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cdbaker's review
5.0
I wasn't sure what I was going to think about this -- big history is often too broad for me. But it was great! I learned a ton.
leyaruth42's review
4.0
This was generally a good course. I learned some interesting facts about the rise of civilizations around the world. I think the professor got a few things wrong (human paleontology keeps changing so it's understandable these facts will become obsolete over time). I enjoyed the big history overview. This professor was great at keeping all parts of the world in perspective, instead of focusing on only certain regions. The modern history sections were brief and to the point (since most of us listening know these facts already). He got a bit political in the last two lectures, but that's understandable (it's his course). Overall a good course for anyone looking for a general course on the rise of human civilization.
gvenezia's review
3.0
Craig Benjamin's "big history" is an interdisciplinary overview of the history of human societies (as opposed to traditional histories which focus on influential individuals and events). If you're familiar with the evolutionary history of humans and world history, you probably won't find any new information here, but the framing of the historical facts provides a generative perspective. Benjamin focuses more on gender relations, cultural evolution, environmental sustainability, cultural/economic exchange, social complexity, and geography than on specific people or events.
The two most surprising takeaways for me were (1) how much cultural exchange of ideas occurred even before globalization and (2) how frequently climate change and geography shaped the course of human history (which then inspired me to read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, which Benjamin cites on numerous occasions. Diamond rounds out Benjamin's intimated argument that societal development has largely been a collective enterprise, which has continually adapted to extreme climates and drastic climate change.)
The two most surprising takeaways for me were (1) how much cultural exchange of ideas occurred even before globalization and (2) how frequently climate change and geography shaped the course of human history (which then inspired me to read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, which Benjamin cites on numerous occasions. Diamond rounds out Benjamin's intimated argument that societal development has largely been a collective enterprise, which has continually adapted to extreme climates and drastic climate change.)
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