# Book ID (tough one) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560 "2013-07-03T16:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/1 "2013-07-03T16:19:15Z")
I’ve been very impressed by how this board is able to ID all manner of media so I’ll offer this one to you google-fu shifu’s. It’s a book on ancient history that details Egypt (Menes, Imhoteb, uniting upper and lower Egypt), Phoenicia (the alphabet), Crete (Minos and bronze). It’s written as a narrative, a story that follows the main characters as they lived. Through hunts, sea voyages, camps, etc. Very interesting. I remember my copy to be deep forest green, hardback, and small… maybe 6’‘x4’’? Very old. Probably picked it up from a library sale or yard sale. It probably has a very generic name like… History of Mankind. There might have been a second book in a series that dealt with Marco Polo? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/2 "2013-07-03T16:21:59Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > I’ve been very impressed by how this board is able to ID all manner of media so I’ll offer this one to you google-fu shifu’s. > > It’s a book on ancient history that details Egypt (Menes, Imhoteb, uniting upper and lower Egypt), Phoenicia (the alphabet), Crete (Minos and bronze). > > It’s written as a narrative, a story that follows the main characters as they lived. Through hunts, sea voyages, camps, etc. Very interesting. > > I remember my copy to be deep forest green, hardback, and small… maybe 6’‘x4’'? Very old. Probably picked it up from a library sale or yard sale. > > It probably has a very generic name like… History of Mankind. > > There might have been a second book in a series that dealt with Marco Polo? Sounds like “The Story of Mankind” by Henrik Van Loon ([The Story of Mankind - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Mankind)) - available in the public domain here [The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik Van Loon, Ph.D.](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/754/754-h/754-h.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/3 "2013-07-03T17:39:08Z")
Or maybe _[A Little History of the World](http://ebookbrowse.com/wh-a-little-history-of-the-world-e-h-gombrich-1-pdf-d429199314)_ by Ernst Gombrich. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/4 "2013-07-03T19:29:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Or maybe _[A Little History of the World](http://ebookbrowse.com/wh-a-little-history-of-the-world-e-h-gombrich-1-pdf-d429199314)_ by Ernst Gombrich. This one is close - better even but still not what I had in mind originally. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/5 "2013-07-03T19:33:13Z")
“A Child’s History of the World” [http://www.amazon.com/Childs-History-World-V-Hillyer/dp/1607965321/ref=sr\_1\_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372879883&sr=1-1](http://www.amazon.com/Childs-History-World-V-Hillyer/dp/1607965321/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372879883&sr=1-1) perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/6 "2013-07-04T01:20:05Z")
Hmm, if the above isn’t correct, can you give us more info? In particular, when did you read this book? I know you mention that it was very old, but without a reference we’re flying a bit blind here–I mean, if you’re, like, 20 now, “very old” could mean 1950. 🙂 Do you remember if this book followed a single set of (presumably fictionalized) characters or just different ones in the different settings? Was it aimed at children? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/7 "2013-07-04T02:20:31Z")
Your description sounds very much like the “[Story of the World](http://peacehillpress.com/history-and-geography/story-of-the-world.html)” series, except for the physical properties of the books. I’m including the link anyway, just in case you’re conflating two different books. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-tough-one/662560/8 "2013-07-04T03:25:04Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Hmm, if the above isn’t correct, can you give us more info? In particular, when did you read this book? I know you mention that it was very old, but without a reference we’re flying a bit blind here–I mean, if you’re, like, 20 now, “very old” could mean 1950. 🙂 > > Do you remember if this book followed a single set of (presumably fictionalized) characters or just different ones in the different settings? Was it aimed at children? I read it when I was a “tween” between 10-12 years old at the turn of the millenium. "very old’ very well could mean 1950. It was different pseudo-fictionalized characters except the characters were very “real”. It flowed from one to another. It started with Menes (pretty sure) in the swamps and was favored by the pharaoh because he found onions and subsequently garlic. Then it gave way to Menes uniting the upper and lower kingdoms and uniting the eagle/buzzard and the snake in a vision? Then in uniting it, he hired Imhotep to build a monument. Then the narrative flowed to Imhotep. Then to Minos of Crete who went to Spain and discovered Bronze by buying a block of “worthless tin”. And then subsequently to Phoenicia where some random sailor invented the alphabet. … ::sigh:: It was almost entirely narrative driven and taught history in a fictionalized narrative account of historical characters? Sorry. If I can remember more, I’ll relay it. Like I said, this one is a toughy. Thanks for the efforts so far though, guys. I don’t think I’ve found it yet though.