(4.1 stars) So i quite enjoyed this book, but I’ve got to say, it is a book very much of its time. H.G. Wells wrote this book in the 1920s, and it shows. The earliest sections about the history of earth, dinosaurs, and prehistory has lots of footnotes about inaccuracies or updated information. Wells has no problem calling certain people primitive or barbarians, which comes off many times in the book as pretty racist. He also uses the narrative about Aryans and Semites constantly throughout, which now is pretty much thoroughly debunked as a way of looking at the world. But there was also kind of something fascinating about reading a history of the world from somebody in the past. I actually learned a lot from the corrective footnotes. I had never really known about the whole Aryan, Semite ideas, since they are nowadays so connected with nazis. But if you just allow yourself to think Aryans = people from india and iran, Semites = people from the middle east, then Wells description is quite a compelling, but oversimplistic description of early humanity that I found really interesting. Wells’ writing is so good throughout, this is definitely the most poetic nonfiction book I’ve read. I learned a lot about the foundings of religions, the middle ages, the holy roman empire and colonialism from this book. It went way too fast through certain events, like the punic wars, and then spent a ton of time talking about (and frankly lauding) the birth of christianity. The end of the book, talking about WWI was fascinating. Wells’ doesnt even bother trying to suss out why the war happens, hes basically just like, its Europe, it was bound to happen. He also predicts another war in the future. Overall I think this is a really great book, it does a really good job of summarizing the main themes and events of human history, as long as you are willing to put up with the occasional racist or oversimplified description. Wells’ writing is incredible, and it also encapsulates how people used to think about their history.

كدت في الثلث الأول أن أترك استكمال الكتاب وذلك لأنه كان عبارة عن جملة متهافتة من عبارات ربما وسنوات بآلاف الملايين يتم الحديث عنها جزافا بعبارات الشك الممتلئة بالثقة الغريبة وكذلك التعصب الشديد لنظرية النشوء
على اي حال فقد دلف الكاتب بعدها إلى عالم الواقع وبدأ يتكلم عن الأحداث وكلما اقترب من التاريخ الحديث كان متمكنا اكثر حتى وصل للحروب التي عاصرها فكتب بعاطفة صادقة جدا
يمتليء كثيرا بكراهية شديدة من سيطرة الكنيسة وافسادها للتاريخ الأوربي بل والعالمي
تكلم باحترام جم عن تاريخ المسلمين وتأثيرهم في اوربا
بالرغم من اختصار الكتاب إلا أنه كان يرى السنن التاريخية وتشابهها ويربطها ببعضها في احيان كثيرة

Много рядко оценявам книга с 5-ца. Това може би ми се случва за втори път. Но тази книга го заслужава, защото представя по един невероятно увлекателен начин човешката история-социологическа, политическа, икономическа, световна и научна.
Обхванати са всички периоди от развитието на човешката цивилизация и автора представя кратко, сбито всеки един от тях, обръщайки внимание на най-важните исторически събития, като неизпада в излишни подробности и смея да кажа е безспристрастен.
Четейки книгата отново си припомням защо толкова обичам историята и защо я изучавам от толкова години. Тази книга показва величието на човешката мисъл, величието на човешкия дух и способности. Промяната, която винаги ни съпътства, прехода от една към друга политическа система,от един към друг живот/епоха/ като резултата от волята и желаниета на човешкия дух и мечти. И стигайки докрая не мога да не се съглася безрезервно с тези думи на автора:
"Ние живеем с нашите мечти. Имаме и достатъчно сила, която расте с всеки изминал ден. Можем ли да се съмняваме, че нашата раса скоро ще надмине и най-смелите ни днешни мечти, че тя ще постигне единство и мир, че ще живее — децата от нашата плът и кръв ще живеят — в един свят по-бляскав и по-красив от дворците и градините, които са съществували някога, вървейки от триумф към триумф и разширявайки все повече кръга на своята дейност, стремежи и постижения? Онова, което човек е създал до днес, дребните тържества на човешкия дух досега и цялата тази история, която разказахме — това е само една прелюдия към всичко, което предстои тепърва да извършат хората."

HG Wells wrote a comprehensive history of the world and this is a condensed version published somewhat later. As such, it tends to skip over the details and give big picture sweeps of history and examples rather than exhaustive explanations. I found it interesting and informative with some wry asides and insights into the difference between the industrial revolution and the mechanical revolution that I had not fully appreciated from other world histories.

The most illuminating thing about this book however is it's ending, after providing extremely prescient views on Socialism which had been partially borne out in Russia by the time of writing, Wells looks to the future. After nearly 200 pages of blood and mayhem and the finest education Britain had to offer at the time, Wells foresees sunlit uplands of world peace and prosperity - hope triumphing over experience.

Professionally, I spend my life creating forecasts and watching them be confounded, I have gained significant insight from books such as Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction which show how bad we are at discerning what will come, it's interesting to see even the great thinker of science fiction be just as poor at seeing the future as any of us.

Broadbrush history of planet earth from it's inception up to the second world war. Much of the early stuff is probably out of date butmy knowledge of the subject is so poor I still came away enlightened.

التاريخ ! ان فهمت الماضى فسيرشدك الى حل الغاز الحاضر واستشعار المستقبل
ومن لا يقرأ التاريخ يبقى أبد الدهر طفلا صغيرا
موجز_تاريخ_العالم
المؤلف: هربرت جورج ويلز
إذا كنت ترغب أن تقرأ تاريخ العالم من أوله لآخره قراءة سريعة متتابعة كما لو كان إحدى الروايات فإليك هذا العمل..
هذا الكتاب المختصر جدا يعرض لك تاريخ العالم كله منذ بداية الك��ن إلي الحرب العالمية الثانية..
هذا الكتاب تجميع وتلخيص وتقصي للأحداث الذي وقعت من بداية الكون،فهو مفاتيح لأبواب كثيرة فى التاريخ ينبغي التعمق في قراته.
هذا الكتاب حافل بالمعلومات عن الحضارات قبل الميلاد وبعد الميلاد وعن التاريخ الإنساني كله وتحدث الكتاب عن الجانب الفكرى وتتطور الكتابة والعقل البشري على مدار التاريخ..

فهو كتاب أدبي أكثر من رائع يحكى أحداث التاريخ بسلاسة وطريقة أدبية رفيعة...
وهو يحاول في هذا الكتاب أن يبرز حقيقة هامة وهي أن الحضارة ليست حكراً على أمة واحدة أو منطقة بعينها.

#مميزات الكتاب
طريقة السرد المبدعة وتقسيم الفصول الرائع والأسلوب الأدبي الأكثر شبها بالقصص او الروايات مما يجعلك كانك تقرأ عمل أدبي متسلسل ومترابط بعضه ببعض فى التاريخ

#ما يعيب هذا العمل في نظري:
فقد الحيادية الكاملة،وكتابة وجهة نظر المؤلف في التاريخ من جانب أوربي محض،وهذا يتضح فى كلام عن الاستعمار الأوربي بأنه فتوحات وتنوير واستكشافات وفتوحات هادفة،ولم يتعرض بالحديث عن نهب الموارد والافعال اللاخلاقية التى حدثت إلا نادرا جدا.
كما انه اغفل الكلام على دور الأندلس والدولة الإسلامية في نهوض الحضارات الغربية.

الحضارة ليست حكرا على امة من الامم بل تضافرت جهود كل البشرية في بنائها وتطويرها. اما تاريخ الانسان فهو مليء بالحروب والعنف كأن الصراع امر
حتمي لا بد منه وتدافع البشر سنة كونية والاحفاد يكملون ما بدأه الاجداد فقط وحياتك على هذه الارض جد قصيرة تلعب فيها الدور الذي يجب عليك ان تلعبه ثم ترحل اما تاريخك فقد بدأ منذ ظهور اول انسان على الارض والاثر الذي ستتركه سيستمر الى نهاية التاريخ

Since this work was written in 1922, naturally, it’s outdated. However, it’s not the reason for my displeasure from this short history. Wells starts by covering the possible origins of our world to the classical world up to World War I. He does this by devoting 2-3 pages to each event, which he deems important enough. But 2-3 pages are not nearly enough to cover sufficiently, well, pretty much anything. Reading about ancient Greece, for example, you will learn that Plato founded the Academy in Athens and that Aristotle was his student, and on a side note that Aristotle was to become a tutor of Alexander the Great. After I finished reading this work, I felt I did learn a few new things, but only in a very shallow manner without any (even the slightest) deeper understanding. On a more positive note, it’s well written and fairly enjoyable to read.

A história da humanidade, vista pelo olhar de H.G. Wells. De forma resumida, como livro de divulgação popular e educação de massas. Não é um livro isento e factual, Wells olha para a evolução da humanidade com um misto de facto histórico e visão ideológica, a da necessidade de progresso e amargura quando as voltas do mundo parecem ter interrompido esse progressismo social e científico. Como não poderia deixar de ser, tem algumas marcas de época que hoje nos deixariam incomodados (pelo menos, se não soubermos abstrair e recordar que as pessoas do passado não tinham de partilhar da mesma forma de ver o mundo que nós, tal não faria qualquer sentido), como uma certa propensão para observações sobre cores de pele, ou uma óbvia paixão por uma sensação de superioridade britânica. Traços que são equilibrados por fortes defesas de um cristianismo puro, longe de dogmas cerimoniais, da visão de um socialismo progressista, e claro, sendo um livro de Wells, de uma visão sóbria mas otimista do poder da ciência e tecnologia em elevar a humanidade - ou seja, o lado factual daquilo que representam os grandes temas da ficção científica que nos legou.

Originalmente escrito em 1938, nesta edição de 1941 que tive a sorte de encontrar Wells inclui um capítulo sobre a II Guerra, um capítulo sombrio, escrito nos tempos em que o fascismo parecia triunfante e o destino inglês pouco animador. Um livro interessante, hoje factualmente ultrapassado mas não desatualizado em termos estruturais, que representa uma faceta socialmente mais interventiva do clássico autor inglês.

This is a wonderful outline of history and prehistory for the lapsed student. Obviously it cannot be exhaustive, but it is at least sufficient to create a frame of reference for further reading. So much the better that it's a compelling little volume, too.

Wells opens with an overview of the geological record and its relationship to what was known of evolution in the 1920s before proceeding up through a history of ancient civilizations and finally to his time's own contemporary events following the end of the Great War. As usual, Penguin's footnotes are helpful, but in most cases the noted corrections are minor.

Modern readers may struggle in critically appraising Wells's perspective. On one hand, the text takes a strikingly progressive tone on many subjects, while on the other a full century of history has elapsed since the "Short History's" publication. For example, heavy praise is lavished on rational modes of philosophy that have more recently fallen out of style as first order concerns in some quarters today. Another point of concern may be that relatively little time is spent on China, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the indigenous civilizations of the Americas and the Pacific. Wells indicates that, in his time, much is yet to be learned of Chinese history, but tells almost nothing of Africa outside of its major northern civilizations, and writes off American and Pacific indigenous peoples as too isolated for the scope of his outline.

Japan is treated similarly until the closing chapters related to colonialism and the international armament preceding the Great War. Readers must conclude that Wells is focused, in this small outline, on illustrating the broad trends of prehistory and history that have brought global civilization to its present state, leaving all other concerns aside.

Readers like myself who are opening a longer foray into studying history would do well to start here.

Universally, I think this would be a widely appreciated book for anyone interested in history. It is concise and informative, and does not get the reader too bored or confused like many other history books.

Given this was written in the 20’s, there are some opinions and biases that may not be popular in today’s world. In spite of that, HG wells covers all the important history points from a western perspective, and it is a great starter guide if you want to find what area of history you are further interested in.

Very nicely written but 3 stars due to some shortcomings:
1. Too many names and years, which makes it less fluent to read specially in the medieval period chapters.
2. A bit outdated (as it was written in 1920)
3. Illustrations are misplaced and sometimes irrelevant with the topics covered.