Scan barcode
ancequay's review against another edition
2.0
This wasn't nearly as interesting as I hoped it would be (or I think it could have been). Part of it is that it's just a massive book, and since it's organized chronologically you start off reading about a lot of similarly ancient artifacts for which we have very little back story. I should have given myself permission to skip around earlier.
I was also kind of bothered by the provenance of many of the items. Quite a few of the descriptions mentioned in passing that the country of origin wanted the item back, but there was never much discussion of whether they ought to be in Britain. (I know that wasn't within the scope of the book, but it still made me uncomfortable.)
Finally, there was a lot of attribution of thoughts and emotions to people that were clearly pulled out of the author's ass. For example, "For most western Europeans it was the first time they had ever been able to look closely at Greek sculpture, and they were overwhelmed and inspired by the vitality and and the beauty of these works." Bullshit. These sorts of over-the-top statements really detracted from the actual historical significance in my opinion.
There were still enjoyable portions, and I learned a lot of interesting things. The photography was great, and some of the items were really really cool. I think thirty items with a little less eye to evenly distributing them in time and geography would have been much better from a reading enjoyment perspective.
I was also kind of bothered by the provenance of many of the items. Quite a few of the descriptions mentioned in passing that the country of origin wanted the item back, but there was never much discussion of whether they ought to be in Britain. (I know that wasn't within the scope of the book, but it still made me uncomfortable.)
Finally, there was a lot of attribution of thoughts and emotions to people that were clearly pulled out of the author's ass. For example, "For most western Europeans it was the first time they had ever been able to look closely at Greek sculpture, and they were overwhelmed and inspired by the vitality and and the beauty of these works." Bullshit. These sorts of over-the-top statements really detracted from the actual historical significance in my opinion.
There were still enjoyable portions, and I learned a lot of interesting things. The photography was great, and some of the items were really really cool. I think thirty items with a little less eye to evenly distributing them in time and geography would have been much better from a reading enjoyment perspective.
marite's review against another edition
3.0
I paperbackutgaven er alle de hundre gjenstandene gjengitt lite og "grumsete" svart/hvitt format. Enkelte ting er presentert i større format og i farger i en seksjon midt i boka, men dette at man ikke får sett ordentlig hvordan alle gjenstandene ser ut, trekker kraftig ned. Teksten er det lite å utsette på, den er interessant og lærerik, og ikke minst en morsom og original måte å presentere verdenshistorie på.
jumbleread's review against another edition
4.0
Fun to pick up and read a bit and then put the book down and think about what it was to live back in that day. The photographs give a sense of the beautiful and symbolic pieces of humanity.
vanessakm's review against another edition
5.0
This is a collection of the transcripts of all 100 episodes of the excellent BBC 4 series of the same name hosted by Neil MacGregor, the Director of the British Museum. I can't give it less than 5 stars because the content is so good-although it really is enlivened by MacGregor's presentation.
The concept was simple-take 100 objects from the Museum's collection ranging from some stone tools that are nearly 2 million years old (yeah, we're getting Homo habilis up in here) found in present-day Tanzania to a solar-powered lamp made in China in 2010. MacGregor describes the objects but he also places them in context and makes them relatable and current: a gold coin from Turkey leads to a discussion of standarized weights and how leaders declare their legitimacy by appearing on currency, the defeat of the Vikings in Britain is brought up with some buried artifacts found by metal detecting hobbyists in York, society's changing views on sexuality as explored through a Roman drinking vessel with homosexual tableaux carved on it, the high price of pepper and spices in the Roman Empire is discussed while describing a gold figurine that is also a pepper shaker (and also found buried in the UK-I'm starting to see why so many people there have metal detectors.)
The book has multiple pictures of the objects and a map of where they were found. One of the British Museum's most famous artifacts, the Rosetta Stone, also is featured. MacGregor had stated that he intended to talk about world history, not the history of other cultures only when they intersected with Europeans so fittingly the objects span the globe, time and cultures. I loved the series so I'm glad to have this written record of it. It additionally gave me a new and vivid appreciation for the Paleolithic artifacts that I used to scurry by in museums en route to flashier exhibits.
(the series is still available online and in iTunes. The BBC's website also has lots of extra content, including videos of the objects that allow you to see them in a 360 view, so you should go check that out.)
The concept was simple-take 100 objects from the Museum's collection ranging from some stone tools that are nearly 2 million years old (yeah, we're getting Homo habilis up in here) found in present-day Tanzania to a solar-powered lamp made in China in 2010. MacGregor describes the objects but he also places them in context and makes them relatable and current: a gold coin from Turkey leads to a discussion of standarized weights and how leaders declare their legitimacy by appearing on currency, the defeat of the Vikings in Britain is brought up with some buried artifacts found by metal detecting hobbyists in York, society's changing views on sexuality as explored through a Roman drinking vessel with homosexual tableaux carved on it, the high price of pepper and spices in the Roman Empire is discussed while describing a gold figurine that is also a pepper shaker (and also found buried in the UK-I'm starting to see why so many people there have metal detectors.)
The book has multiple pictures of the objects and a map of where they were found. One of the British Museum's most famous artifacts, the Rosetta Stone, also is featured. MacGregor had stated that he intended to talk about world history, not the history of other cultures only when they intersected with Europeans so fittingly the objects span the globe, time and cultures. I loved the series so I'm glad to have this written record of it. It additionally gave me a new and vivid appreciation for the Paleolithic artifacts that I used to scurry by in museums en route to flashier exhibits.
(the series is still available online and in iTunes. The BBC's website also has lots of extra content, including videos of the objects that allow you to see them in a 360 view, so you should go check that out.)
rachelleahdorn's review against another edition
5.0
Really excellent! It took me a year (um, literally) to read, but there’s so much good info. The essays on each item are brief and accessible. I’d like to look into using some for my art history class as examples of how to write about artworks (objects).