I've long been a bit of a sucker for DK books. The pictures are just so good ...and so many of them. And, In this case the illustrations.....especially the maps are great too. Of course, any book which purports to be a history of the world is going to skimp on some things...well probably most things really. And when I wanted some serious detail on Assyrian history, this DK book gave me a summary outline in a few pages but the detail was not there. Still, it did have a section on Assyrian history. Likewise, when I was looking for something on the Scythians, I found a few paragraphs but no real detail. On the other hand, what this book manages to accomplish rather well is the integration of history. They seem to present the history....not just as the history of one tribe or country but as a region with the various forces interacting across wide swathes of territory. And they have some nice illustrated time lines showing what was going on in different parts of the world at particular times in history.
OK , I haven't read this book from cover to cover and i'm not likely to but I find it fascinating to dig into from time to time and probably will continue to use it in this way.I guess it does really well with what it set out to do but I guess I would have liked some more detail......and that might have required something 10 times the size....and it's a big book (Large format 612 pages) already. Four stars from me. ( )

Literally, human history... condensed. This gorgeous production by the Smithsonian Institution could be a college textbook if the history of civilization wasn't too broad a subject. Whatever moment of history might pique one's interest, the seeds of that topic are likely be found within these pages. I recommend casually flipping to any page in this volume because I can almost guarantee you'll discover something new once there. ( )

See my review of World War II published by DK Publishing for comments about DK books. ( )