Explore the History of Humanity Through Neil MacGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects

Cliente Amazon: I heard the BBC podcast some 12 years ago, missed the exhibition but happy to have this book. Anyone who is interested in history and art should learn Mr.MacGregor’s way to observe and absorb history.

Italy on Oct 07, 2023

Valerio Pastore: Ad una lettura superficiale, sembra una marchetta al British Museum, ma la verità è che ci vuole la migliore istituzione museale del mondo per trovare cento oggetti rappresentativi e ben conservati di alcuni tra i più importanti e profondi cambiamenti di usi e costumi -dalla prima pietra usata nell'Olduvai 2 milioni di anni fa dai nostri antenati più remoti per lavorare le prede e migliorare la qualità della nostra vita, alle lampade ad alimentazione solare che danno preziosa luce alle popolazioni meno abbienti senza renderle dipendenti da complesse infrastrutture!
100 oggetti tra i più disparati per scoprire il mondo dell'Uomo con un linguaggio semplice e nozioni accessibili, un documentario stampato affascinante fino all'ultima pagina!

Italy on Aug 25, 2023

Royal Somerset: Very pleased with this purchase. Book was listed as ‘Used’ but did not have a mark on it…looked 100% new.

United States on Jun 26, 2023

Angela R: This book was ordered as a textbook for a college course. It arrived on time, and exactly as described, in used condition, but absolutely usable for class.

United States on Jun 19, 2023

Baden Rostedt: Not the easiest book to read am not all the content I would have asked for but I’m glad I got through it and learned some things.

Japan on Mar 29, 2023

Tricia: I had listened to the programme on Radio 4 and then my friend was given this book and started to read it. She suggested we went to the British Museum to see our favourite pieces (incidentally I think the BM could do a much better job of sign posting these pieces - for example on their website they said the Benin bronzes were not on display but almost by accident we saw them in the basement on display)
The text in the book is almost but not quite identical to the radio scripts it’s interesting to see what was altered.
In the end having the book on Kindle on my phone was the most useful for the BM trip. The BM’s own app is also very good but didn’t seem to cover all 100 pieces.

United Kingdom on Nov 25, 2022

BancoNuri: Originally this book started out as a project for BBC Radio 4; with four years in the planning, and a host of experts to help him, Neil MacGregor has created a really special collection of top artefacts, all of which can be found at the British Museum. The series has been described as a project charting the history of humanity, and after having read the book it comes as no surprise that it has won awards and bursaries for the museum, at which MacGregor was the Director for 13 years.

Each object gets about five pages each, so the chapters are a bite-size insight into each era of history that the object relates to. Remember that this project started as a radio series, and so each week they would have different guests on the show, experts in the fields that each item relates to; in the book there are little snippets of what each guest had to say.

Whilst the book might be a bit too heavy and full on to read in one go, it’s one of those books you can dip in and out of, and the chapters are short and punchy which makes it all the more easier.

This book is a must for anyone who considers themselves a history enthusiast, no matter what period of history interests...

United Kingdom on Nov 26, 2016

MinnesotaMind: I believe I learned more per page reading this book than any I've ever read. A tour through all of history using objects collected (stolen?) by the British Museum, this book is a bravura execution of material culture and archaeological studies. In fact, I used several entries with my Advanced Placement Literature class in order to expose them to effective and interesting "close reading." MacGregor does with objects what literary critics do with a passage of poetry: he describes the object (lovely pictures ARE included), he gives a fascinating context of the period in which this object was used, and finally, provides an analysis of what the object "says" about the people, nation, and region that used or owned it. I find this method of historical explication incredibly engaging. Rather than begin with abstract concepts like democracy, Federalism, or ethnic cleansing, MacGregor begins with the concrete--a vase, a coin, a flower pot-- and says here's what this culture produced, here's what that says about them. This also dovetails nicely with what I teach in class regarding advertising; that we can come to understand the ideals of a nation by studying its advertisements....

United States on Jun 18, 2013

Sum K: I stumbled on this book on Amazon, read all the reviews, and couldn't decide if I was ready to spend the money - there were concerns that the picture quality is not so good. So I decided to download the free podcast first and see if I like the program in the first place. (Make sure to download them from BBC's website or iTunes - They are free mp3s and you can burn them onto a CD, instead of buying the overpriced audiobook version)

I listen to the program when I commute to/from work, and I absolutely love the program, so much that I look forward to getting into the car in the morning. So I ordered this book the next day. I read somewhere that the British Museum and BBC spent 4 years making the program. There are plenty other reviews here talking about the content itself, so I will focus on the quality of the book.

As mentioned earlier, I was concerned that some reviews mentioned the picture quality was not so good. I completely disagree. The book itself is very handsome and would look good on any bookshelf. The pages are thick and matte, and you can tell the paper is of very nice quality. In fact, the paper quality is higher than any other hardcover i own. All...

United States on Jul 27, 2012

Donald Mitchell: "Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see." -- 1 Samuel 4:15 (NKJV)

Let me address right away the objections that some will have to this outstanding resource:

1. The photographs are often dim and unclear. Yup. That's true. But the point of the book is to tell the story of the objects, not to highlight them as things of beauty as might be the case for a painting or a sculpture.

2. The electronic version costs a lot more than $9.99 and is almost as much as the hardcover. Yup. I thought that hardcover was inexpensive for what it is. Buy that one if you don't want to spend a lot for your Kindle.

If you get past those problems, I think you'll love this book. It's like having several of the world's top authorities on each of 100 objects tell you deep meanings that you wouldn't grasp by visiting the British Museum on your own and staring at the objects.

I was very impressed by the selection process, finding objects that convey interesting information at several levels. For instance, an object might tell you something about who made it and how it was used. These objects also have significance in terms of where the...

United States on Dec 13, 2011