Customer Reviews

1001 Days That Shaped the World (1,000... Before You Die Books)

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

 

 

First things first...

Some of the editorial reviews have absolutely nothing to do with this book. LOL - please don't get confused by the reviews talking about some books being great for pre-k.

This is a snapshot of some of the most important events and people in human history. Many of the articles are about people and events I'd never heard of. And those I had heard of, were filled with fascinating tidbits of information that made history come alive.

Science, art, invention, polictics, and pop-culture are all included.

The book leaves you feeling like you understand a bit more about how we got where we are today, and where we might be going.

Lately we have been deluged with 'number books' - 100 PLACES TO SEE, 501 MOVIE STARS and so on. The latest entry in the field is 1001 DAYS THAT SHAPED THE WORLD, a marvelous and informative snapshot guide to key events that shaped our world. History buffs, trivia buffs and would-be Renaissance men and women will want to pick up a copy. This book, to quote Mr. Spock, is endlessly "fascinating."

1001 DAYS THAT SHAPED THE WORLD is a door-stopper of a book, some 960 pages long. It has to be since its coverage of the most significant moments in human history starts with the "big bang," ends with the May 2008 China earthquake and spans the globe. Each entry, which can be an event, invention, idea or creation, is given a half- or full-page summary, often with an accompanying illustration.

Just about all the "usual (historical) suspects" are here: the Battle of Marathon, RFK's assassination, the publication of THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the invention of smallpox vaccine, Gutenberg's Bible, Edward VIII abdicates, Gandhi is slain, the discovery of X-Rays, the defeat of the Armada, the Magna Carta and on and on.

Yet it's the other, "not-quite-so-famous" entries that are most fascinating. Included in this category are the 1576 Antwerp massacre, Algerian independence, the 1870 doctrine of papal infallability, Jesse Owens' Olympic victory, the discovery of laughing gas, the Black Hole of Calcutta, Pocahontas weds, the death of Titian, the Marshall Plan, the first talkie, the establishment of the Mauryan empire, etc.

Leafing through the book, it's instructive to find out the who-how-and-where of these events but what's most interesting is reading why that event was so crucial.

I enjoyed 1001 DAYS THAT SHAPED THE WORLD immensely. Reading it was a true learning experience and fun to boot. While you can certainly read it start to finish, it can also be enjoyed by simply opening the book to a random page and reading the event summary. I did and kept finding myself going: "Wow, I didn't know that! That's really interesting!" Highly recommended.

Survey works of this kind can be entertaining. They provide information on many subjects we may have a vague idea about, and are happy to get a better idea of. But they do not cover anything in depth, and they thus open themselves to the charge of superficiality. Moreover the whole approach here of looking at history in terms of single days. So a single day is taken for the writing of Shakespeare's sonnets, or for the appearance of Melville's 'Moby Dick'.All this hints at the fundamental truth that 'history' is processes which develop over varying periods of time. What I am trying to say is that while the whole business of looking at History in terms of individual days may give a certain perspective it is untrue to the whole movement and tenor of History.

This particular anthology has concise, readable entries and is certainly worth looking through.

What a GREAT GIFT!

Are you the kind of person who says: Do you remember when ... ?

This hardcover book measures over 2 inches thick--and every inch is used wisely. General Editor Peter Furtado has been editor of "History Today" magazine and holds a degree in history and art history from Oxford University.

Imagine deciding how to break the world's event down to just 1001 - staring from The Big Bang. The first 380 some pages cover very ancient history.

Sampling of the next section: 1700-1899. Learn about the first bicycle, Civil War, Homestead Act, the Impressionist painters, Gettysburg Address, War & Peace (1785), Golden Spike, Suez Canal; telephone (1876), light bulb (1879), motorcar (1886), Statue of Liberty (1886), Eiffel Tower (1889), X-ray (1895), moving pictures (1895), modern Olympics (1896), gold strike (1898), among others.

The 1990-1949 section sampling: Radio message (1901), Tour de France (1903), Wright Brothers flight (1903), San Francisco Earthquake (1906), various explorers, Titanic sunk (1912), WWI (1914), Prohibition/speakeasies (1920s), first television (1926), Lindbergh's solo flight (1927), first talking movie (1927), St. Valentine's Day massacre (1929), first Academy Awards (1929) Wall Street crash (10/24/29), Empire State Building (1931) Hitler is Germany's chancellor (1933), Governments --Mao, Stalin, kings/queens, Churchill, War of the Worlds broadcast (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), atom bomb (1945), UN created (1945), first bikini modeled (1946), State of Israel formed (1948). WWII dominated 1939 to 1946.

The 1950-present is an era most of us can answer, "Do you remember where you were when you heard that ...."

This section is again filled with war and warring in Korea (1950) Cuba (Bay of Pigs, 1961 and missile crisis, 1962), Vietnam, and other countries. Bombings and assassinations (President Kennedy 1963, and in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy), Russia's Sputnik (1957) and first man in space in 1961. Berlin Wall went up in 1961 and down in 1989. America's successful moon landing in 1969--while others failed, like the Challenger (1986), Elvis has No.1 song (1956 and died 1977), the Beatles on TV (1964), Jonestown massacre (1978). Many famous people died. Disneyland opened in 1955, Baghdad fell, Hurricane Katrina in 2004 and the tsunami in Indiana Ocean.

Armchair Interviews says: Read a page at a time, or inhale the world's history in chunks--this is an amazing resource and time machine.

The idea is excellent. Put all the world history in a single book. But it's very difficult to summarize a history fact in just one page.

It's still a good book, considering the idea to work on a single voulme, but I expect someday a further edition with two or three volumes explaining in much more rich details the facts.

Very brief but very interesting outline of world history. if you have any interest of why the world we live in today is what it is, this is worth reading through.

This is a great gift book for those with an interest in history. I read a page or two every night just for enjoyment. You will definitely come away knowing more about history. Well written, concise and interesting! Enjoy!