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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
YEAH, I might've marked this as read because I scrolled to the bottom of the Kindle ebook and skipped half of it. But ... I only did it because I stopped reading at where I think this book should have ended. I really enjoyed the first half and learned so much. However, once the history reaches the point of European colonialism, I think Frankopan loses it. He himself says that the Silk Roads has fallen to make way for sea routes. I would've preferred a larger expansion of earlier history. I really don't see how he can argue for Persia and the Middle East being the center of the world after Europe invades Asia and the "New" World. It is an overwhelming book to read as it covers SO much. The scope should have been narrowed and the timeline shortened. boo. how does this have 4 stars? I couldn't bring myself to give 3 stars for the first half that I did read.
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This is one of the best history books I've ever read. It's written in a style that is easy to follow and intersperses the global events with smaller stories of people and places showing how everything is connected.
It covers the time period from antiquity up to about ten years ago and centres on how the growth of The Silk Roads, the famous trade routes, saw not just the movement of goods and commodities but of people, beliefs & ideas.
While very understandable it's also packed with information so a slow read suits the book well and it's definitely one to keep for future reading and reference.
What I really liked was how it looked at world events from a completely different perspective and made me realise how the history I learnt at school was very narrow in its Western viewpoint.
It also highlighted the mistakes of humanity throughout the ages. The greed and lust for power and resources continues into the present day. The potential for humanity is so great but are we doomed to repeat the same cycles of violence and loss again and again?
It's not all bad news though. There's a lot of positivity throughout with worldwide achievements and hope for a brighter future.
The danger of this book is that it's making my tbr grow at an alarming rate as I now want to find out more about so many time periods and parts of the world.
An extraordinary achievement of a book.
Recommended.
It covers the time period from antiquity up to about ten years ago and centres on how the growth of The Silk Roads, the famous trade routes, saw not just the movement of goods and commodities but of people, beliefs & ideas.
While very understandable it's also packed with information so a slow read suits the book well and it's definitely one to keep for future reading and reference.
What I really liked was how it looked at world events from a completely different perspective and made me realise how the history I learnt at school was very narrow in its Western viewpoint.
It also highlighted the mistakes of humanity throughout the ages. The greed and lust for power and resources continues into the present day. The potential for humanity is so great but are we doomed to repeat the same cycles of violence and loss again and again?
It's not all bad news though. There's a lot of positivity throughout with worldwide achievements and hope for a brighter future.
The danger of this book is that it's making my tbr grow at an alarming rate as I now want to find out more about so many time periods and parts of the world.
An extraordinary achievement of a book.
Recommended.
One of those books you wished you could have been exposed to much earlier and so could've been slightly more erudite a bit more earlier :)
The book presents much of our history (rise & fall of kingdoms and empires, development of new political and philosophical thoughts) in relation to the major economic highways - starting with the Silk Roads... the Slave Roads! , the Faith Roads, the diseases roads and other that influenced our history .
The book presents much of our history (rise & fall of kingdoms and empires, development of new political and philosophical thoughts) in relation to the major economic highways - starting with the Silk Roads... the Slave Roads! , the Faith Roads, the diseases roads and other that influenced our history .
This book is slightly different from what one, or at least I, would assume from its title and description. I initially considered it an account of various tribes, kingdoms, trades and developments which must have happened along the Silk Route.
But to clarity, I realised by the end that this is more of how the developments in Asia affected the Western world from a western perspective. So, while in first quarter, you do have really interesting history of Asia, especially change of reigns in Persia and Central Asia, and rise of Islam etc, the latter 3 quarters focus highly on the European Renaissance, WWs, discovery of Americas, middle East oil problems and how Asia/Russia impacted Western decisions.
Therefore you don't get Asian history per se, but just the known Western history influenced by Asia.
This is not a bad perspective, but not what I had hoped. Overall, a good read though.
But to clarity, I realised by the end that this is more of how the developments in Asia affected the Western world from a western perspective. So, while in first quarter, you do have really interesting history of Asia, especially change of reigns in Persia and Central Asia, and rise of Islam etc, the latter 3 quarters focus highly on the European Renaissance, WWs, discovery of Americas, middle East oil problems and how Asia/Russia impacted Western decisions.
Therefore you don't get Asian history per se, but just the known Western history influenced by Asia.
This is not a bad perspective, but not what I had hoped. Overall, a good read though.
I've heard many good things about Peter Frankopan's The Silk Roads: A New History of the World so it was interesting to properly get the chance to finally read it. I don't read much non-fiction except for when I'm studying, and now that I'm no longer a student it was interesting to read this and not take notes every other few page. What we got from Frankopan here is actually a really fascinating experience, as he offers what the title heading for the book calls "A New History of the World", giving an overview of key events in history, dictating the rise and fall of multiple empires, to the spread of various religions, right up to the modern era. It feels like too much content to put into one book and to go into any real depth, but Frankopan not only finds a way to do that, but also to make it readable and not boring.
That's the biggest problem that I had with most of the non-fiction books that I was reading as research for my dissertation, they struggled to hold my interest and were it not for the assignment I almost certainly wouldn't have bothered at all. But Frankopan's well-developed, largely unbiased take on world history offers it from an interesting perspective that's not often covered, exploring well-trodden ideas in a fairly new and interesting light, going into just the right amount of depth to flesh them out but also not overdoing them. When you consider how well respected Frankopan is as well as historian, it certainly serves to add credibility to his work, and the balance between an entertaining narrative and plenty of historical research is handled nicely.
This is a must read novel for anyone who reads non-fiction. I can't recommend it enough.
That's the biggest problem that I had with most of the non-fiction books that I was reading as research for my dissertation, they struggled to hold my interest and were it not for the assignment I almost certainly wouldn't have bothered at all. But Frankopan's well-developed, largely unbiased take on world history offers it from an interesting perspective that's not often covered, exploring well-trodden ideas in a fairly new and interesting light, going into just the right amount of depth to flesh them out but also not overdoing them. When you consider how well respected Frankopan is as well as historian, it certainly serves to add credibility to his work, and the balance between an entertaining narrative and plenty of historical research is handled nicely.
This is a must read novel for anyone who reads non-fiction. I can't recommend it enough.
So I picked this one up on Audible by chance because I found myself in the mood for a historical non-fiction (this doesn't often happen as usually I prefer fantasy reading, but when it does I like to make the most of it and dive into a big one). I am very glad that I did pick this up, because it's focus on the East is fascinating and I learned a lot more about the Silk Roads and the trading routes and importance of the East that I wasn't at all aware of from my own reading. It seems that Western teaching is very focused on Western war-winning, and I feel that there's a whole side of history I had barely scratched upon before this book.
What I liked about this was the easy way it was written. It's hard, with history, to find a book that is entertaining but tells the facts, and I think the author got the balance right with this one. I really enjoyed the way that we moved through history steadily, and although the author doesn't often interject with his own ideas, he does mention that there are many areas we just aren't being taught in the West, and I think that's a loss for us.
I personally find I like ancient history a lot more than I like modern history (e.g. world wars etc.) and so I found the first 60% of this book really strong and exciting. I loved seeing the items most valuable in the East and the way different Empires were built and crumbled. Personally, the finery and extravagance that was traded back in ancient times is quite astounding and I think it's all the more enticing for these treasures being so rare today.
Unfortunately, because of my own preferences the World war and the war in Iraq which is mentioned a fair bit in the latter half of the book was less appealing. I didn't find I took as much away from this section, because much of it I already had some knowledge of or I was just not that interested in. It was good to learn about the fossil fuel distribution and the way the West has exploited the East here, but other than that I found that there were some bits I was bored by.
Overall, this was a solidly good book with a lot of information crammed in. I found a lot to learn and even more to investigate further because this is just the beginning of finding out more and I for sure want to do that. 3.5*s from me.
What I liked about this was the easy way it was written. It's hard, with history, to find a book that is entertaining but tells the facts, and I think the author got the balance right with this one. I really enjoyed the way that we moved through history steadily, and although the author doesn't often interject with his own ideas, he does mention that there are many areas we just aren't being taught in the West, and I think that's a loss for us.
I personally find I like ancient history a lot more than I like modern history (e.g. world wars etc.) and so I found the first 60% of this book really strong and exciting. I loved seeing the items most valuable in the East and the way different Empires were built and crumbled. Personally, the finery and extravagance that was traded back in ancient times is quite astounding and I think it's all the more enticing for these treasures being so rare today.
Unfortunately, because of my own preferences the World war and the war in Iraq which is mentioned a fair bit in the latter half of the book was less appealing. I didn't find I took as much away from this section, because much of it I already had some knowledge of or I was just not that interested in. It was good to learn about the fossil fuel distribution and the way the West has exploited the East here, but other than that I found that there were some bits I was bored by.
Overall, this was a solidly good book with a lot of information crammed in. I found a lot to learn and even more to investigate further because this is just the beginning of finding out more and I for sure want to do that. 3.5*s from me.
Eye opening and definitely worth a read. This book is about so much more than the silk roads as we generally think about them, and will go a long way toward reframing the way you think of the world today.
An astonishing achievement. This book has been on my to read list for several years and I wish I had read it sooner. Opened my eyes to a sweep of history I was unfamiliar with, gave depths to some other parts and shamefully highlighted how narrow ‘our’ view of history has become in Britain and Western Europe/America. Using the concept of the Silk Road worked really well until the post-WW2 section when this felt forced and unconvincing. American and British foreign policy covered at this time almost felt like a separate book and didn’t quite hang together as well as some of the earlier narrative.
That said, the depth and scholarship of this work is breathtaking and I will now be gifting this book to anyone I can as well as looking at the follow up volume.
That said, the depth and scholarship of this work is breathtaking and I will now be gifting this book to anyone I can as well as looking at the follow up volume.
Well written and easy to read. The Silk Roads provides a reading of history based on concentration and movement of wealth and how they attract and generate power. The book is well argued and well sourced, but its geographical focus may leave the reader wanting for an application of its ideas on other areas, of history or the world.