A Little History of the World

This is an astonishing book. As described it is intended for children but don't allow that to put you off. I am 33 and I loved every page. If you are a keen student of history this is probably not for you as the scale and scope of the text means that huge topics are covered in just a few pages. If on the other hand you want a broad overview of the known human history of the world this provides it. I am using the book to create a skeleton of topics that intend to investigate further with more detailed texts and the pace and meter of this book are spot on in my opinion.

Written for a child, it is a very simple but honest summary of events past. It stands the test of time well, and is a great book for younger readers or as a source for adults explaining historical events for a younger audience.This easily accessible overview achieves what most schooling seems incapable of doing: presenting events in context of their time and linking the major world events into a continuous narrative.Gombrich makes sense of history, and this volume would be an ideal gift for any younger person with an interest in the past and curious about modern cultural differences and antagonisms.

I bought this originally for my son in law who is going back to college for more qualifications as a mature student. He admitted there was yawning great gaps in his general knowledge especially history, so decided to try this. I thought it would also come in handy for my grandson when he was older.I was initially surprised that it was written primarily with young people/children in mind, and started to flick through and was hooked!The author successfully puts everything in context and I now have a far better understanding of time and our position within it; and past civilisations are no longer a muddled jumble of the past.I had not heard of the author before, and have researched more about him and the times he lived in. But hey, isn't this what gaining knowledge is all about?I initially thought that it would be a while before my grandson would like this, but we have read chapters together and it opens many questions and discussions, a learning curve for us both!Thoroughly recommend.

The style of writing is most definately "Marmite", you will either love it or loath it. It is like a story being read to you by your Grandfather, which is pleasant and a little patronizing at the same time. That said, the ease of reading means that you absorb information without having to work at all. Of course, this is a book designed for "small adults" rather than an Oxbridge Professor writing for his students. What I particularly liked is that a piece of information will just stop you in your tracks with an internal "well I never knew that" to yourself, even if you have read shelves of history books before (as I have). This is a particularly good introduction to history for those who have never encountered it before. I would have given it five stars but I LOATHE the Deckled Edge which just looks messy.

I read A Little History with my eleven year old daughter, taking it in turns at bed time. We've taken an effortless journey down the river of history, a metaphor Gombrich uses, and arrived at its mouth: a final chapter written possibly fifty years after the rest of the book in which he corrects some mistakes, reflects on events since the Great War, makes a plea for tolerance and expresses hope for the future. As I read it my voice wavered with the emotion Gombrich must have felt as he wrote, reinterpreting history he, an Austrian Jew, had lived through.British readers will be surprised at how little we feature in Gombrich's work, a European history with chapters on other civilizations, especially when they impact on European history. We were, as we are now, bit players in the great events on the continent.