An interesting book for history lovers, but a little dry in sections. It probably has the right level of depth for people who are interested but not history buffs. It would have been great to see how it would actually present as a PDF because it didn't format well on my computer and it was difficult to imagine how it would fit together.

This was an interesting book but it felt quite shallow and could have been much bigger. The first 50% covered from the beginning of time up to 15th Century and this portion could have been an entirely separate book. This was not a bad book by any means but it could have been a much deeper and more explored than it is.
This is a good overview but does not have a direct focus.

Jeremy Black packs a lot of information in this book and it can be a little slow to read. This is still a good book for history lovers.

A good confused history of the world,specifically human history. From prehistory to today. Good for any beginning history fan

I must preface this review by saying that I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley.

Jeremy Black is one of the more impressive historians on this planet. A diplomatic historian by training, he nevertheless has written on an impressive range of topics. As a personal anecdote, a professor in grad school referred to Black as “a machine”. Generally, his work is top notch. This work, however, is lacking. A History of the World: From Prehistory to the 21st Century is a work in search of a purpose.

Humans show their capacity to adapt to their environment through competition and ever-increasing complexity of society. It’s an obvious statement, and it the gist of Black’s argument in the book. At the close of his introduction, he invites the reader to think about the book. Agree or disagree, combine the words on the page with your own experiences and formulate your own response. It’s very much an address to the young student.

This is presumably a world history textbook. The publisher, Arcturus Publishing, lists it under children’s books. This fits with the format of the book: short, simple chapters and lots of illustration. Unfortunately, I have supreme doubts about its utility as a world history text at all.

We start with human evolution and the beginning of society. Then we move on to Bronze Age civilization, after which we essentially abandon the idea of this book being a world history. Aside from brief pre-imperial forays into Asia, Africa, and the Americas, the seat of the story is Europe. On one hand, there is no reason you can’t prove an adaptation thesis focusing on Europe. On the other hand, this is a world history. Once Rome enters the picture, Black makes the reader think that hardly anything else of note occurred anywhere but Europe or the United States. That may make a British child feel good, but it puts forward a factually incorrect and philosophically troubling implication. Black does, however, stay on his thesis and continually comes back to it, which is refreshing in a book intended for children.

Physically, the ebook itself is a mixed bag. The review copy I received is well illustrated and displays correctly on multiple devices. However, I found a number of spelling errors. And not the common “using the wrong word” mistakes which spell check cannot detect, which are becoming understandable given the realities of modern publishing, but words misspelled entirely, or runtogetherlikethis. One could imagine a child who might not be the best reader having issues.

Altogether this book is disappointing. Black is a tremendous historian, one who we studied in military history courses in grad school. But this reviewer sees it as a book lacking a clear reason to exist. It is not a world history, could be a passable set of case studies of societal adaptation. I appreciate Black treating the reader as a person who can follow an argument, but I find it strange that he approaches world history almost exclusively as European. In the end, I cannot recommend this book.

Read like a textbook. I was hoping for more engagement and maybe some humor. The illustrations helped, but it was not what I expected.

The author managed to get a lot of information into this book without it becoming overbearing or boring. I learned a lot while reading this.