Binding: Audio CD Dewey Decimal Number: 909 EAN: 9781400109708 Format: Audiobook, CD, Unabridged ISBN: 1400109701 Label: Tantor Media Manufacturer: Tantor Media Number Of Items: 12 Publication Date: October 01, 2008 Publisher: Tantor Media Sales Rank: 735260 Studio: Tantor Media
The Mental Floss History of the World
The book arrived in great condition and in time to be given as a Christmas present. Excellent service!
COOL!!!
The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization's Best Bits is fun and brilliant! I am also receiving the Mental Floss Magazine now and love that just as much! Ordering the magazine as birthday gifts for friends and relatives this coming year!
Entertaining and Informative
As a regular reader of the Mental Floss website, I enjoyed the quirky condensed history of The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization's Best Bits. Considering the breadth of human civilization, they touched on every facet of history, however briefly, with humor and insight. The format was great, breaking each era down into concise summaries by geographic region and also elaborating on positive and negative contributions of each period. My only criticism is the inaccurate portrayal of Henry VIII's schism with the church on page 198, the purpose of which the authors claim was to "...divorce his wife - or his second wife, or his third-..." Henry did in fact divorce his first wife, beheaded his second wife, but he was quite in love with his third wife who died in childbirth (but I'm a ... Read More
A Python-esque look at history's "best bits"
The editors at Mental Floss magazine have put together an irreverent, though fairly detailed, romp through civilization's best bits. This info is taken straight from the cover ribbon, dear reader. The graphics and text on the jacket just scream "Monty Python", but that's not a bad thing, as the Python gang always had a healthy respect for historical and social satire, a fact that clearly isn't lost on this lot.
What you get here is 12 chapters and 400 pages of quick reading historical tidbits that cover a surprising amount of ground. It's a brief outline at best, but there are plenty of sidebars and interesting facts to be found, all served up with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor. Each chapter starts out with an "In A Nutshell" ... Read More
Fun, but still a little slow going
It's a heroic task to make the minutae of history succinct and enjoyable and the authors do a creditable job. Just understand that it's not possible to make the history of the world quite what everyone would call a "romp." History buffs will love it and and it makes a good book to dip into randomly. I suppose it is not exactly high praise to call something good bathroom reading, but this is, as well.
