bartendm 's review for:

Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek

4.0

---

I listened to this as an audiobook so I could digest it in little bits. The author did his best to make it interesting to a modern reader and draw parallels to the current times. Some of that seemed like it may have been a little bit of a stretch, but it was really interesting to hear about the current views on the start of civilization in the Fertile Crescent. I didn't expect to learn so much about the Sumerians and Mesopotamians who preceded the Babylonians, but the story would not have been complete without understanding all of them. I've always been fascinated with cuniform writing and cylinder seals it was great to learn about it's development and use, as well as some of the parts of their civilizations that had similarities with ours, including in commerce. People are so much the same, even 3-5000 years ago. This added a nice dimension to my understanding of history and I like that he also made connections with the intersecting history in the Bible as well.