Bad ending - literally

I liked the tour through each century. I think I learned more about changes in humanity from this book than any class in school. What I did not like was the last chapter. Mr Mortimer predicts the future, he should have stopped with his original intent to document historical change.

5 people found this helpful

Superb, provocative, and required reading!

Provides clarity for the past history and present condition of Earth (in particular Western Europe) and its human population, and a striking and challenging preview of the future.

All Ian Mortimer books are highly recommended overviews of various eras of human social and cultural history in Western Europe and Britain based on detailed reviews of currently available historical records.

John Lee is, as usual, a wonderful and precise reader.

4 people found this helpful

Dense with Information – Maybe too Much

I enjoyed this book a lot, but by the time a was half way through, I felt like I was in a college lecture hall for a class where I had done none of the homework. At first, I was picking up a lot of details. By the end, I was only retaining a few common themes. Primarily that some things that seem good can have bad side effects and somethings that seem bad can have good side effects, and the effects, good or bad, may come a century later. Any romantic notions you may have of living in historic times will be left behind. Though it may not seem so at times, we have come a long way in terms civility and medicine.
I will listen a second time, but one chapter at a time and probably out of order to see if I retain more. I would recommend the book, but wonder if it would be better on paper.

2 people found this helpful

Past yes future now

Great and enlightening discussion of past centuries, much less persuasive is his basis for his future outlook. I highly recommend the book for the trip thru the past part.

2 people found this helpful

Really spectacular

You must listen all the way through to see the genius of this book. Worth it in every sense.

1 person found this helpful

Good Until the Last Two Chapters

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, but I would warn about the unsatisfactory last two chapters. In these chapters he tries to predict the future. If/when they are seen in the future, they will likely have missed the mark.

Would you be willing to try another book from Ian Mortimer? Why or why not?

Perhaps. He brings an interesting perspective to history, but he falls into the trap of predicting the future.

Any additional comments?

Towards the end of the book, Mortimer discusses the "unskilling" of modern society. In his opinion we are unskilled, because we are unable to fabricate the basic necessities of living (e.g., weave cloth, fabricate furniture, etc.). He fails to realize that the "old skills" have been replaced by new skills. A 13th century person would have no idea of how to cope in the modern world; just as a modern person would no idea of how to cope in the 13th century.

1 person found this helpful

Great overview of history

A great book for people looking to overview the "under the hood" changes in Western civilization as well as the more obvious ones in later centuries. I found his future predictions depressing though at least interesting and thought-provoking takes compared to the crazed ideas of climate change making humanity extinct or the idea that liberal democracy/socialism/whatever ideal government will persist infinitely into the future. Sure, we've heard the preachy message of environmentalism a thousand and one times, but at least here it is presented in it's more realistic form instead of the loud, obnoxious one.

I also smiled a bit when even the atheist admitted of the men who affected the most change in the millennium as a whole, God was the One who encouraged the most change.