Metally.net Book Store - The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp through Civilization's Best Bits

	List Price: $23.95 Our Price: $14.24 Your Save: $ 9.71 ( 41% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Collins
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Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 909 EAN: 9780060784775 ISBN: 0060784776 Label: Collins Manufacturer: Collins Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 432 Publication Date: 2008-11-01 Publisher: Collins Release Date: 2008-10-28 Studio: Collins
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Not what I was hoping for Comment: Admittedly, I am not a frequent visitor to the Mental Floss website, but I do enjoy books that successfully blend entertainment with education. Unfortunately, I found this book too heavy on the latter and too light on the former. The Mental Floss History of the World comes across as a sort of abridged textbook, lots of factoids, lots of blurbs that are admittedly pretty informational. Much of it is even interesting. But very little of it is actually funny, and that's what I wanted. The jokes were kind of stale and predictable, and most of the time I felt like I was getting a lecture from that dull teacher that thinks he's really funny, but he's not. Maybe it works for the people more familiar with the tone of the website, but for me, it wasn't worth the read. Customer Rating: Summary: Irreverent? No. Interesting and fun? Yes. Comment: Tired of boring and dull history books? Perhaps this is the book that will help you rethink your views on history. I haven't had a history class since my freshman college Western Civ 101 so this was a nice refresher book for me. It's the kind of book you pick up, read a chapter, put down and come back to a few days, weeks or even a month later and grab another little "snack." It isn't really a page-turner, but it's a fun and lighthearted look at history. The book gives mostly a general overview of big events through time across the globe and dives in here and there for interesting little tidbits. It does try to stay fairly worldly, but it does the most time to western history (which is fine, I think). I learned a lot of interesting things I didn't know and found it generally enjoyable. I wouldn't really call it "irreverent" but that's okay. I wouldn't say this is a must-have, but if you see it on a bargain table or in a used-bin, it's worth picking up. Customer Rating: Summary: If Only History Class Were Like This Comment: Confession time: history books generally make my eyes roll back in my head. But I love history, and always want to know more history. It's a conflict. Or it was, until this book appeared. Staring in 60,000 BCE and romping forward to the present and beyond, History of the World examines wars, famines, conflicts, treaties, marriages... just about everything. Pieces are done in short accessible bits. You can set the book down, then pick it up later for another installment of what feels like a great serial. It's got cheat sheets to help you remember wars. It has fascinating number facts. It's everything you wanted to know about history but were afraid to ask. It's got a place of honor on my refernce shelf. Customer Rating: Summary: Deeper and More Thoughtful than I Expected Comment: I was pleasantly surprised at the level of detail contained in this book. I think I was expecting something along the lines of the Uncle John's Bathroom series of books...but I actually found the book deeper than that. I will be checking out other Mental Floss titles. Customer Rating: Summary: interesting reading - in the style of mental floss Comment: For those who are familiar with the publication Mental Floss, this book should not be foreign - in term of the writing style, scope and contents, and the general tone. Like the magazine, "The Mental Floss History of the World" is a collection of entertaining, sarcastic and wise-cracking short articles for readers who are into trivia. Like the namesake, "mental floss", this is not a scholarly compendium on world history, but more a collection of interesting trivia about world history that can be mildly intellectually satisfying. As a slight departure from the past Mental Floss publications which were mostly juxtapositions of chronologically unrelated trivia bits, not only does this book have a cohesive theme, it is arranged also in the chronological order of historic events, from the dawn of civilizations to modern day. My only beef with this book is that it is too focused on Western history, which is not horrible per se, but definitely not living up to the title "An Irreverent Romp through CIVILIZATION's Best Bits". Last time I checked, the civilization covers much more than western civilizations. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: With mental_floss's trademark smart-aleck approach, combined with hilarious (but true) trivia, world history has never been such a joyride.