Andrew Marr must have put so much work into his history of the world and I can only admire his stamina in both researching it and then embarking on this marathon re-telling in spoken form. I do hope none of these endeavours contributed at all to his recent stroke.



In this history of the world we hear one of the most intelligent and diligent men of our times giving his view after exhaustive research. As he says, it is his and only his history of the world. For every historian there will be another history of the world with different evidence pursued and different events proclaimed. But here we have a history as seen through the intelligence of a man who tries his level best to enlighten and entertain us rather than feed his own reputation and ego. In this way his words are a gift to us without any side to them, politically, egotistically or otherwise. And as such they are then all the more valuable to us and all the more acceptable. We trust this man's voice. Therefore we can trust, and learn from, what he says and the kaleidesope of world wonders, events, crises and acheivemnts he brings to our world-weary ears.

I am really enjoying this audiobook. I particularly like how the author is constantly establishing connections and parallelisms between the different cultures and civilizations that populated the earth either simultaneously or at different times. The reader makes a wonderful rendition of the book as well and it is clearly read and with just enough humor in his voice to make it entertaining.

Found the book enlightening and captivating . A recommended listen for anyone interested in Human history and the advancement of Mankind.

This really has been a great book to listen to on my daily commute. The only criticism is the heavy weighting towards the recent past which I guess is down the available resources. Overall highly recommended.

Excellent book about our history. Andrew Marr is a competent writer who keeps the readers focus.

As yet, I can't really review Andrew Marr's book itself but I feel compelled to say something about this audiobook. First, I thought the whole book was going to be narrated by Andrew, which would have been a joy. It isn't though, if you look a little closer it's mainly by David Timson, who may be very good (I haven't got that far yet). In the end this may be a minor quibble, we shall see (or hear). My major issue is that there is no navigation within the book , at least not on my laptop. I haven't moved it to my Kindle yet but I expect it's the same. The download is split into 3 parts, each over 8 hours in length, Who has time,or the wish , to listen solidly for 8 hours? The audiobook should be split into chapters so we have at least have an opportunity to dip in where we wish and stop at a salient point. So, probably 5 stars for the content but only 3 stars (and I'm feeling generous here) for technical presentation. If this was a standard format download I might have attempted to do it myself but alas, it's in Audible's proprietary AAX format, so probably beyond my capabilities.

I bought the audiobook so that I could listen to it while on a long run. I was very satisfied with the level of detail. One slight criticism is that the chapter end and beginning of a new one is not particularly well signposted. Often it is unclear that you have moved on to the next chapter.

Thoroughly enjoyable, interesting, and informative, taking you from hunter gatherers right through to modern times. Highly recommended.

I play this in the car as I take my teenage son to school. Fortunately the traffic is so bad he is able to really get into it. For a 'dry' subject this makes history exciting. The style is easy to listen to and filled with droll insights which make him laugh but also want to ask questions and find out more. Andrew Marr is to be congratulated on making such a huge subject so accessible whilst the narrator deserves special mention for his skill at pacing the story with just the right amount of gravity and levity. The combination of sex, violence and comedy keeps us interested together with a serious discussion as to why world events have ebbed and flowed so dramatically over the years. As a result each era makes sense and any book which makes a modern teenager want to hear more and stimulates discussion has my strongest recommendation.

This is a very fresh look at history. This is the history of peoples as much as individuals and follows the tribes of man from their earliest beginnings to events that happened in the lifetimes of people living today. Andrew Marr offers us a view from a different perspective and made me look at things in ways that I never had before. I am not just better informed for having read this book. I have a new understanding of the world. It is the best history that I have ever read.