reneedublin asked: Hi! I'm a recently converted history fanatic (mostly because of you), and was wondering about what kind of books you would recommend an 18 year old to read about concise, relevant world history. :)) I studied in a public school... so, yeah. Help would be very much appreciated. :)

Whoa. Thank you!

Anyway, on to world histories. Penguin has a decent world history survey book that is relatively light and easy to engage. The title is The New Penguin History of the World and it is written by JM Roberts. Actually, for just massive survey’s JM Roberts is a decent historian to look for. There is also a small book that was a published a few years ago called “A Little History of the World” by Ernest Gombrich that is quite readable. I think Oxford also has a good survey book on world history floating around out there.

What you will discover when you start reading history is just how (to be trite) massive the subject is. While world surveys give important context and allow connections to be made, I also recommend looking into regional (East Asia) and local histories (the Philippines), even specific periods (like, let’s say Ancient Rome or the Age of Exploration) or subjects (Enlightenment or American Revolution) eventually too. After reading up a bit on world history, start exploring the areas that you find personally interesting.

Good luck and enjoy!