World history in a can
I bought "A brief history of the human race", from Michael Cook, a week ago in the compass bookstore at the SFO airport. Quite good, especially the early and late parts (I'm 2/3 into it). I was particularly impressed by the treatment of "could history have turned out differently?". The author actually gives a convincing answer to it: No. This answer is supported by evidence; nature has concocted several experiments for us: notably, it separated several groups of humans before the start of history (the author defines history at the appearance of farming, so about 10000 years ago), and kept them isolated since then, up to the 15 century (for the America) or the 19th century (for Australia). Beside a different calendar (farming did not appear in the America before the fourth Millenium BC, and did not appear at all in Australia), which can readily be explained by the different geography/faune of the said continent, how things unfolded in America is not fundamentally different of how they happened in the rest of the world, with civilizations based on similar principles, writing, farming, markets, rulers, etc. Interesting question and answer. The book is full of similar smart insight, although sometimes it lacks of a conducting wire/idea.
