The Mental Floss History of the World

I picked this book up on a whim. Admittedly, the cover had a lot to do with it: a carnival-like mish-mash of notable historical figures, and the promise of history's “best bits” somewhere in there. As a historical buff, there was absolutely no way I would not pick this up, and I did.

After having just finished reading it, I'm rather on the fence about this one. I see it's merits, to be sure, but at the same time, I do see where a reader might not be happy with it.

First, a caveat. I might just be nitpicking here, but when Magellan's death is brought up in the book, it is mentioned “he was eaten by natives.” This is quite sensational, but not true - there is no historical evidence of pre-Hispanic Filipinos practicing cannibalism in any way, shape or form, and in fact Magellan was killed in a skirmish against a native chieftain named Lapu-Lapu, in waist-deep water around the island of Mactan. Pigafetta's account of the battle, along with his observations of the pre-Hispanic Filipinos, clearly indicates that though Lapu-Lapu and his men might have killed Magellan and refused to return his body to the Spaniards, they did not eat him. The cultural milieu of the area was more akin to their Malay predecessors and neighbors, who did not practice cannibalism, as opposed to the natives of distant Papua New Guinea.

But that is a simple, minor error, and can be ignored in light of other, more positive things that can be said about this book. Its best feature is its sheer readability: none of the weight (literally and figuratively) usually associated with textbooks is to be found anywhere in it. There is also a sprinkling of interesting facts that do not normally show up in standard history textbooks, which are handily tied up with the main body of the topic. Each chapter begins with a set of important dates, and ends with a set of important numbers - these are usually the hardest parts to remember when it comes to learning history (for me, at least), so to have them handily book-ending each chapter is quite convenient.

Another good thing about this book is its tongue-in-cheek humor, though given that this is from the people at Mental Floss, that is pretty much par for the course. Nevertheless, it does take away a lot of the tedium that comes along with reading a standard textbook version of history, and there are quite a few moments that will make the reader chuckle. Not outright laugh, since the humor verges on the rather corny, but chuckle.

On the downside, though, this is a very “lite” version of world history. It does not cover the main events with any great depth, and some minor (but still important and still fascinating) events are not covered at all. Then again, this is to be expected: the book itself is only a few hundred pages long, and to cover all of history with any greater depth would mean publishing either an impressively long book (“the first book visible from space,” as the authors cheekily mention in the introduction), or publish several volumes. I would have liked a multi-volume version of this, with each book going over a specific period of history with more depth, but this is merely me as a history buff speaking.

But then again, this book was not really meant for serious history buffs in the first place. For those of us who loved history before coming across this book, this is nothing more than a quick reference, something to turn to when one needs to confirm something and access to Wikipedia is unavailable. It's possible to find amusement in it, especially if one is of a mind to treat history a little less seriously, but for true depth, the history buff might have to look elsewhere.

For the layman, however, or for someone who doesn't like history but wants to, then this is a great introduction to the joy, drama, and outright weirdness of history. Like a sports highlights program on ESPN, this book really does cover “the best bits,” and quite a few of the important ones, too. The cheeky treatment of history in this book makes history more accessible, and (hopefully) will lead to a greater interest in the subject.