Rating: 
Summary: a readable history of the white male West....
Review: ....but lacking information about the rest of the world as well as women in history. Asimov's elitist swipes at religion and mysticism are ably compensated by his humorous remarks throughout the book and his famous readable style. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: a readable history of the white male West....
Review: ....but lacking information about the rest of the world as well as women in history. Asimov's elitist swipes at religion and mysticism are ably compensated by his humorous remarks throughout the book and his famous readable style. Well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Possibly the best one volume history of the world.
Review: Asimov is an acknowledged genius. This book is a great example of the man's genius.A general problem with history books is seeing how the little bit you are looking at fits in with the big picture. Asimov doesn't over-analyse - he gives his history in bite sized chunks so the thread of the overall historical flow remains undisrupted. Asimov has the good sense to draw the book to a close while it is still history 50 years before his writing date. The little mention of his birth is just one of the many points that raises a smile. I would have liked more on Australia, but I guess like many parts of the world the stuff Australia did up to the middle of the 20th Century did not have major international impacts. Start reading your history here and then specific areas afterwards.
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: Asimov's Chronology of the World is a superb reference work. Although not really (and not meant to be) a coherent narrative, it is highly readable and absolutely essential to any historical research. It is useful as a reference tool in almost any historical context; if you're not sure when something happened, or exactly what happened, consult the Chronology. If it was a major happening, it's almost certain to be there, and realtively easy to find. Asimov does sacrifice depth for breadth in this work; many more minor events are not covered. Also, if you plan to read this work cover to cover (I did, and it was very well worth the effort--doing so gives a broad perspective on history very difficult to find elsewhere), you need a good historical atlas on hand to understand how events unfold. The only complaint I have with this work is that Asimov did not live long enough to write the sequel, chronologizing the events from 1945-2000. If anyone has found a good book to fill this gap, please let me know! In sum, Asimov's Chronology is the essential one-volume reference to world history. No home library should be without it.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have
Review: If you have any interest at all in the world you live in, you should have this book. Basically chronicling the complete history of the world from its creation until 1945, it is an amazing, concise, helpful, fun quick referance. If you are reading a historical novel and want to check how accurate it is, this book'll help you. Want to know what else was going on in the world during this war or that revolution? Just open 'er up! I have this book handy at almost all times when I am reading. It is compartmentalized into sections concerning individual countries or groups, not just a big mishmash of everything going on all at once, and it reads very easily, not like a school history textbook. It includes a nifty "outline" timeline at the beginning, too, so you can just skim it over without reading every word. An amazingly hefty, helpful, well researched book that no one should be without.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have
Review: If you have any interest at all in the world you live in, you should have this book. Basically chronicling the complete history of the world from its creation until 1945, it is an amazing, concise, helpful, fun quick referance. If you are reading a historical novel and want to check how accurate it is, this book'll help you. Want to know what else was going on in the world during this war or that revolution? Just open 'er up! I have this book handy at almost all times when I am reading. It is compartmentalized into sections concerning individual countries or groups, not just a big mishmash of everything going on all at once, and it reads very easily, not like a school history textbook. It includes a nifty "outline" timeline at the beginning, too, so you can just skim it over without reading every word. An amazingly hefty, helpful, well researched book that no one should be without.
Rating:
Summary: An "historical novel" i'd like to read over and over
Review: In a few words: if u like history, buy it, u'll like it (the book). If u don't like history, buy it, u'll like it (history). Asimov knows how to write in such a way that u start reading about something and u can't stop till the end. With his historical books (he wrote many others about specific periods) u start without knowing that much and u find in the middle of a wonderful novel with his characters, complicated stories, mistakes, blitz, wars, family problems, murders and so on... and from time to time u find urself saying "hey, but this story is true, it is HISTORY, the world we have now is this way because all these facts really happened". It is reallya wonderful reading. There are some negative aspects and it is correct to list them. It is completely europocentric. East world is often described in a very few lines. Well, actually it is english-centric. After 1776 USA are the great character of the story. Sometimes it is as if world history is a process doomed to bring to the existence of USA. If are not american you'll surely find that Asimov neglected many events in ur country history. There are probably too many spelling mistakes in foreign languages ( i am italian and believe me there are many italian names mispelled). The book is 750 pages long and probably it deserevs 75,000 to appear complete ! The index of names isn't really complete, i looked only for a name ( Brahms) and i didn't find it but Brahms is mentioned two times (omre than Mozart, yeee !!). Finally, i find this kind of history books necessary when u need to have a wide vision about history. After reading this book u need another book that deals not with facts but with ideas. Here u won't find many "history ideas" but u'll find all the necessary facts to understand those ideas. You can't learn history ONLY with this book, but u need it to start learning history in a nice way. Even with its negative aspects, i tell u buy this book, it is great, it is Asimov at his usual best in divulgation.
Rating:
Summary: The blood, the sweat, the HUMANITY!
Review: Isaac Asimov was a man of amazing intelligence, curiosity, humor, and encyclopedic knowledge. He wrote over 465 books (easily the world record), including the popular sci-fi Foundation series, but the "Chronology of the World" is perhaps his greatest monument. Spanning the entire duration of the universe (until September 2, 1945), this astonishing history sweeps across the whole of human existence, covering vast amounts of material from the spheres of politics, military history, science, mathematics, art, music, literature, even athletics. If it has defined humanity, Asimov, a one-man publishing house, throws it in, somewhere in this massive volume. This book is not another pedantic purgation of history--it's very exciting to read. As a professor of biochemistry and author of thousands of scholarly essays, Asmiov certainly has the intelligence to write this book. But as a writer of popular science-fiction stories, he also knows what it takes to make the book fun and compelling to read. This rare combination of brain wits and communicative wits make Asimov a great guide through history. His accounts of the outstanding people and wars are gripping--especially his treatment of Genghis Khan and the Mongol raiders, the rise and fall of Greece and the rise and fall of Rome, and the climactic battles of World War II. While I am astounded by the breadth and the depth and the insight and the sheer achievement of this book, I cannot pretend that it's perfect. Asimov chose to structure it purely chronologically, country by country, from start to finish. The result is one massive block of near-continuous text, making it difficult to grasp the big picture, and difficult to review the major events. There is a timeline at the beginning and an index at the end, to try to compensate for this flaw. Also, there is nary a map to be found in the entire book. This was a disappointment and I often found myself referring to a world map to see what in the world Asimov was talking about. Even with the flaws, this is an amazing achievement and a fantastic read. In few other books does humanity, at its worst and best, unfold so brilliantly as in this one.
Rating:
Summary: can't put it down
Review: Most history books I've read have been boring and a chore to read. This one I can hardly put down; I keep staying up way too late reading it; I look something up, and then look back to see what happened beforehand or what happened afterward, or I check to see what Japan was up to during WWI, etc. This book could easily have been a dry listing of names and dates, like most textbooks (especially given the enormous scope of the book), but Asimov does a wonderful job of helping the reader to identify the significant events and why they are significant, and to follow trends and threads in history by linking effects to their causes. His editorial commentary is fun too;like when he calls Italy's performance in WWII "comic relief". I learned more from this book than from some of the history classes I've taken.
Rating:
Summary: can't put it down
Review: Most history books I've read have been boring and a chore to read. This one I can hardly put down; I keep staying up way too late reading it; I look something up, and then look back to see what happened beforehand or what happened afterward, or I check to see what Japan was up to during WWI, etc. This book could easily have been a dry listing of names and dates, like most textbooks (especially given the enormous scope of the book), but Asimov does a wonderful job of helping the reader to identify the significant events and why they are significant, and to follow trends and threads in history by linking effects to their causes. His editorial commentary is fun too;like when he calls Italy's performance in WWII "comic relief". I learned more from this book than from some of the history classes I've taken.
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