Neil MacGregor

I gave this one a rare five stars, because it's an awesome book. I actually listened to it on audio CD (and suspect reading it might be tough sledding for me), but got the book to enjoy the pictures fairly quickly.

Talk about scope! From protohuman hand tools to a solar powered lamp, MacGregor describes his objects and their histories to us with knowledge, passion, humor, and style. Most of the history here is outside the normal dates-when-generals-did-stuff run of the mill history, so unless show more you know a lot of art history, you'll probably find it fresh material. It's loosely grouped into larger categories, but each object stands well on its own.

And the details of these many objects flow together to create a very different holistic history: not Jared Diamond's tale of migration and ecology, or the more common geopolitics, but something different. It's a tale of the arc of the human experience that deals with technology, religion, and intellectual life as a single seamless story. I am richer for the experience. You will be too. Neil MacGregor rocks! show less

This book came to my attention a few years ago when I discovered its spinoff, A History of America in 100 Objects, published by the Smithsonian. Although I added both to my list immediately, I didn't get around to reading this one until just now (glad I picked it up when I did as my library has only two copies left, and the one I hold in my hands is starting to fall apart). It's an amazing tome for lovers of history and the generally curious. I appreciated learning what it is that makes each show more object unique and how each is significant in world history. While I have never been to British Museum (someday!), it feels like the British Museum came, in a sense, to me. Wonderful. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/living-with-the-gods-by-neil-macgregor/

A lovely book, based on a BBC Radio series of the same name, lavishly illustrated (as the radio cannot be) with photographs of art and architecture, and enriched by quotes from commentators who know what they are talking about. Some people like to simply dismiss religion as at best a distraction and at worst a force for conflict and division; MacGregor doesn’t shy away from that side of things, but he goes deep into show more what religious people are actually doing – symbolism, practice, history, politics. He draws some very interesting parallels between religions separated by continents and centuries.

I found it a very healthy perspective on what is and isn’t unique to each of the main strands of world belief. It’s also a surprisingly light read, despite its length and weight, perhaps because of its origin as radio scripts. Recommended. show less

Amazing! This is definitely my type of non-fiction. It's about Shakespeare, it paints a picture of Elizabethan and Jacobean life, and it is a quick, fun read. Through these objects MacGregor gives Shakespeare's plays a humanity that they sometimes lose because they are so symbolic. We start to remember that these plays were written by a real man who expressed the public's fears about the succession of the throne, pride on the triumphs of their queen, curiosity about the new scientific show more discoveries and new inventions, suspicions about but also acceptance of foreigners. Shakespeare may have written plays so transcendent they have lasted for 400 years and will easily last more, but he also navigated a world affected by plague and violence, assassination plots and war. MacGregor takes Shakespeare, the idea, and transforms him into Shakespeare, the man. show less