Publisher Description
About 60,000 years ago, the first Homo sapiens were just beginning their move across the grasslands and up the ladder of civilization. Everything since then, as they say, is history. Just in case you were sleeping in class that day, the geniuses at mental_floss magazine have put together a hilarious (and historically accurate) primer on everything you need to know—and that means the good stuff. Twelve core chapters of world history tackle everything from civilization's baby steps in the Fertile Crescent to the Not-Really-That-Dark-Unless-You-Lived-in-Europe Ages to A World United by Terror and TV. From the Golden Haemorhoids of the Philistines (punishment from above) to the likely namesake of the cartoon elephant Babar (a Mongol prince) to the most pressing language translation issues facing the menus of today ("carp" vs. "crap"), all of history's most interesting bits have finally been handpicked and roasted to perfection.
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“Heller and the boys from Mental Floss just know that it’s easier to listen to history when it’s presented as fun instead of a chore.”
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AudioFile
About the Authors
Erik Sass is a writer for MediaPost Communications, an integrated publishing and content company whose mission is to provide a complete array of resources for media, marketing, and advertising professionals.
Steve Wiegand is a veteran journalist who has been writing for the Sacramento Bee since 1989. Prior to that, Wiegand was chief political writer for the San Diego Tribune for five years and a political writer and the Sacramento bureau chief for the San Francisco Chronicle for eight years. He is the author of Sacramento Tapestry and US History for Dummies and a contributing author to Forbidden Knowledge.
About Johnny Heller
Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.