Rating: 
Summary: A Whirlwind Journey
Review: This book attempted a Herculean feat, to present a synopsis of events occuring in 1688 globally and someone try to tie them all togther in a succint historical context. To some extent, the author succeeded. The reader is introduced to areas of the globe not commonly covered in college courses which emphasize Western History. The book is also well written and includes personal stories of people who lived at the time, in addition to the "big picture" of wars, famines, uprisings, discoveries, philosophies, and rulers. However, with any attempt this grand, the book is strained and overly dense, making it hard to digest. After a while, the whirlwind tour, rather than illuminate, feels like a bad case of jet lag. One is tired and whoozy, filled with scattered images, and a little curious to read more selective and in depth history dwelling on a portion of the trip.
Rating:
Summary: A Whirlwind Journey
Review: What I liked most about this book was the "baroque" introduction, where the author presents to us the state of the world in 1688. "As the earth turns" and the sun rises over new parts of the planet, we catch glimpses of the lives that people lead, of their concerns, and of the connections between them. Ultimately, given the vast expanse of territory that this books sets out to cover, its main theme is, perhaps, the connections that already bound the world together in 1688. They take the form of shared beliefs and clashing cultures, but also, in a more personified way, these connections are embodied in travellers, explorers and minorities who look at the places they find themselves in from a perspective that is different from that of its native inhabitants. The story of these connections, some of them quite fascinating and intricate, is the strength of this book. At the same time, however, the author's reliance on outsiders to tell the story of several parts of the planet needlessly exoticises them. Overall an interesting book, it does not quite live up to the promise of its introduction, but for me its success lies in the fact that it left me wanting to know more about regions which I may not otherwise have given much thought to.
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