Big History

As a typical coffee table book, there is less text than in a book without pictures. But I felt that the amount of text provided was enough for me to understand the topic. The book has plenty of pictures. I felt like I was reading the book version of the documentary "Cosmos" hosted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Like "Cosmos", this books explains the origins of both the universe, our solar system and of planet earth. It explains the origin of life in our planet, human evolution and the history of human kind to the present day through the lens of how humanity deals with earth in order to stay alive and reproduce. This a concept known as "Big History" as explained by David Christian who wrote the book "Origins" and wrote the foreword for "Big History". I came across this concept watching in YouTube the series "Crash Course Big History" hosted by John Green and Hank Green which I strongly recommend. I bought this book, "Big History", used for $17.04 from TextBookRush and was described as "Used-Good". I am still reading the book and I had found only two places where somebody underlined a few lines with a pencil and somebody left a finger print with something I cannot erase. Otherwise, the book looks and feels to me like a brand new book. I don't work for this bookseller. This is really an independent review. I am providing this information only because some people may be unwilling or unable to pay full price for this excellent book, and I believe the other reviewers who complain that this book is virtually unreadable in its electronic Kindle version. If you buy this book, buy the hardcover paper version like I did.

I have read David Christian’s other books and have loved them so I purchased both of these from DK. I could not find a single difference (I looked through well over half of the pictorial references and then gave up). I think “New Edition” simply means they shrunk the size of the book. The table of contents is identical. The smaller paperback version is lighter and easier to read the text. But the graphics are much easier to appreciate in the larger size. I am glad I have both.

No doubt this is a lovely and interesting coffee table book, but it’s format is difficult to read as a Kindle book. The book begins with the Big Bang!

Book exactly as described

Besides being a wonderful history of earth and life on earth, this book is lavishly and pleasantly illustrated. You can even zoom on pages to enjoy all the detail. There are also some great explanations of the significance of evolutionary steps for further diversity, the conquest by life on land etc.

Book written like a newspaper spread in columns. Print was too small to read and could not be enlarged using the kindle apps. Had to use fingers to enlarge, then had to return to the columns and spend minutes manually manipulating the page to move to the next paragraph. What a waste of resources and time! I couldn't get past the first page. Never order anything that "tech gurus" (i.e. Bill Gates) are involved in! I tried again to read this as I was interested in the topic. But again the formatted did not allow me to read much of it. What I was able to read (1 page? hard to know as the pages kept skipping all over the place) sounded pretentious verging on pompous. Now I feel justified deleting it from my kindle. Good Riddance!

I always like DK books. Unfortunately, this book was missing so many important aspects of human history that it becomes ascientific. If you get this, please supplement it with Huston Smith’s illustrated world religions, and Brian McGee’s illustrated history of philosophy.

This is a gift for my brother. I watched the DVD's awhile ago. My search began when I wanted to know what happened since the beginning of the universe until the present. It may not be appreciated by someone who does not believe in evolution or the Big Bang theory. I am not sure about those theories but I was not offended by it.

Compré este libro en el outlet, me costó 219 pesos. Yo la verdad no esperaba mucho por el precio y por ser de outlet, creí que era un libro arrumbado y feo, lo compré porque me gustó el concepto y las imágenes de muestra. Además de que la verdad también me llamó mucho la atención que decía precio original 900 algo y 700 pesos de descuento. Así que lo compré. El día que llegó quedé gratamente sorprendido, es un libro hermoso. Tiene las tapas duras, mucho contenido, información interesante, y las hojas son de calidad. Sinceramente no es un libro de 200 pesos, mínimo 500 o 600. Fue ridículo el precio. Es de esas compras que haces en Amazon en las que dices... bendito Amazon

This book is great, It covers life on our planet from our humble beginnings to the present day with lots of extra information.

Big History is such a cool concept. It covers literally everything. I wish it were taught in schools.

La coleccion DK es de las mejores. Gran calidad, excelente contenido y detalle fotografico sin igual. Muy recomendable. Gran libro de referencia.

solo que no avisaron que no facturaban, siempre recibo mi comprobante fiscal y ahora no pude obtenerlo, sin embargo el producto si ese el que esperaba