Andrew Marr

“Writing a history of the world is a ridiculous thing to do.”
opening sentence of Andrew Marr's introduction.

This is worth sticking my neck out for – read this book to improve your life. Whoa!!!! That is a big statement, but seriously though, if you thought you had a grasp of how the world ended up here in the 21st century, you are probably missing something. This is so readable that I think it should be proscribed reading for every youngster worldwide. It provokes wonder and curiosity in every chapter. If you are the person reading this who has always hated history, you won’t anymore. History is not just about dead people. It informs our present in ways we don’t understand until we learn why we do, think the things we do and think. There is another reason to read this book – it is about human achievement, and it offers reason to hope that the challenges ahead of our species and planet can be met by using the lessons from history and the increase in know how. What we cannot neglect are the lessons written therein, how power is used and abused, how communication is used and how ‘ civilization works’. Drawing upon the stories of yesterdays , can we avoid a dystopian recurrence of another Dark Age? Probably.

‘the better we understand how rulers lose touch with reality, or why revolutions produce dictators more often than they produce happiness, or why some parts of the world are richer than others, the easier it is to understand our own times.’

I watched the t.v series, which admittedly had it’s flaws, but overall was also fascinating, and led me to the book. Now you can have it all, and for the price of a cup of coffee!! We are living in amazing times and if you do one thing this month to improve your life, order this book. I’m not on commission. Honest. If you don’t like reading or don’t like being told what to do by a middle-aged , curious , British female you could as an alternative go the the links. Or as well. Just saying.

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/whats-on/tv/andrew-marrs-history-the-world-all-the-episodes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/0eHcrXb8RuqIEVYKkExljg