THE STORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 MOMENTS

IT’S HIS STORY, NOT THE STORY

AUTHOR NEIL OLIVER PUBLISHER BANTAM PRESS PRICE £25 (APPROX. $34.65) RELEASE 16 SEPTEMBER

You may have noticed, if you’re a How Works subscriber or a regular reader, that we enjoy putting a list feature in pretty much every issue we make. And the more items in that list that we don’t know about or don’t expect to see, the better.

Historian and TV presenter Neil Oliver’s The Story of the World in 100 Moments is mostly made up of key points in history that we either had no knowledge of, or the very briefest acquaintance with. That’s good: it’s refreshing not having to read about the same stuff in history – turning points in World War II, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the discovery of the New World in the 15th century – the kind of content we’d think of including if we had put this book together. Instead we get expert insight into moments of world history that slipped under our radar, what Oliver refers to as: “My story of the world… my 100 moments.”

It includes one of the earliest concepts of money, formed by the ancient people of the Yap archipelago in the western Pacific, who traded giant doughnut-shaped stones called rai with each other as dowries or in return for goods. These rocks remained in the same location after they were retrieved from neighbouring islands – it was just the ownership of them that was exchanged. One of these rai stones even sunk in a canoe during transportation, but rather than the owner losing their ‘money’, it was accepted that the rai was on the seabed now. It had the same intrinsic value and was still exchanged.

But it’s not all obscure – albeit interesting – entries. Oliver talks about the life and death of Jesus Christ, football through the ages, the sacking of Lindisfarne by the Vikings, Tycho Brahe and his metal nose and more. But even in these better known stories of the making of the world as we know it today, there are poignant insights and fine details that will engage the most learned reader.

It’s a weighty book, and definitely not one for younger How It Works readers, but anyone with a passing interest in history will find The Story of the World in 100 Moments hard to put down.

“It’s made up of key points in history that we either had no knowledge of, or the very briefest acquaintance with”