It’s a pretty impressive challenge to talk about absolutely everything in just six and a half hours, but world history author Christopher Lloyd gives it an impressive shot as he narrates his own audiobook covering 14 billion years of history. He even has time at the end to look into the future.
Absolutely Everything! is a fast-paced snapshot that begins before the Big Bang and takes us up to the modern-day #BlackLivesMatter movement. Lloyd is articulate, funny, interesting and highly knowledgeable, it seems, on almost any subject you could care to know about.
Telling the history of the world in mostly chronological order, Lloyd covers all things scientific, natural and man-made including evolution, religion, our industrial and other revolutions, wars, animal life and societal matters. While he doesn’t stay long on any one subject, some discoveries do deservedly take up longer. Regardless of how much time he dedicates to a given topic, the listener always leaves it more aware than before and with a delightful sense of curiosity to do one’s own research.
The book and audiobook are promoted for ages seven and above, but any adult would be hard-pressed not to revel in Lloyd’s wonderful narration of facts, figures and cheeky asides. He’s a gold-class storyteller, not to be confused with the American actor of the same name who starred in Back to the Future!
As an advocate for connected learning, UK historian Lloyd tells large narratives to connect the present with the past. His previous book, What on Earth Happened: The Complete Story of the Planet, has been translated into 15 languages and serialised for Japanese television.
Absolutely Everything! is an absolute gem of book. Its educational value can’t be underestimated, and nor can its entertainment value. If ever a book offered a wow factor, this is it.

*Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.*

In regards to the text: Fascinating! I love facts and general information, and this book kept me learning new things at every turn, and I enjoyed the conversational writing style. It was much like I had been discussing things with a friend, both of us talking about something we were passionate about, except this book encompassed many, many different topics.

In regards to the narration: Well, here's the thing. I have a bit of a hearing problem. It's not generally noticeable, even to myself, but between the ambient noise of the car and the narrator's low-pitched voice, I could tell this would be an issue. The biggest problem, though, was that the author had the somewhat infuriating habit of getting VERY EXCITED AND LOUD at the beginning of a sentence, and then finishing it off in a *whisper,* as though to underline how important something was. This is frustratingly common with audiobooks, but this was an extreme case, and I missed a good half of what he said because he kept lowering his voice so much. Because he was so loud at other parts, I couldn't just turn it up, because then it was VERY LOUD. I wish there was a way I could modify this, because the information itself was right up my alley, but I couldn't finish it because, quite frankly, I couldn't understand it.

This was an interesting book, narrated by the author.
The book has a lot of information about everything from the start of the universe until the present day. He brings the information with a lot of enthusiasm and makes it a fun experience.
It brings back memories from history lessons at school but also adds new insights into why certain things happened and he isn't afraid to say so if things are unknown. And he made connections between topics that I hadn't realised (or forgotten).

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Title: Absolutely Everything!
Writer and Narrator: Christopher Lloyd
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 5/5 stars

Actually I don't have words to describe the awesomeness of this work. Christopher Lloyd is a master storyteller and it is quite evident from the way he has written and narrated this work keeping in mind the child readers as well as adults. I am planning to add this audiobook in the library of our school. We have a few learners who suffers from visual impairment. I believe this audiobook will be a great help for student to learn more and for teachers to provide quality education.

I highly recommend this audiobook and give it full 5 stars.

Happy Listening

I enjoy books that are full of a variety of information. This is a great one. It is perfect for all ages. I can't express enough how much I loved this book!

This is a great audio book to learn about some historic events I didn’t learn about or forgot about. The narration was wonderful. It totally made this book entertaining and interesting. Buy this audio for your kid, grandkid, yourself.

This is a wonderful book full of interesting things! Students will enjoy the audiobook or the paper book, and should have many interesting tidbits to share with family and friends.

My son and my pupils loved this audio book. It was fun, informative and held their interests brilliantly. I’d highly recommend this audiobook.

Learned some things I didn’t know, what made this more interesting is the narrator Christopher Lloyd....

I’ll be honest. When I scrolled passed this one, I thought the author was the Christopher Lloyd of Taxi and Back to the Future fame. It was not. However, this was still a fun listen. Excellent overview of the world since its beginning for kids. A pretty monumental feat, if you ask me.

I only had one or two issues with a few of the minor details, but overall, I am impressed at the breadth of knowledge this book covers. The narration was excellent. It kept me engaged the entire way, and I think it’d be an excellent choice for family listening on a road trip. It’s not super long, either, and is clearly broken up into sections, which make great stopping points for digesting information.

The audiobook is out now, so if you’re looking to supplement kids’ schoolwork and lessons with something fun and educational, check it out.

Not Everything, But Lots!

Audiobook Review:
While this book may not contain information about “absolutely everything,” it does cover a lot from The Big Bang to the modern day. The book is written chronologically with a few lateral moves as we get to the time of human civilization, allowing the author to explore what is going on at the same time on different parts of the globe. What I liked is that the author didn't present the information as set in stone. Where science has not arrived at one conclusion, the author states that we do not know precisely what or why or that there are differing opinions. Books like this when I was a kid were certainly more black and white, so I appreciated the intellectual honesty. The author looks at subjects broadly most of the time while also diving deeper on occasion into a particular aspect, situation, or person. I appreciated both these macro- and micro-level looks at the topics. For my American compatriots, any measures in the book are given in metric, so it helps to know conversions to know the size or distance of things discussed. Keep your browser open if such is not your forte!

I did receive this as an audiobook review copy. The author himself narrates, and he does a great job. You can hear his enthusiasm for the book's topics. Having only the audiobook to go by, I found myself curious about what the physical book would be like, so I checked it out at Amazon. The physical book looks fantastic with lots of colorful drawings to illustrate key points or show specifics. I'm such a visual person that I would have preferred to get this as a physical book rather than an audiobook had it been offered as such. It certainly works as an audiobook, but you will miss the excellent visual detail in the physical book. As this book covers so much from Earth's prehistory through the rise of human civilization to today in such a fascinating, join-in-the-fun way, I highly recommend either version if such a broad scope of information interests you.

Absolutely Everything by Christopher Lloyd, 352 pages. NON-FICTION. What On Earth Publishing, 2018. $22.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE, HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
What happened to the dinosaurs? Why is rice more common in Asia than in America? Who invented paper? How was the earth formed? All these answers and more are contained in this book as Lloyd takes readers through history -- from before the earth began until today when you are reading this summary.
Reading this book feels more like a conversation with someone who rambles about a bunch of interesting things rather than a textbook trying to teach you facts. Lloyd goes on relevant tangents as he tells the history of the world as we know it and answers more “why” questions than I would have thought possible in one book, though, unfortunately, he really can’t get to absolutely everything. I am disappointed that Lloyd focuses on the Western world, leaving out the answers for all my questions about the Eastern world, but I enjoyed what he was able to include. Note: I listened to the audiobook, and Lloyd’s British accent definitely makes the book more fun, though it means I missed out on looking at all the illustrations that add more context for readers.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

In Absolutely Everything! A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots, and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention, Christopher Lloyd has provided a wonderful collection that gives insight into historical, societal, and cultural events spanning from the creation of the world through today. Of course with such a broad scope of study, not everything is presented in great detail, but overall this is a great tool for teachers/homeschooling parents and curious children.

The audiobook added a level of fun to learning that I have to admit I wasn’t expecting. I knew the book would contain interesting information but the narration was fantastic and added greatly to the reading/listening experience. I think that this particular audiobook would be best paired with the print version of Absolutely Everything!, as it sounds like based on other reviews that there are illustrations that would be beneficial to see along with the facts and information.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the audiobook copy in exchange for review.

I'm not sure how the author managed to pack so much into a single book! Admittedly some of the concepts and events are told with very little detail, but since the book has such a wide scope, this is to be expected. I will say that, for the most part, the author does a good job explaining complex ideas and events quickly and clearly.

The audiobook is narrated by the author. I appreciated his enthusiasm while describing all the interesting facts and histories included in the book.

I received a free audio recording of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention is written and narrated by Christopher Lloyd. Buckle up for an extraordinary ride through the 14-billion year history of absolutely everything! This remarkable story (which is far more amazing than anything you can make up) sweeps through natural history with the creation of planet Earth, the beginning of life, the age of dinosaurs, mass extinctions, and the rise of prehistoric humans. The story then leaps through the ancient civilizations and into medieval times, where wars, revolutions, and scientific inventions reshape the world. Finally, we arrive in the modern age which brings with it new challenges of pollution, climate change, viral pandemics, and much more. How will a world of 8 billion humans survive in the future?

Absolutely Everything! is fast paced and a fascinating overview of the history and science of our world. LLoyd's narration is very well done. I love audiobooks read by the author, because their excitement about the subject matter often shines through, and that is certainly true in this case. It does not hurt that he just has a wonderful voice, and I think I could listen to Llyod narrate just about anything quite happily. I found myself stopping the other tasks I was attempting to do while listening, like cleaning or cooking dinner, to give the audio my full attention. It was just such a well done explanation of interesting information- some of which I knew, but most went well beyond what I already understood- and then connected those smaller topics together for a bigger picture. I was very happy that the chapters were split up the way they were, because that allowed me to investigate and read further on some of the shared information before moving on to the next part. Perfect for car rides, or for inclusion in distance learning or home schooling to help understand the way the world itself was shaped, and the effect we and he rest of the living creatures of the world have on it.

Absolutely Everything! is a wonderful book for all ages. It gives a nice broad understanding of the world and Lloyd's narration is engaging and animated.

This was not the audiobook for me. I could only listen to about 20 minutes and not the rest of the hours on audio.

Wow! I can't express enough how much I loved this book! I received an audio copy through NetGalley and my family and I all listened to it together. While I believe it is technically a book for youth, it is 100% a book that everyone should read. It is a concise history of absolutely everything, and zooming back through time it is very interesting to see how much Earth has changed, and how it is very much the same after so many thousands of years. Author, Christopher Lloyd (no, not THAT Christopher Lloyd), includes a lot of material in this compendium, chock full of intriguing stories on how the earth came to be, the history of wars, climates, animals, cultures, inventions, and so much more. You name it, this book has ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

Factual and interesting, without overloading the listener with information. I really appreciate the authors ability to explain difficult concepts and complicated history in a way accessible to children. As the book is long (it really does cover everything) I would recommend this for older children and preteens.

This book is amazing! It is packed with very well done research. This book is full of absolutely everything, it is a dizzying amount of information. Great information and Christopher Lloyd's narration was perfect. I think it would be good to have the physical book and the audio book at the same time. It would be nice to mark the amazing information in the book to reference back to it. Listening to Christopher Lloyd read the book with his English accent hypnotic.

Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention, by Christopher Lloyd, narrated by Christopher Lloyd, illustrations by Andy Forshaw

Initial impressions. (First couple chapters) Christopher Lloyd has so much excitement and passion when providing the information and narrating this book. It is perfect for all ages! I'm in my mid 50's and loving this book, learning about … well Absolutely Everything!

Concluding impression. Christopher Lloyd crams more history into less than 7 hours than you can possibly fathom; and the audio is filled with such enthusiasm! I liked the way the author always kept time in perspective in particular and he did so in several ways. In relating the history of the world to a 24 hour clock and also what one dynasty (in China for example) and then jumping over to also discuss what another group (the Incans/Mayans) were doing at the same time.

During this time of covid-19 and more people are probably home-schooling than ever before; if I had middle school age children (and were home schooling them) I would have them read 20 pages (or so) of this book and then have them take ONE SENTENCE and have them write a paper on the sentence of their choice. If a student can't something that they might want to research further, with as much information in this book, there is something wrong.

This book goes from the creation of earth through to Black Lives Matter. It is really pretty amazing.

This audiobook was courtesy of NetGalley Advance Read Copy; thank you to the author/Christopher Lloyd and NetGalley!