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  • A Less Boring History of the World

  • By: Dave Rear
  • Narrated by: Miles Jupp
  • Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (78 ratings)
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A Less Boring History of the World

By: Dave Rear
Narrated by: Miles Jupp
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Summary

Refreshes the parts other history books can’t reach.... A bit ropy on the Renaissance? In the dark about the Enlightenment? Or, in fact, do you need a revision course on the entire history of the world and want to read a witty, irreverent, definitely not boring romp through everything that has ever happened on planet earth – from 15 billion years BC to the present day? Good. A Less Boring History of the World tells you everything you need to know from the Big Bang to Barack Obama, taking in the Byzantines, the Black Death, the Boston Tea Party, Bonaparte, and Bin Laden along the way. Each historical episode is boiled down to edible, bite size chunks so that you can finally piece together all the different bits of history - and see how on earth we ended up in the mess we are today.

Whipping through the chaotic journey of man, past ancient civilisations, the rise of empires, and the fall of bankers, A Less Boring History refreshes your memory and broadens your mind. And, if that’s not enough, it will also make you laugh. A lot.

©2012 Dave Rear (P)2012 Random House AudioGo
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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What listeners say about A Less Boring History of the World

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    1 out of 5 stars

Patronising & Flippant

The idea of this book was so appealing - to fill in gaps in my history knowledge without being too dry. Instead David Rear is astonishingly patronising and flippant. To say Bangladesh was created "for some reason" as an end note to a vague chapter on India and Pakistan is breath-takingly rude, ignorant and just not funny. The over-riding feeling I had was that Miles Jupp gamely read out this desperately unfunny book as best he could. I'm sure I could feel him cringing though.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Far from a boring listen

The history began with a homage to Briget Jones, a nod to Genesis and a wink to science and continued to hold my attention throughout. Miles Jupp's narration is excellent. Perfect for a long car journey, or in my case making a day spent cleaning and ironing far less dreary.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Quite funny

This was quite an amusing listen with many lol moments but really it should be called A less Boring History of the West considering the majority of the content was European/ US based.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

the title is quiet correct

I like history, this book was a great, light hearted look at the world.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a damn good listen.

when someone as easy to listen to reads as interesting a book as this life is good.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Fun & lighthearted introduction to history

This is a great start for those who didn't do history at school & find the more challenging & detailed history compilations a little daunting. Only criticism is that you might remember the jokes more easily than the facts & it's definitely for teenagers & above!

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1 person found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Dull, uninformative and not funny

This isn’t funny, it’s not informative. It ha nothing going for it. I returned the title.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and informative

History of the world delivered with truly English wit. A pleasure to listen to, expertly read with perfect common timing by Jupp

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Too many 'jokes' not enough substance

I thought this was an into and then it would go into more depth. Nope. the book just ended. If you no zero about history then it's good... but not child friendly. It's just a quick skim through history. Narrator was good.

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