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adperfectamconsilium 's review for:
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
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.