Really helpful guidebook for teachers. The first half features a chronological listing of civilizations and their key details. Then it is followed by rankings, such as "10 largest buildings by total area: medieval" (number one: Angkor Wat). Finally there are maps, such as "Spread of human sacrifice, 5000 BCE to 1800 CE." This doesn't replace a textbook, but it can lend depth and visuals to a lesson, or suggest more places to look.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. As a training political scientist, I am often working with statistical data, and a lot of this information is based on historical patterns. Admittedly, this is not my strong suit. I requested this book because I know that I need to practice my skills in this area. Despite my weakness, I actually found this book to be quite accessible. It isn't just for statisticians or historians. Rather, it's a good and interesting read for a broader audience. The data visualization is also quite nice. I want to learn how to do some of this!

I wish the references for the stats had been included but overall I found this to be a chronologically comprehensive summary of the history of the world through its recorded societies

The history teacher in me loved this book! I learned quite a bit about many different cultures, including several I had never heard of before. I do wish that there had been more explanation of some of the terms, as statistics divorced from knowledge is meaningless. I appreciated that the categories being given were the same for each culture, as that makes it easier to compare and contrast them.

Fascinating and illuminating book. As a reader of "The Economist", I immediately recognized an approach familiar to their "Pocket World in Figures" - but while you probably can estimate the numbers for most of the current statistics, it can be mindblowing to be confronted with the data from a deep past.

It can be especially surprising for people educated in the West - this book masterly demolishes our Eurocentric views. For example in the listing of 10 most populous medieval cities not only there is none from Europe, but there are many which names it is possible that you have never heard. There are also delicious categories like "10 bloodiest human sacrifices in the entire preindustrial era" or "Adoption of state-run libraries by world region". I just wish I could have such a book as a student!

Thanks to the publisher, Perseus Books, PublicAffairs (The Economist), and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.