A Brief History of the Human Race

How many reviews have been written `this is a book about who we are, where we have come from and where we are now'? But no book, or author, can claim to have knowledge of all of the history of the human race, or be able to explore and answer all questions relating to human existence. So, as Michael Cook admits this book is `deliberately selective and involuntarily patchy' and reflects the broader shape of human history along with a series of narrower discussions of subjects that have interested hum personally. The book begins with the Palaeolithic, the Neolithic revolution and the emergence of early civilisations, and then goes on a tour of the continents. Each chapter has an initial survey followed by thematic sections on, for example, Neolithic pottery, writing, Athenian democracy, the Shang bronzes of China and the Muslim calendar. Books like this have their good and bad points and only the reader can decide whether this approach is one they like.