Customer Reviews

The Annals of the World

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'd been reading about James Ussher's "The Annals of the World" for years but had never seen a copy. It has long been famous because of Ussher's claim that the world and everything in it was created at sundown on the day before October 23, 4004 BC. But it wasn't until I was doing the research for a book I was writing, "Authors Of The Bible" that my urge to own a copy became strong enough to make the plunge. I'm very glad I did because what I found was not only a systematic, dated arrangement of the stories of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, but also of the history of what is often called "the known world" up through the Roman conquest of Judaea in 73 AD.

In addition to being the Archbishop of Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century, James Ussher was an outstanding scholar. Among the many classics he translated into English were various accounts of Alexander the Great. In the nearly ninety pages principally devoted to a running account of Alexander's conquests, there is a great deal of information not easily found elsewhere. It should be noted that--as you might expect from a careful scholar--Ussher documents his sources with great thoroughness. Ussher describes how, after Alexander's death, his empire was broken into three pieces and proceeds to document the history of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world through the period of Greek control and the rise of the Roman empire. Ussher tells a fascinating story with many gossipy, juicy details.

Now, if you're thinking that the language in a book written in the seventeenth century is going to be stiff, dull, and nearly unreadable, think again. Larry and Marion Pierce updated the seventeenth century English translation (Ussher's work was originally published in Latin--the international language of the day--as were virtually scholarly works of the time). Where Larry and Marion Pierce had questions as to what an obsolete English word meant, they took the trouble to go back to Ussher's original Latin and translate it directly. The Pierces have done a masterful job.

There's no doubt about it. This is a full five-star book which can't help but captivating anyone interested in history. If you ever have the desire (or need) to escape from a boring or stressful day, I can't think of a more enjoyable way to do it than by picking up this book and reading a hundred pages or two. You'll find, as I did, that it's to put it down.

Fred Glynn

Author of "Authors of The Bible"

www.authorsofthebible.com

fredglynn3@aol.com

September 27, 2007

I just received this item in the mail. Although I am exceedingly impressed with the "Annals of the World" (which, for content, I would give a 5 rating), I was extremely disappointed that the paperback version did NOT include the CD which is included in the hardback edition. To me, that CD is more valuable than the book. So, the paperback version is not worth buying--when you can get the hardback for only about $20. more.

If you are not a computer user, you might be okay with the paperback. Still, I'm sure you could find someone who would pay you $20 for the CD if you couldn't use it, and you could still come out ahead by buying the hardback version.

Okay, so this is a "classic" work. That means it's a little dry for most. But if you want to know stuff that has been lost through other avenues, this is the place to go. The accompanying CD-ROM is really quite fun to poke around on and see many, many things as well.

History doesn't need to be dusty. But I am glad they dusted off this gem and translated it into English and are reprinting a valuable resource for any history buff.

I am very please with this purchase, but would warn anyone like myself that it is very light on truly Ancient history (like Semiramis' dealings with the King of the Armenians and the fall of the original Nimrod, etc.) and weighted most heavily on the period from 1000 BC until the Julian era. Lots and lots and lots of Greek and Roman history....the more things change the more they stay the same it seems.

Still very useful, and I would buy it again with 100% certainty.

If you want to have a very realistic idea of the timeframe when any event recorded in the Bible happened, then you must have Annals of the World in your personal library. This is a great book for Bible students, scholars, or Bible teachers. The hard copy version includes a CD for you to have the information at your fingertips. The author, James Ussher (1581 - 1656) was an Irish theologian that researched on the seasonal equinoxes back in time, taking into consideration the ancient's calendars, and his work is a world class classic. Previous to Usher, scientists Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) did a similar exercise, arriving to the same conclusion that Usher did. Usher followed also the biblical record arriving to the conclusion that the earth was created on the night preceeding October 23, 4004 BC. We may think that arriving to this kind of detail it is an exageration, but at least this framework will give you a well-rounded idea of when every story in the Bible did happen. Usher's dating has a great reputation compared with geological and other scientific discoveries in XIX and XX century. Both edition (soft cover and hard cover) are the same information, but if you need the CD, it is included in the hard cover that brings also a nice box to protect the book.

This is concerning the Kindle version of this book. I have already reviewed the hard-cover version as having 5-stars. But the fact is that the kindle edition is simply not navigable. It has a table of contents, but even knowing what "Age" you are looking for won't help you because you may have to flip through 150 pages to find what you're looking for. This might not be a problem if you plan to read this 900-page book cover to cover, but it is best used to find individual bits of information of a specific time frame, such as Alexander the Great or the time period of Israel's judges. You're much better off getting the paper version.

As an evangelist, I thought I knew history as written in God's Holy Word, the Bible. This publication (all 960 pages of it) goes from the day of creation and continues all throught the bible. It is a must read for any bible scholar.

I was wanting this book for some time now. It really was excited when I received it. I must have spent several hours just scanning it and seeing how it was structured. The book is very well done and I love how the structure is laid out. It makes it easier to understand. What I like about it is that I can not go to my bible and find an event that happened in the past and then go to the Annals and understand where it fits into everything. Very cool for my study work. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves history.

Thanks for a well worth it book!! Looking for History that bring you facts, well you've found it in James Ussher Annals of the World! This book is particularly good in the area of Chrisrian history also. I'm enjoying this one.

This is a very thorough history dealing with the ancient world. Most excellent. What I found most compelling is the glimpses into the lives of individuals who lived thousands of years ago. The passions, motives, greed, loyalty, love, and evil of past generations are recorded here in chronological order. The book also goes to great length dealing with conflicting dates and accounts of events.