Summary of E. H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The story of how we remember is like a bottomless well. We use our memory to light up the past, first our own, and then ask old people to tell us what they remember. We then look for letters written by people who are already dead.

#2 The history of the world is the story of how everything came to be the way it is today. It all goes back much further than just the mountains and the animals, to when the earth was a swirling cloud of gas and dust.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822544567

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The story of how we remember is like a bottomless well. We use our memory to light up the past, first our own, and then ask old people to tell us what they remember. We then look for letters written by people who are already dead.

#2

The history of the world is the story of how everything came to be the way it is today. It all goes back much further than just the mountains and the animals, to when the earth was a swirling cloud of gas and dust.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The Neanderthal people were the ancestors of modern humans. They were different from modern humans, who appeared about seventy thousand years ago, in that they had low foreheads and no forehead ridges above the eyebrows. But their brains were no smaller than those of most people today.

#2

The Stone Age, which is the period in which humans began to use tools and create settlements, began before the last Ice Age. Prehistoric people suffered from the cold, and if they came across a cave where they could shelter from the freezing winds, they were happy.

#3

The Ice Age lasted for an unimaginably long time. It was cold and dark, and the cave paintings that were made during this period depicted animals that did not exist anymore when the paintings were done. The Bronze Age was when people first used metals to make tools.

#4

We must remember that people were cruel and deceitful long before the modern day. We must also remember that people were the greatest inventors of all time, even before the modern day.

Insights from Chapter 3

#1

The Egyptians, who lived in Africa, were very dependent on the Nile River. The Nile would flood the land twice a year, flooding the fields and creating rich soil. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile as if it were God himself.

#2

The Egyptians had a very complex religion, and one of its tenets was that the soul continued to need the body after death. So they invented a method of preserving the bodies of the dead, which was mummification.

#3

The Egyptians were extremely proud of their writing, and it was considered the most prestigious profession. They would write the name of their god, Osiris, in three scripts: ancient Greek, hieroglyphs, and another Egyptian script.

#4

The Egyptians were very wise and powerful, and their empire lasted for a long time. They took just as much care with