I have always wanted to read a book on world history. What’s good? What’s not? I don’t mean coloring books either. I prefer one with some historical maps, if possible. I want it to be pretty thorough, not just running roughshod over everything.
IMHO, it is not one book but a series, Will and Ariel Durant’s “The Story of Civilization” It would take quite a while, but check one or two out at the library, skim them, and then check out the one closest to the period youmight be most interested in. The first is “Our Oriental Heritage” and I like the seventh “The Age of Reason Begins”
In addition to the incredible detail there is always a long bibliography at the end. These books were written over a period of at least thirty years, and incredible body of work.
For a lighter work in one volume, although it is not strictloy history , try “Don’t Know Much About Geography” by Kenneth C. Davis. History and geography are so intertwined that you will pick up some neat stuff in this one.
If you’re looking for a good general world history, I’d recommend the Time-Life Timeframe series. It’s reasonably thorough and unbiased, and it doesn’t get bogged down in details. Admittedly it’s spread out over about fifteen volumes, but the actual word-count is approximately the same as one long book.
I don’t know about the best, but I’m actually fond of Issac Asimov’s History of the World. Very interesting and readable.
It’s probably a bit to much of an “overview” type for the OP’s tastes, though.
I’ve always maintained that quickest and best way for most ( and I grant not everyone responds well to maps ) non-experts to get an overview of world history is via a historical atlas. Wonderful visualization tools. IMHO Hammond’s The Times Atlas of World History, is the best of those. A wee bit pricey though. I still find it very occasionally useful to this day as a quick and dirty reference ( mostly via the extensive glossary ) and I probably have a couple hundred history books on various topic. The various Penguin atlases on more specific subject matter ( i.e. Africa ) are also solid.
Once you get beyond that, I no longer recommend general world histories. You might try Oxford’s for a single volume ( I think ) treatment. I think I recall reading that one as a youngster. But by and large, once you’ve absorbed the basics from an atlas, I think you might as well move on to books on more specific points of interest. General histories are ultimately ( and necessarily ) superficial. Just MHO 
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- Tamerlane
The best one I have is The Oxford History of the World. It’s upstairs in another room, I’m too lazy to check now but I’ll go do it in the morning.
I also particularly liked a history of the world written by H.G. Wells, but alas I can’t recall the title precisely. It was rather amusing because it was full of Wells’ particular take on history, which was rather Anglocentric and reflected his political biases (which corresponded to mine to a degree). But it was written well and easy to read.
Chas.E that would be “The Outline of History” by Wells.
The Cartoon History of the World.
I am completely serious.
The People’s Chronology by James Trager is a great overview of world history. Not what the OP asked for but it sure puts things in perspective.
The Outline of History by HG Wells
Sometimes I find it interesting to read history books from other times.
The H.G. Wells book gives you quite an insight into the way people saw the world at the turn of the previous century.
Great little tidbits such as the pitldown man, and characteristics of races, and other outdated bits.
Wells was as most of his time were, racist, mysoginist, anglocentric, and religiously biassed towards christianity.
Regardless I like the two books in that series.
these were great. But are there only 2 volumes? I’m quite sure that history didn’t end with the fall of the Roman Empire (which is where Vol. 2 ended).
Thanks for the input. Although I don’t want a roughshod summary, such as the rise and fall of Rome in one page, I don’t want to be bogged down in detail either. I would like to get a good idea of history, then pick a book on a specific period, if I am so inclined, for more detail [eg, Greek, Roman, US History, etc.].
Perhaps a history text book used in conjunction with a separate historical atlas would be best.
You are asking for the impossible. History is fascinating because of the details and a short summary will neither win your interest nor show you which parts are most interesting. I suggest you start with Will Durant’s Our Oriental Heritage which covers Eastern civilization, religion and philosophy from cavemen to about 1950.
…through the ages in 330 pages!!! (hehe. large print too)
but seriously, the one that’s published by Penguin is great. It’s simply called History of the World. But I would tend to use that as a starting point to find out which chunks of history you like most and pick out other period specific books.
A People’s History of the World by Chris Harman. A brick of a book - it’s an overview in approach - but very readable and broken up into six or seven major sections.
Another “Old Broad” here for James Trager’s “People’s Chronology.” It’s not the ONLY book to have, but it’s an excellent reference resource, one I use quite a bit (also fun for browsing: “Let’s see, what was going on 200 years ago?”).