How long a book does it take to tell the history of the world?

I am a great believer that one cannot understand current affairs without having a knowledge of history and that we all need not just an appreciation of our own country’s history but at least a general overview of world history. But obviously world history is a huge subject and we are all busy people, so is it possible to cover word history in one book and, if so, how big would that book need to be?

I have just finished reading “A History Of The World” by Andrew Marr. It runs to around 600 pages and took me two months. You can read my review here.

Famously E.H. Gombrich managed to write “A Little History Of The World” which covered the subject in just 300 pages. You can read my review here.

Still too long? “The No Nonsense Guide To World History” by Chris Brazier runs through the topic in a mere 40,000 words . You can read my review here.

Everyone should read at least one account of world history in their lives.


 




XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>