A History of the World in 100 ObjectsPenguin, 2011 M10 27 - 736 pages "An enthralling and profoundly humane book that every civilized person should read." --The Wall Street Journal The blockbuster New York Times bestseller and the companion volume to the wildly popular radio series When did people first start to wear jewelry or play music? When were cows domesticated, and why do we feed their milk to our children? Where were the first cities, and what made them succeed? Who developed math--or invented money? |
From inside the book
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... animal remains, stone objects are all that survive. A historythrough objects,however, can never itselfbe fully balanced because itdepends entirely onwhat happens to survive. It isparticularly harshon cultures whose artefacts are made ...
... animals. Our ability to make objects allowed humans to adapt to a multitude of environments and spread from Africa into the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Fromabout 40,000 years ago, during thelast Ice Age, humans created the world's ...
... animals killed on the savannah. Geological evidence subsequently established beyond doubt that thelayer where the tools were foundwas roughly two million years old. This was archaeological dynamite. Leakey's excavations produced the ...
... animals, particularly apes, use objects; but what sets us apart fromthem is that we make tools before we need them, and once we have used them we keep them to useagain. This chipped stone from Olduvai Gorgeis the beginning ofthe toolbox ...
... animals – have felt the urge to make things more sophisticated than they need to be. Objects carry powerful messages about their makers,and the chopping tool isthe beginningof a relationship between humans and the things they create ...
Contents
Seated | |
Ain SakhriLoversFigurine 8 Egyptian Clay Modelof Cattle | |
Jomon | |
Hinton St Mary Mosaic | |
Arabian Bronze Hand | |
The Silk Road and Beyond | |
Ife Head | |
The David Vases | |
Taino Ritual Seat | |
PART FOURTEEN Meeting the Gods AD 12001500 | |
Holy Thorn Reliquary | |
PART THREE The First Cities andStates | |
King Dens Sandal Label | |
Standard of | |
Indus Seal 14 Jade Axe 15 Early WritingTablet PART FOUR The Beginnings of Science and Literature 2000700 | |
Flood Tablet | |
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus | |
Minoan Bullleaper | |
Mold Gold Cape | |
Statue of Ramesses II | |
PART FIVE Old WorldNewPowers 1100300BC | |
Lachish Reliefs 22 Sphinx ofTaharqo 23 Chinese Zhou Ritual Vessel | |
Paracas | |
Gold Coin of Croesus | |
PART SIX The World in the Age of Confucius 500300 | |
Centaurand Lapith 28 BasseYutz Flagons | |
Olmec Stone Mask | |
Chinese Bronze Bell | |
Coin with Head of Alexander | |
Pillar of Ashoka | |
Rosetta Stone | |
Chinese Han Lacquer | |
35 | |
Augustus PART EIGHT | |
North American Otter Pipe | |
Ceremonial Ballgame Belt | |
Admonitions | |
Hoxne Pepper | |
PART NINE | |
Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy | |
Shiva and Parvati Sculpture | |
Sculpture of Huastec Goddess | |
Hoa Hakananaia Easter IslandStatue | |
PART FIFTEEN The Threshold of the Modern World AD 13751550 | |
Tughra of Suleimanthe Magnificent 72 Ming Banknote | |
Inca Gold Llama | |
Jade Dragon | |
Dürers Rhinoceros | |
PART SIXTEEN | |
Tolerance and Intolerance | |
The Oba with Europeans 78 Doubleheaded Serpent 79 Elephants 80 Pieces of Eight | |
Shia Religious Parade Standard | |
Miniature of a Mughal Prince | |
Shadow Puppet of Bima | |
PART EIGHTEEN Exploration Exploitation and Enlightenment | |
Hawaiian Feather Helmet | |
North American Buckskin | |
Australian BarkShield | |
PART NINETEEN | |
AD 17801914 91 Ships Chronometer from HMS Beagle | |
Sudanese Slit Drum | |
Suffragettedefaced Penny | |
PART TWENTY The World of our Making | |
Maps | |
Listof Objects | |
References | |