Raves from History Teacher and Bibliophile

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	• A Little History of the World E. H. Gombrich Yale University Press, 2005 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Raves from History Teacher and Bibliophile

I actually bought the audio version and listened to it on a two-day drive. I was riveted to my book. The miles just slipped past me as the beautiful simplicity of Gombrich's writing took me on a glorious tour of our world. For the first time in my life, World History was One Story, not a series of many stories.

I plan on using the audio version of this book as a supplement to my World History curriculum this fall. I plan to purchase the printed version so I can find associated clip art and media to show the kids as they listen to excerpts from the chapters.

My nine-year-old son and my Engineer husband both love this book, too.

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a little history for people of all ages

When I first picked up this book, I was mesmerized by the tone of awe and curiosity established by the author, E H Gombrich. Since I work with elementary school teachers, I highly recommend that every teacher make sure that a copy of this book sits on the shelf of resources and references for children. While the book is written from a Eurocentric perspective and devotes more attention to Europe and the Western world, it is sensitive and respectful toward Africa, Asia, and South America. The story about the author, writing for children in Vienna, is touching and should be made explicit to the students as we would with any other author. Gombrich taps into our imaginations in the very first chapter with images of a "memory-light" disappearing down a deep, deep well, or of the ocean waves ceaselessly whispering "once upon a time". After you share this book with children, you will delight in their questions and enthusiasm, and they will develop a life-long interest in "long, long ago".

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A book long overdue

Typically history is told in a very dry, intellectual fashion, trying so hard not to offend anyone by being as impartial as possible. Also other books often cover such a little bit of history that unless you know was going on in the world before it, the book seems abstract and consequently, is hard to follow.
This book sticks so many things together in an increadbly easy to understand format that at last the gaps between all the other history books you read are filled.
And it is told AS A STORY, rather than a series of dry and uninspired facts and lists which makes it fun and intriguing to read.
I daresay this book will be critised for being too brisk, or not quite as impartial as is standard these days. I can also imagine this book will generate controversy as "The Da Vinci code" did, due to its concise, sometimes oversimplifed nature.
But of course that's missing the point of this book.
This book, as a starting point for learning ANY history of the world is an absolute must as far as I'm concerned. Gombrich is a novelist of history and this- his first work is one of the most essential reads I could recommend to anyone.

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A Modern Classic

Ernst Gombrich was an amazing man. His excellent book "The Story of Art" is recognized as the standard work in Art History, and he made many other contributions to the field as well as to society in general. His "A Little History of the World" was his first book, the only one he wrote in German, written just as he was finishing his studies at the University of Vienna in 1936. He wrote the book very quickly and it was a success until the Nazi's banned it for being too pacifistic. By that time Gombrich was already living in England, where he remained for the rest of his life until he passed away in 2001.

In the preface to my German edition, Gombrich's granddaughter says that an ex-horse riding teacher was engaged to provide the illustrations for the book for 5 shillings a piece. She says that Gombrich liked to point out that the many horses in the illustrations were drawn much better than the people.

This book has remained very popular in German speaking countries. It is a serious history book worded in children's terms. Quite often Gombrich speaks to the reader in first person like "though you may have seen pictures of the famous pyramids, you can't imagine how large they are" or when describing the benefits of multiplying with arabic numerals over roman numerals he asks "would you have made such a practical discovery? I wouldn't have." For an adult that wording becomes a bit tiresome, but for children it is as if they are speaking with a very knowledgable friend.

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A History Class for my Goddaughter

A Little History of the World will serve as an excellent primer for my very international goddaughter, who was born in Hungary and whose parents are from Holland and Poland. I, myself, am an American who has been involved in international affairs for several decades and I wanted my goddaughter to be introduced to the most important events and personalities in world history without the cultural biases and prejudices that abound in so many so-called "authoritative" books.

I read A Little History of the World very carefully to be sure that E.H. Gombrich's views were balanced and objective, yet entertaining. The book met all those criteria,plus it made history exciting and amusing. This book will make history accessible to my goddaughter and I hope she will enjoy reading it as much as I did.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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