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This Fleeting World

By: David Christian
Narrated by: Neil Scott-Barbour
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Publisher's summary

This Fleeting World is the smallest book of big history, telling the story of the universe and history of humanity in less than five hours. Prize-winning historian David Christian covers it all in this compact, accessible, and inspiring guide to the history of everything from stars and empires to cities to the World Wide Web, capitalism, and globalization. David Christian's approach to human history and big history is a call to action based on a profound and fresh understanding of our place in the universe. This book is essential for our time.

David Christian asks big questions. Will contemporary challenges lead to the emergence of a new global system capable of ecological, economic, and political stability? Or is the accelerating pace of change a prelude to a sudden, sharp collapse that will drive many parts of the world back to the productivity levels of the early agrarian era? He presents our origin story and the history of women and men across the entire world within the framework of the universe explaining, for example, that the chemicals we are made of come from supernovae. He tells the human story as a story of changes: changes in the ways we produce and distribute food, move from place to place, organize ourselves into communities, explore and populate our environment, and both create and respond to crises. He gives us maps of time, history on different temporal-spatial scales, and even offers paths to locate evidence that might challenge his big story.

Big history leads to strategies for building a more sustainable world, and Berkshire Publishing is proud to offer this new edition of a big history for our common future. The 2018 edition has been expanded and updated for the general listener.

©2018 Berkshire Publishing (P)2018 Berkshire Publishing
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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What listeners say about This Fleeting World

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    3 out of 5 stars

Ok

The audio book helped me with getting My AP world summer assignment done quickly, but the story was boring as heck.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

one of the most important 4-hour books to read!

this is one of the best things ANYONE can read if they want to understand the world we live in

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting

I found this to be a very interesting book for several reasons. The first reason is it gave a quick view of the history of the world. I have to admit that I have a paper copy of this book and have read only about ten pages of it. That brings me to my second reason for this book hold my interest this time and that this type of book for me at least seems to stick in my mind more. If you are a student of history this would be a book to have in your library.

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