Why did the first civilizations emerge when and where they did? How did Islam become a unifying force in the world of its birth?

What enabled the West to project its goods and power around the world from the fifteenth century on? Why was agriculture invented seven times and the steam engine just once? World-historical questions such as these, the subjects of major works by Jared Diamond, David Landes, and others, are now of great moment as global frictions increase. In a spirited and original contribution to this quickening discussion, two renowned historians, father and son, explore the webs that have drawn humans together in patterns of interaction and exchange, cooperation and competition, since earliest times. Whether small or large, loose or dense, these webs have provided the medium for the movement of ideas, goods, power, and money within and across cultures, societies, and nations. From the thin, localized webs that characterized agricultural communities twelve thousand years ago, through the denser, more interactive metropolitan webs that surrounded ancient Sumer, Athens, and Timbuktu, to the electrified global web that today envelops virtually the entire world in a maelstrom of cooperation and competition, J. McNeill and William H.

McNeill show human webs to be a key component of world history and a revealing framework of analysis. Archon Classic 2010 Pcgs. Avoiding any determinism, environmental or cultural, the McNeills give us a synthesizing picture of the big patterns of world history in a rich, open-ended, concise account.

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A Reddit.com user: 'Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on the planet?' Below, you will find the book list offered up by the astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and popularizer of science. Where possible, we have included links to free versions of the books, all taken from our and collections. Or you can always download a professionally-narrated book for free from Audible.com..

If you're looking for a more extensive list of essential works, don't miss, a 51 volume series that you can now download online. 1.) The Bible (eBook) - 'to learn that it's easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself.' 2.) The System of the World by Isaac Newton () - 'to learn that the universe is a knowable place.'

3.) On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin ( - ) - 'to learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth.' 4.) Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift ( - ) - 'to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos.' 5.) The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine ( - ) - 'to learn how the power of rational thought is the primary source of freedom in the world.' 6.) The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith ( - ) - 'to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself.' 7.) The Art of War by Sun Tsu ( - ) - 'to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art.'