Origins - Lewis Dartnell

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⭐ 6.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This book is subtitled "how earth's history shaped human history" and it's one of these big picture history books about why history unfolded the way it did. I love these types of books and was really looking forward to this one when I heard him say on a podcast he wrote it in part in response to popular books that lack academic integrity such as Sapiens, which I had the same gripes with. The problem is that less sensational books like this one are also not half as interesting. This one places more of a focus on geology and geography than human decisions. While plate tectonics and limestone locations and coal deposits are probably very important, it just wasn't that fun to read about.


There was some great and interesting stuff here to be sure, including a full chapter on my favorite tyrant Genghis Khan, but it took a lot of hours of mundane stuff to get there. This is a good book, but not one I enjoyed or could recommend to those who don't like lots of talk about rocks and volcanic formation and prevailing winds and ocean currents...

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