If I had only found this book in high school – and had been fluent in German at 15 – I would have been a lot smarter in history class, particularly when I was forced to stay studying at home as a result of the infamous “Hot Dog Incident” of 1990.
When I was 15, I was trotting along main street in my hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut to get a hot dog, as one does on a suburban Saturday. My high school class mates will fondly remember ‘Chez Lenard,’ the god of the town gourmet hot dog stand. When we “went into town,” which was the only thing to do in Ridgefield, a visit to the stand was the adventurous highlight.
On this particular day, I never got the hot dog because I was hit by a car.
I didn’t look both ways when crossing the street, as often happens to those hit by cars. Ultimately, I was fine, but my poor mother watched from the car and had a Mom Freakout, as anyone with a child (or five) would do.
[Fear not: this is not a tangent, we'll get to the book.]
I was home for awhile, recovering from some bruises, but had to keep up with my schoolwork. While generally a good student, I loathed ancient history class. It was likely the only class in which I ever received less than a B.
I would rather stick a fork in my eye than read my ancient history text book.
But there I was, stuck at home, with pages and pages of essays to write about what I read in Chapters 2-10. I remember it vividly since it was associated with the hot dog car incident, which is one of those incidents that are hard to forget.
Fast forward 18 years. When I first started reading Gombrich’s A Little History of the World, I thought, “Here we go again.” Snore. But it was recommended to me as different, easy to understand, fun to read. Even with that assurance, I was skeptical that ancient history and fun were related.
I was wrong.
From the start, Gombrich enlists the reader on a journey, taking her or him on a pilgrimage from ‘before there were any people’ up to the end of World War II. That’s a long time to cover in 280 pages.
But he does it masterfully, in a style written for young readers – and yay! – we adult readers like it. Simple sentences, easy explanations and wit. Chapter titles like “An Unlucky King and Lucky King,” and “Heroes and Their Weapons,” wrap it all up in digestible morsels with factual information.
What’s even better is that it covers more than American and British history, which is most of what we were taught in the U.S., China, Turkey, Africa are all included equally.
And yes, while Gombrich illustrates that history *does* repeat itself, he doesn’t write the same bland comatose-invoking text over and over. It’s fresh in each chapter.
Thankfully, I received it as a gift two years ago; since then, I’ve given it as a gift to 5 people, who’ve all attested to resulting increased intelligence. You will be smarter after reading this book, I promise. Like “Jeopardy” smarter. If you aren’t, I guarantee your money back on the purchase.
P.S.: I’m fine since the car accident, just have a bit of sciatica, which I mostly attribute to aging. I don’t eat hot dogs anymore.
How did you learn about history when you were growing up? Any favorite historical topics that keep you coming back for more?
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