City Travel Guides > Books > World History

Average Rating:

.1434: The Year a Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Gavin Menzies

July 01, 2008
This literally unbelievable book has shown me that my whole upbringing was a lie - I am actually Chinese and everything I have enjoyed about life has come from China. Amazing. Where was the computer that I am typing this review on made? Why, China of course. What more proof do you need?

What has it taken so long for the indisputable facts of the Chinese creation of everything to come to light? One can only surmise that a long running conspiracy between the Knights Templar, the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei has been running things behind the scenes. No coincidence I'm sure that Gavin Menzies' books contain exactly the same kind of selective historiography, illogical leaps of reasoning, reasoning from effect to cause and all the other ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on 1434: The Year a Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance

Used Price: £8.15

Average Rating:

.The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: John Tosh

January 04, 2006
John Tosh is in my view an excellent writer. This book enables even dimwits like me to understand the basics of historiography - the methods of history. This edition has really helpful notes in the margins explaining more complicated terms in a very simple way - spelling out anachronistic for example. Where I disagree with him slightly is in his emphasis on oral history being a technique rather than a 'genre'. OK he dedicates a fair bit of space to his book to discussing oral history but is not as positive about its contribution as Gwyn Prins - whose argument is better backed up by sources.
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History

Used Price: £15.93

Average Rating:

.1421: The Year China Discovered the World
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Gavin Menzies

March 01, 2004
The basic premise of this book is that prior to the European voyages of discovery a massive fleet of ships left China and ended up circumnavigating the globe and on the way discovered North and South America, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand and Greenland. The author, Gavin Menzies, is a former Royal Navy submarine commander and as such much of his evidence is based on his knowledge of currents and wind direction when compared to maps that predate the voyages of Columbus. He goes on to use a number of other sources of evidence to back up his case including, among other things, the presence of mysterious wrecks scattered the globe, the presence of animals and plants outside their native lands before Europeans reached them and the diaries of the first European ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on 1421: The Year China Discovered the World

Used Price: £2.95

Average Rating:

.Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Christopher Booker, Richard North

November 10, 2007
I had high hopes for this one, but having dug behind some of the statistics it seems that the authors are also guilty of pushing scare stories. For example, data on salmonella infections/deaths is presented on page 45. The authors make the point that the number of deaths at the time of the crisis is less than in 1982. What is not stated is that 1982 appears to be something of an aberration, the highpoint of some 30 years data (data available from Hansard - Written Answers).
In other places the narrative is overly dramatic. A Professor, criticised in the book, is said to have rushed to an outbreak. How can the urgency be proved? Were speeding tickets incurred? We are not told.
It's still an interesting subject, but read with some caution.
>>See More Reviews & Details on Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth

Used Price: £7.49

Average Rating:

.The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Ed Husain

May 03, 2007
An adolescent flirtation with extreme political ideas followed by the realisation that he was a bit less than educated.

All power to his rallying call for moderate muslims to have a public voice.

Tends to lend a bit of credence tothe Sam Harris theory that without moderate religion we wouldn't have extremist religion; after all, had Ed been brought up as an atheist he wouldn't have flirted with Islamism.

>>See More Reviews & Details on The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left

Used Price: £3.50

Average Rating:

.The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-first Century
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Thomas Friedman

July 05, 2007
Friedman's latest book is just plain disappointing. We all know that the world is growing more connected -- the internet, cell phones, global trade, etc. are all growing quickly. The world is changing fast. We all know that.

Friedman's book does not add much. He is not an expert in any of the topics he discusses, and he does not do the kind of in-depth research or thinking needed to come up with an interesting prediction or observation. Rather, he just picked a "hot topic," did a few random interviews, and wrote a book.

Freidman oversimplifies an incredibly complex process, and he does not tell you anything you do not already know. He also repeats his catch phrase -- "the world is flat" -- over and over, as if trying to make you remember the name ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-first Century

Used Price: £6.15

Average Rating:

.The Fall:the Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Steve Taylor

October 13, 2005
Truly eye opening stuff, if the genesis in the bible deals with the "why" (as is the case with religion) then this is the history behind it. An all encompassing history of the world that'll make you see things in a new light, how sad and messed up humans have become, and what needs to happen to save our race. Very compelling read, though sometimes it dips a little too much into the spiritual side of things and may come across as biased rather than pure research. They should make this compulsory reading at schools instead of nonsense such as creation theory.
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Fall:the Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era

Used Price: £7.47

Average Rating:

.Band of Brothers
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Stephen E. Ambrose

September 17, 2001
Stephen Ambrose presents an account of an American paratrooper company in the Second World War. Solely focusing on Easy from beginning to end allows you to really get to know individual members how they lived and as another reviewer said gives you a real insight of stepping out into battle from beginning to end.

My first criticism of the book would be the contribution; it seems those who contributed get put forward in a hero like manner with others who sadly could not contribute sometimes getting portrayed in a very bad light at times. There are times Ambrose goes over board with praise such as Winters quipped this, Winters commanded that and everybody loved Winters. Don't get me wrong I'm not doubting what he did but there are few times in the book the author prioritizes ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Band of Brothers

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.Hitler
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Ian Kershaw

August 07, 2008
The best yet biography of Hitler, discussing in extent the first years of his life. Presents theories of how his ideas were formed backing them or dismissing them with extensive bibliography research. Even though the crucial matter on how and when his ideas were formulated is not definitely answered it is the best effort on summarising the available data up to date. Reccomended to the serious in depth researcher, with excellent notes for further reading.

V.A.Kouts
>>See More Reviews & Details on Hitler

Used Price: £14.95

Average Rating:

.Eating For Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations (Official Wwii Info Reproductns)
City Travel Guides > Books > World History
by: Foreword by Jill Norman

September 06, 2007
The introduction to this book sets the scene of the wartime kitchen and beyond during rationing, and continues with reproductions of wartime leaflets. For content I would have given this book five stars but marked it down by one since I found some of the reproductions rather difficult to read due to poor quality - even with my super new reading glasses.

This book is not just a nostalgic look at the past but contains valuable nutritional advice which is as applicable today with the range of foods available to us as it was then.

Given the current economic climate and the need for us all to reduce food and energy waste, there are many useful tips to pick up from this book. Filling, wholesome food and a balanced diet is possible with good planning, even with the most frugal ingredients. ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Eating For Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations (Official Wwii Info Reproductns)

Used Price: £3.00