A Short History of Humanity by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe

This book’s full title is A Short History of Humanity: A New History of Old Europe. It is translated by Caroline Waight from German. I found particularly of interest the movement of people from north of the Black Sea into Europe. This is probably because I am of European decent. A lot of the reviews seem to just skip over this part of the book.

There is a short review on Kirkus Review covering the basics from this book. However, the book covers a lot more concerning Europe. Florence Chilver at The Past site reviews this book. The review on Good Reads cover the part that of most interest to me and that was about European history. There are a number of reviews further down the page on Good Reads. The reviewer named Sense of History go into the European part of the book.

There is almost nothing on video for this book or the authors. That is probably because this book is a translation from the original book. The book was originally published in German as Die Reise Unserer Gene in 2019.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper

This book’s full title is Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline. It was an interesting book, but Paul Cooper ruined my enjoyment by the Epilogue where he is extremely negative about our future. Paul Cooper has his own site.

Yes, the world is changing, and it will be hard for some people, but I am not negative about the future. I think that somehow, we will change and the future will be bright. I do not believe that we will destroy the world. Yes, the climate will change. It has changed a lot in the past and it will change in the future. I do believe we have a future. Paul Cooper does not seem to believe we have a future. I will probably not live to see it as I am already 80. But perhaps I will see some of it.

I guess being negative about our future is why the author wrote a book and seems fascinated by civilizations that have failed in the past. I have read a lot of history and it is not just about civilizations falling apart. It is also about people surviving incredible changes in empires, their lives, and the weather.

Look at Egypt. It is still alive and well and has survived a lot and reinvented itself many times. One story was when the Sea People attacked. Some believe that that the big movement of people at that time was because of climate change. The climate getting colder and drier. Another is the Persians/Iranians who had a bigger empire than the Romans and is talked about in the Old Testament. They are still around today and also have reinvested themselves many times. Same is true of India, China, Europe.

However, there are civilizations that did seem to just disappear. This appeared to happened to the Mayans in South America, the Khmer Empire in Asia, the Assyrian Empire in the Middle East. He talks about our current civilization falling because of global warming. Very in theme.

It is interesting that Paul Cooper grew up in Wales where there are ruins of castles that fascinated him. The British Islands and Europe is very different from Canada. There are old ruins there dating back sometimes back into BC. An example is Stonehenge. They are also lots of old castle ruins.

I grow up in Canada in Toronto. There is not much in historical ruins anywhere. I do know there are some ruins in the US. I know of few in Ontario but they are not that old. I have been to Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. And, when they were digging a hole for the reconstruction of the old St. Lawrence market, they came across ruins, but they were not that old and were from the 1800. I do know that there are totem poles carved by Indians in British Columbia, but here again they are not that old, around 200 years. I am also aware of some Indian burial mounds in Ontario, like Taber Hill dating from around the 14th century.

Paul Weimer on Skiffy and Fanty writes a very interesting review of this book. There is an interesting review on Kirkus Reviews. Oscar Rickett at Middle East Eye talks about Paul Cooper’s hit podcast being put into a book format.

A lot of the reviews for Paul Cooper and the Fall of Civilizations are about the Podcasts, not the book. Probably because the book is based on and came after his Podcasts. Paul Cooper has podcasts about the different civilizations in this book on YouTube. They are quite interesting, but also quite long. They seemed to be received well as they are a lot of positive comments. Paul Cooper on YouTube gives a short introduction to his book. Paul Cooper is interviewed on YouTube Primary Source Media by Lynn Robbins and Isaac Luftus. Paul Cooper speaks at York Festival of Ideas in 2024. His speech ends at the 35 minute mark. He certainly thinks we will be destroyed and then we will be replaced by future others.

He thinks we are approaching the end of our current civilization. All the questions had to do with the fall of our society. Yes, we have problems, but I do not really believe that we our society will collapse due to climate change. Our society will change. Just think how different we are from the 1950’s. People from that time would be shocked by how we are changed.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Pirate Enlightenment by David Graeber

This book’s full title is Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia. I found entertaining but quite confusing. I did not really learn anything about Madagascar or Pirates. The author sort of jumps all over the place, but he also told some interesting stories. I did find it hard to see how the stories all sort of fitted together. On the other hand, I read the book to the end because the stories were interesting.

Fara Dabhoiwala on The Guardian does a review of this book. There is a site for David Graeber with a review of this book by Lena Tama. There is another review of this book on the site for David Graeber by Annelie Hyatt. Edward Carver on Los Angeles Review of Books another interesting review of this book. This author says that Graeber wrote with joy and playful irreverence. I can agree with that.

Since this book was published posthumously, there is no videos of David Graeber talking about this book. The only videos were reviews and discussions about this book, but I got enough reviews and I did not find any video particularly interesting.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

This book’s full title is Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering. I found this book interesting as I have all of Malcolm Gladwell’s books. I also find his books quite entertaining. In talking to people of what I was reading, some love his books and some hate them. I think people dislike him is because, he may write a great story, but it may not be exactly scientific. You can enjoy reading a book and not believe everything in it.

Malcolm Gladwell has his own site . He is on Twitter.

There is a good and interesting review of this book on The Guardian. Claire Rock on Michigan Daily points out that the book is an interesting read, but if you are looking for scientific answers, you might want to look elsewhere. I think that she is right. The site Kirkus Reviews has a very short interesting take on this book. There is a long but very interesting review on Thor Projects.

Nayeema Raza on Open to Debate interviews Malcolm Gladwell. Politics and Prose supported an interview of Malcolm Gladwell by Steve Inskepp at The George Washington University. The interview starts at 5 minutes in as there is a lot of introductions.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Accelerated Minds by Neil Seeman

This book’s full title is Accelerated Minds: Unlocking the Fascinating, inspiring, and Often Destructive Impulses that Drives the Entrepreneurial Brain. I found this an interesting book. I can imagine that Entrepreneurs are different as it takes a lot of effort and drive to start a company.

Neal Seeman has his own website here.

There is a short review of this book on Canadian Multicultural News . There is an interesting review of this book on Next Big Idea Club.

Neil Seeman is interviewed by DBoss. The interview starts around 3.18 into the video. This is an interesting video with David Meltzer lasting just over a minute. The author is interviews on by James Black at Canadian Securities Exchange .

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn

This book’s full title is How the World Made the West: a 4,000 Year History. Josephine Quinn is a professor of Ancient History and so she has concentrated on how the Ancient World shaped the Western World. Of course it did.

I also think that West was highly influenced their experience by their discovery of the Americas and their movement to the Americas. Josephine Quinn talks about the discovery of the Americas in a very short few pages at the end of her book. But this is understandable as she is into Ancient History.

Just as the Germanic tribes were forced into the Roman Empire by the Mongol Tribes, Western Europe was forced to go further west first the by Arab Tribes and then Turkish Tribes that took over the Middle East, North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and Balkans. The western history with the Americas may have only been over 500 years compared the 4,000 years of Ancient History, but it is still a long time.

I also have found that few people realize that the Eastern Roman Empire lasted another 1,000 years to 1453 after Rome was no longer the center of the Roman Empire.

There is an interesting review of this book by Steven Poole in the Guardian. There are some interesting reviews at Amazon at the bottom of the page, including one quite negative one. There is an interesting and short review at Kirkus Reviews. Andrew Wilson on TGC I thought has the most thoughtful and enlighten review of this book.

Josephine Quinn at the Jaipur Literature Festival talks about her book. Josephine Quinn is interviewed by William Dalrymple. Josephine Quinn gives a lecture for around 14 minutes. Josephine Quinn is interviewed by Greg LaBlanc.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Putin’s People by Catherine Belton

This book’s full title is Putin’s People: How the KGB took back Russia and Then Took on the West. I found this book fascinating. I can see from reading this book about Putin in the book why some people depict Putin as similar to a Mafia gang leader. This book was published in 2020.

Daniel Beer on The Guardian writes a good review of this book. The review on The Open Book is from the book blub, but gives you a good idea what the book is about. There is an interesting more recent review of this book and its subject in 2022 by Australian Institute of International Affairs. An article on The Foreign Policy website talks about Catherine Belton and her publisher being sued over this book.

There is a discussion at Atlantic Council. The discussion starts around 4:15 into the video when Catherine Belton talks about her book. It was taped in June 2020. There is a short video interview with Catherine Belton at the British Embassy of Vienna. This is dated October 2022. It is just over 4 minutes.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe

This book’s full title is The Fourth Turning: What the cycles of History Tell Us About American’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. This was a very interesting read and a unique approach to history. However, I have read a lot of history, so I do wonder about their thesis.

It is basically true that people do not change but I doubt you can predict the future from the past. I should also note that Neil Howe has another book out called The Fourth Turning is Here. It seems that people either loved or hated this book. In the reviews you will see that some think it is all nonsense and others think these ideas are great.

The idea of historical cycles is not a new one. If you read anthropology, you will learn that most past societies thought of time as cycler. They lived through repeated cycles of Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. Time as linear is a rather new idea.

I think the most interesting review is by Dan Reardon. There is a review on Good Reads by Justin who clearly did not like the idea of cycles of History either. There are other reviews on this site, some loved the book and others hated it. All the reviews on Amazon are the positive type. The reviews on Quora are mostly all critical of this book. There is also a video review of this book at BookLab by Bjorn.

There is an interview of Neil Howe on the YouTube show of On the Margin. This interview is some 50 minutes long. A review of this book by Van Neistant. outlines the story of this book. It is an interesting review. It is only 10 minutes long.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.