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Civilization
- The West and the Rest
- Narrated by: Niall Ferguson
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
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Civilization
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Summary
If in the year 1411 you had been able to circumnavigate the globe, you would have been most impressed by the dazzling civilizations of the Orient. The Forbidden City was under construction in Ming Beijing; in the Near East, the Ottomans were closing in on Constantinople. By contrast, England would have struck you as a miserable backwater ravaged by plague, bad sanitation and incessant war. The other quarrelsome kingdoms of Western Europe - Aragon, Castile, France, Portugal and Scotland - would have seemed little better. As for fifteenth-century North America, it was an anarchic wilderness compared with the realms of the Aztecs and Incas. The idea that the West would come to dominate the Rest for most of the next half millennium would have struck you as wildly fanciful. And yet it happened.What was it about the civilization of Western Europe that allowed it to trump the outwardly superior empires of the Orient? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, was that the West developed six "killer applications" that the Rest lacked: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism and the work ethic. The key question today is whether or not the West has lost its monopoly on these six things. If so, Ferguson warns, we may be living through the end of Western ascendancy. Civilization takes readers on their own extraordinary journey around the world - from the Grand Canal at Nanjing to the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul; from Machu Picchu in the Andes to Shark Island, Namibia; from the proud towers of Prague to the secret churches of Wenzhou. It is the story of sailboats, missiles, land deeds, vaccines, blue jeans and Chinese Bibles. It is the defining narrative of modern world history.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
- Tom
- 28-04-12
Very entertaining, interesting and informative
Reviews of this book on Amazon are mixed but I have always liked Niall Ferguson's wwork so took the plunge. I am glad I did so. I thoroughly enjoyed the book - full of interesting facts and anecdotes, novel and thought-provoking ideas, global in scope and outlook, and very well written. I was genuinely sorry when it finished and I am sure I will read it again.
A real bonus is the excellent narration by the author himself. He was clearly enjoying himeself, does all the accents very entertainly, paces himself perfectly, and his enthusiasm and energy come through loud and clear. Tremendous stuff.
Strongly recommended, particularly if you like history.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 21-03-16
Very good, but...
It's a very well written, and well read book. The 6 killer apps are a tad gimmicky and some of the analysis is potentially questionable, but it's great to see a historian with the balls to write a grand narrative as academic history becomes ever more esoteric.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew Holmes
- 28-02-19
Great book.
If you have enjoyed his other books, you will enjoy this one. Very clear and well written.
Also, the narration is fantastic.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- R
- 12-08-15
Great book very informational
Gives you a great insight into civilisation, a span of over 2000 years of history. I learn lots from it and so would you. It's well read and laid out. It starts from pre crist in the east and goes through listing all the great empires and the fall of them, through to the present west dominance and how our civilisation might be on the way out
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Nikki Kat
- 29-12-12
Civilisation
Civilisation by Niall Furguson is a must for any fan of historical non-fiction titles. It's a very enoyable read (listen) and although I didn't necessarily agree with the author on all points it certainly was entertaining, something Niall Ferguson's narration adds to. This book is well worth the asking price - highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- UKReader1695
- 27-01-17
Brilliant!
Comprehensive and thought provoking analysis of the history of civilisation. Niall Ferguson is my favourite commentator on the world and how things developed over time. His thorough approach always surprises me with the level of detail and the clear explanations of why things are as they are. His theory of 5 killer apps is extremely interesting and very compelling.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Judy Corstjens
- 28-07-15
Quite hard work
There are (these days) history books that romp along and build up a convincing story in your head. This one didn't quite achieve that for me; it started slipping into a list of events. Thus I found myself having to re-listen three of four times and force myself to concentrate. Mr Ferguson does try to make it easier by defining the 'killer apps' of Western civilisation, and then structuring the book around these killer apps, but the killer apps are not quite as clear-cut and illuminating as you might hope. Still, a good set of thoughts; I enjoyed the amount of time spent on clothes and the textile industry and the importance of consumer society to our modern civilisation.
Narration. Ferguson does a fine job on the general narration, but falls down on the (extended and numerous) quotations. They are all done in the same, slightly nasal, all-purpose 'foreign' accent, from Bolivia to Japan. Quite bizarre.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Caomhinb
- 14-10-21
Excellent summary of the achievements of our civilisation
For all of you who feel that somehow modern civilisation is all bad, this book will remind you of how much we have achieved and that we can be proud of many great innovations in our lives and in the rest of the world.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Tanvir Arafat
- 05-06-16
Excellent
this gives an excellent summary of why the west dominated the rest and really hones in the principles of 'why'. very easy to listen too!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- MS F
- 29-12-16
Brilliant
Such an easy listen, I breezed through this. Love Niall Ferguson's work and this didn't disappoint
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