Maps of Time : An Introduction to Big History

Rating:
Summary: A Modern Origin Myth
Review: David Christian's Maps of Time is a tour de force of macrohistory. Starting with the Big Bang, he leads readers up to the twenty-first century in only 500 pages. Contrary to the review that is listed with the book, he provides an up-to-date discussion of cosmology and related issues that lead to the emergence of hominids and homo sapiens. Always staying above any hint of favoring this or that theory, or this or that region, he pinpoints the considerable similarities that mark the human experience through broad time frames and using examples from the entire world. His remarks on the twentieth century, which he considers the most dramatic century in terms of change, are especially illuminating. Christian is not just writing a history book here. He is attempting to write what he calls a modern origin myth, that is, a way of placing human beings in the cosmos that makes sense in terms of the enormous range of information available to us. Whether he succeeds or not will be judged differently by different people, but one has to admire the grandeur of the effort. And it reads well too.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting view of world history
Review: Dr. Christian's view is that history should begin with the creation of the Universe and look at over-arching themes. While this is an interesting concept, Dr. Christian fails to provide enough background information to the non-historian to see how the details support the bigger picture. It is a good methodology book for historians looking to see larger concepts, but it assumes a level of historical knowledge lacking in many laymen.