British Empire in 1914 4:57
65 - The Age of Armament in Europe, and the Great War of 1914-18 10:42
66 - The Revolution and Famine in Russia 11:28
67 - The Political and Social Reconstruction of the World 14:36
68 - Chronological table 29:36

Reviews

Im shocked


(5 stars)

I can't believe that this had 0 views before I listened. This is a wonderful book to listen to, at any age,at any time of the day. HG Wells just makes everything so much more interesting and fun. A joy. I'm glad I'm the first review anyway, this is one of those one's that I'll keep coming back to. I was surprised that nobody at all had gave a review tho, rather than mine not showing as its such a classic and I'm hoping that 0 reviews doesn't mean 0 views as I think everyone should devour as much HG Wells as they possibly can

Finally available in Audio on archive.org


(4 stars)

I'm only giving this a 4 star because I have not actually heard it. However while looking for Bill Bryson's short history of nearly everything (physical science) I stumbled upon this. The only audio book version of this for free is on youtube and with 2 part 8 HOURS EACH. This is an abridged version but hey it is still an awesome and fun. Create your own world history grand narrative and start with this.

Number of views


(0 stars)

The view number doesn't kick in for a few days. It STILL shows 0 views, even though you've "viewed" it. ;)