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History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil…
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History of the World in 100 Objects (original 2010; edition 2011)

by Neil MacGregor

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2,302426,690 (4.16)84
Wow, this book took awhile for me to get through. So much interesting information that I had to read only a few sections per sitting if I had any hope of retaining what I read. I found the objects to be very interesting, the photography beautifully executed and the writing to be very concise and accessible. I caught myself thinking "you can't know that! you're just guessing!" more than a few times as the author tried to speculate with what felt like a lot of imagination, about some of the objects. Overall, though, this is a great book and one that I will refer back to again and again over time. ( )
  murderbydeath | Sep 20, 2014 |
English (37)  Dutch (2)  Piratical (1)  Spanish (1)  German (1)  All languages (42)
Showing 1-25 of 37 (next | show all)
A great nightstand book. Can't sleep, there are many short chapters but be careful this book can become addictive. ( )
  Huba.Library | Jan 31, 2024 |
I got to like the 6th object and immediately put it down on reading something like "But why did early humans migrate to new areas? Here's what Michael Palin, who's done a lot of travelling, thinks". I'm just extremely not interested in what some random famous person thinks! Before this you have Rowan Williams saying why a carved mammoth horn is a sign of early humans getting into "the rhythm of life" and claiming that's what religion is all about. An extract of David Attenborough narrating from a TV show about how cool stone axes are. And it's like. Yeah they are but I'd rather the limited space was taken up by some actual info rather than uninformed and uninteresting musings. It's just not my sort of book I guess. I was disappointed at the limited info on each object so far and feeling the author kept loudly telling me how cool each thing is rather than letting it speak for itself.

There was also quite a bit of factual stuff that I at least felt suspicious of. For example, dating the entrance of humans to North America basically exactly to the Clovis culture which was under criticism even at publication and is a few thousands year off for sure. Claiming that there was no migration into North America after that until European arrival, when it's well accepted that the Inuit are descended from another migration thousands of years afterwards and there may possibly have been others.

Idk just didn't feel confident reading further or feel it was a book aimed at me.
  tombomp | Oct 31, 2023 |
$218, A first edition, first printing published by Allen Lane in 2010. Strangely RARE!.A fine copy in a fine unclipped wrapper. Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.
  susangeib | Oct 29, 2023 |
This book came to my attention a few years ago when I discovered its spinoff, A History of America in 100 Objects, published by the Smithsonian. Although I added both to my list immediately, I didn't get around to reading this one until just now (glad I picked it up when I did as my library has only two copies left, and the one I hold in my hands is starting to fall apart). It's an amazing tome for lovers of history and the generally curious. I appreciated learning what it is that makes each object unique and how each is significant in world history. While I have never been to British Museum (someday!), it feels like the British Museum came, in a sense, to me. Wonderful. ( )
  ryner | Oct 14, 2023 |
Finished this last night. What a remarkable, lovely book. I can't recommend it highly enough. I feel as though it's a curator/archivist's love letter to the world. I learned quite a bit, and will definitely go back to it from time to time, but more importantly came away from it with a profound sense of the deep interconnectedness of people across space and time. ( )
  lschiff | Sep 24, 2023 |
This is a companion piece to the History of the World in 100 Objects BBC radio series, first broadcast in 2010. I listened to it back in the day and really enjoyed it, and on an object-by-object level I often did the same here. The lavish illustrations allow for an examination of details that I could only imagine when listening to Neil MacGregor's audio narration. MacGregor writes with a clear affection for and fascination with these objects, all of which belong to the collection of the institution of which he was then the director, the British Museum.

However, MacGregor's position clearly muzzled him from talking about all the deeply hinky things that have been involved in the gathering of that collection, there are some unexamined assumptions at play here (more than one pencilled 'hmm' or '!' appear in the margins of my copy now), and some quoted experts whose rep has not aged the best over the last decade or so.

(If I may be allowed a moment of petty chauvinism, it was dryly amusing to see that 11 objects of the 100 were found in/come from what's now the UK, 9 of them from England alone, but not one from Ireland. The English do like to claim us while also ignoring us, and to make "British" a simple synonym for "English.") ( )
1 vote siriaeve | May 22, 2023 |
Something to know: The audio version is the BBC Radio 4 series, the book, which came later, is almost, but not quite, a transcription of the series.

One would think that discussions of 100 objects from the British Museum, some obscure, some very well known, would be just my thing. The book, at least, includes excellent photographs, while the radio show allows the listener to enjoy a variety of accents. But there the enjoyment stops. What unspeakable twaddle the celebrities, e.g., Michael Palin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, David Attenborough, utter to satisfy the script! I like speculations about our human ancestors, I would probably happily read a whole novel about how the reindeer carving on the mastodon tusk came to be. But, oh, the fatuous utterances of the Archbishop of Canterbury about the religious meaning of that artifact! I can not stand them. So I abandoned the book entirely.

I'll mention one odd bit, the understanding of how long ago humans reached the North American continent has varied widely in the past 70 years. A book on Carbon 14 published around 1960, [Carbon-14, and Other Science Methods That Date the Past] places early humans as far back as 30,000 years ago, based on radio-carbon evidence. This book, published around the year 2000, gives an estimate of 13,000 years ago. A book published more recently, [Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past], agrees much better with the earlier book. ( )
  themulhern | Dec 3, 2022 |
Interesting, slightly more information on some of the objects and time periods would have been helpful. I read a section or two at night and looked up anything that intrigued me and I wanted to know more about. ( )
  NicholeReadsWithCats | Jun 17, 2022 |
Genial. Tono afable y entretenido y cargado de datos. Lo leí en kindle y pierden un poco las imágenes pero el libro procede de un programa radial por lo que contiene descripciones muy bien logradas. Luego se puede revisar en internet las imágenes para corroborarlas. Está montado en capítulos por objeto lo que permite leerlo cómodamente si se tienen lapsos cortos para ello. Muy recomendado. ( )
  eduardochang | Feb 3, 2022 |
Absolutely fascinating. The length may seem daunting but one can always just dip in for an object or two and then resume daily life. At first I thought- for anthropologists only, since many of the earliest items are about the dawn of civilization, as it were. But as one progresses through the book, delighted by MacGregor's lively comments, there is art, history, politics, religion- the whole catastrophe of human habitation. Besides the usual suspects (Elgin Marbles/Rosetta Stone), there are some marvelous eye openers: the Ife head from what is now Nigeria as well as a brass plaque from Benin clearly show the achievements of a well-evolved African culture. My personal favorite was the tughra(calligrahpic monogram)of Suleiman the Magnificent. ( )
1 vote PattyLee | Dec 14, 2021 |
The book of the radio series. Both excellent. A choice of a 100 objects from around the world from the collection of the British Museum. Each one put into it's context in a few pages. Inevitably a little eurocentric but at least it attemps global coverage. Scholarship made accessible. Well done. ( )
  Steve38 | Dec 8, 2021 |
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. With travel being on indefinite hiatus, this book allowed me to armchair explore the British Museum with a tour guide. The book is quite sizable, and the binding did start to fall apart mid-way through. I got the book from the library, so it might have been mishandled prior to my reading it, though. Overall, it was an easy book to conquer despite its intimating size as I kept it by my bedside and read a chapter or two a night. ( )
  kmarson | Nov 16, 2021 |
Muy interesante, de cada objeto solo se explican unas paginas y es muy ameno.
El autor insiste y estoy de acuerdo, en que no existe una historia de distintas gentes, sino que esto es la historia de la humanidad.
Vayamos a donde vayamos, estamos donde estamos por lo que ha ocurrido y estos objetos nos ayudan a comprenderlo ( )
  trusmis | Nov 28, 2020 |
So you are deaf and cannot listen to the original radio version. This is the book for you. It follows the script very closely, either word for word or thought for thought.

You are missing the haunting introductory music. You wouldn't know what was coming, but as soon as that music started you knew you were going to hear something interesting.

On the other hand, with the book you can go at your own pace. I would strongly advise that you read it while you have access either to a good library or the internet.

A quick word on the chapter on the Lewis 'chessmen'. There's a good article by the wonderful Geoff Chandler here:

http://textualities.net/geoff-chandler/not-even-from-lewis-mate-2

I've not been to the British Library in the last few years but last time I was there they were still describing them as chess pieces. I note that since the article was published the curator of those held in Edinburgh has quietly changed the signage. ( )
  Lukerik | Jul 23, 2017 |
If anybody could kill one's love for history, this is the guy! So dry! ( )
  Tess_W | May 13, 2016 |
Liked the audio version much better than the print. Could listen to the narrator's accent all day! It's a British thing ( )
  tmscott13 | Jan 23, 2016 |
I've only read the introduction and perused the pictures, but I am sure this is going to be a special book....

For now, I have to return it to the library.
  Connie-D | Jan 17, 2016 |
Fantastic resource for anyone who loves history, culture and/or museums. Even though the title reads *A* history, it could've been called *The* history, given the sheer breadth of the themes and civilizations this book covers. Loving and serious attention is paid to each object, with at least one gorgeous photograph per item, and to the stories about the past it evokes. This is geared toward a popular audience rather than a scholarly one (as was the original BBC radio series), so the essays aren't long ones, but they're cogent and full of illuminating quotes from scholars and other experts. The only problem I have is that now I want to visit the British Museum and thus have to figure out what to leave out of my luggage so I can fit this book in it. ( )
1 vote simchaboston | Aug 3, 2015 |
Recensione su: http://wp.me/p3X6aw-tI
Review at: http://wp.me/p3X6aw-tI ( )
  Saretta.L | Feb 21, 2015 |
The objects are from the British Museum and I'm picking this book up and reading them at random. They're interesting little slices of history, many of regions I know nothing about. Very pleasant.
  piemouth | Dec 6, 2014 |
This is an absolutely fascinating (and beautiful!) book. Really - it is public archaeology at its best. ( )
  Lizbeth978 | Nov 18, 2013 |
I visited the British Museum recently. Due to the shortage of time, I decided to take the one-hour tour suggested by the brochure: a visit to ten objects separated across various galleries, spanning historical space and time. Even though it was a good introduction, and gave me a taste of the museum as a whole, I was strangely dissatisfied: it was rather like cramming for an exam where you end up with a lot of bits of disjointed knowledge.

As we were leaving the museum, I asked my brother-in-law (who is settled in England) what book I should buy from the museum, and he suggested the tome under discussion. He had listened to the original BBC radio series and liked it very much. Well, I have to thank him, because this book opened up a whole new vista on how we should view objects in a museum, and why my whirlwind tour left me disappointed.

Well, I will be better informed during my next visit.


How does one look at objects in a museum? I must confess that I had not given much thought to this subject until I read A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor. When I enter a museum, I usually wander around just gawking at the display and reading the info on the more interesting ones. Or, if I know about something specific that the museum is famous for (like the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum or the Narmer Palette in the Cairo Museum), I make a beeline for the object and spend some time gazing in reverential awe at it. After I spend what I consider a sufficient amount of time in the building, I come out, smugly satisfied at having “done” the museum properly.

Neil MacGregor has taught me that I have been doing it all wrong. A museum is a history book (although a taciturn one) and once you have learnt the language of objects, a really fascinating one. Because unlike history written by humans, which can be true, embellished or outright lies, the history told by objects can never be false. But we have to tease it out of them: the effort has to be there on our part. Otherwise, any trip to the museum becomes just a sightseeing tour.

This book is the written from of a series of talks given by the author, Director of the British Museum, on the BBC. In the preface and introduction, the author talks about the many challenges: the main one (absent from the book!) being the medium of the radio, where visual imagery is impossible. But then, he realised that this is also one of the strengths-because the listener is forced to use his imagination, not only for the object, but also for the story behind it.

That is what one has to do while reading this book. Let the imagination roam free across space and time: as MacGregor describes the object, puts it in its historical context, and pulls in experts from various fields like art, literature, history etc. to give their opinions on it, the mind of the reader is engaged in a continuous dialogue with history. As we trace mankind’s origins from the Olduvai gorge in Africa to the interconnected modern world, the sense of linear time slowly disappears history starts looking like a geography of time.

The book is written in small chapters of 5-6 pages each, five chapters (one working week of five days) forming a common theme. This structure is easily accessible, even to the miniscule attention spans engendered by TV shows and the internet. The book can be read through in one sitting, or savoured as small tidbits over a long period. However one does it, it does not lose its efficacy.

MacGregor starts with one of the most popular objects in the museum - the mummy of Hornedjitef –as a curtain raiser. The remaining 99 chapters are largely chronological, spanning countries and continents over defined time bands the author has selected as historical themes. In the earlier chapters, these time bands are large, spanning millenniums: then they narrow down to centuries and finally to decades as history becomes more crowded and compressed. And we see mankind, which has been existing as isolated pockets of civilisation, slowly expand and get connected.

For me, the most fascinating thing about this book was not the stories told by the objects, but what they left unsaid: I found myself musing about the people, long dead and gone, who must have handled these objects, many a time little knowing they would they would be enshrined and viewed by millions. For example, look at the Kilwa pot sherds (Chapter 60) from Tanzania: the housewife or maid who handled them- what might have they been like? What were they thinking as they washed, dried and cooked in these utensils? What would have gone through their minds when they finally threw them away? And (most importantly) the ordinary objects we throw away now – will they carry a similar message in a museum in, say, the year 2500?

Or let’s look at objects from relatively unknown cultures, like the Moche Warrior Pot (Chapter 48) from Peru or the Taino Ritual Seat (Chapter 65) from the Dominican Republic. It is obvious that these are important objects, religiously and culturally; yet the culture remains a mystery to us. Once again, we can only recreate in our mind the ceremonies which might have been conducted with these objects holding positions of importance.



Moche Warrior Pot



Taino Ritual Seat



There are also “famous” objects in these pages, like the Rosetta Stone (Chapter 33), the Parthenon Sculptures (Chapter 27) and India’s own Indus Seal (Chapter 13). Even though these objects are known to any educated person, MacGregor puts them in a new context and new light so that one learns to look at them anew.



The Rosetta Stone



Indus Seal

In the Introduction the author says that this book could have been as well called A History of Objects Through Many Different Worlds. I agree. Each object sings a solitary tune: sometimes happy, sometimes sad, and sometimes even creepy. Put together, they create a beautiful symphony – the song of humanity, separated by time and space, over a million different worlds. This book opened my ears to that music.

Museum visits shall never be the same again!
( )
1 vote Nandakishore_Varma | Sep 28, 2013 |
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2114935.html

This brilliant book accompanies the brilliant series of podcasts. It is the same hundred objects from the British museum's collection, but this time in dead tree format. The individual talks, which were 11-14 minutes on the radio, are down to 5-7 pages here, so I think quite substantially cut; but what we get in return is pictures of the actual objects, which radio cannot give. Actually in most cases I felt I actually had got a fairly good impression of the objects' appearance from listening to the audio version, but there were a couple where the picture does make a big difference - the sexually explicit Warren Cup, and the extraordinarily detailed mechanical galleon of Augsburg. Anyway, it is all very nicely done (though I did notice as I browsed the maps at the end that none of the objects is from, er, Ireland). ( )
  nwhyte | May 24, 2013 |
This is a book about common humanity. Each object is accompanied by a commentary, all of around equal length, that places the object in context, describes its features and explains what it reveals about the society in which it was made, and about humanity in general. The commentaries manage the difficult task of being simultaneously elucidating, fascinating and filled with factual detail. In a way, the level of detail might appear to make the book hard-going, but attentive reading is rewarding here and, having read the book chronologically, it is perfectly possible to return to a few favorite objects and re-read to learn even more. The objects themselves are almost always both intrinsically interesting, and revealing in context. The BBC site that accompanies the book is an excellent supplement to it. ( )
1 vote freelancer_frank | Apr 27, 2013 |
A beautifully designed and illustrated, endlessly fascinating tour of human civilization from its beginning to now through artifacts from all over the world. Insightful, completely engaging, and filled with many surprises. ( )
  Sullywriter | Apr 3, 2013 |
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Penguin Australia

2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 1846144132, 0241951771

 

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