Need recommendations on world history books

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Which are readable and not too dry. I want an all-encompassing world history book for cheap which goes into details, not just skims over everything, for cheap but good price per page (I can spend 15-17$). If there ain’t a one volume book, recommend me detailed but inexpensive, readable book on any ancient times in egypt (those pharaohs interest me!), greece, rome, and other parts of the world as a starting point. or middle ages, times of the crusades also. It would be a bonus if - I don’t want a textbook with just dates. I want to know about the important events, AND the culture, and social history, if possible.
 
The Story of Civilization by Will Durant is an eleven volume history of the world up to the early 1800s

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Civilization

1 Series outline
1.1 I. Our Oriental Heritage (1935)
1.2 II. The Life of Greece (1939)
1.3 III. Caesar and Christ (1944)
1.4 IV. The Age of Faith (1950)
1.5 V. The Renaissance (1953)
1.6 VI. The Reformation (1957)
1.7 VII. The Age of Reason Begins (1961)
1.8 VIII. The Age of Louis XIV (1963)
1.9 IX. The Age of Voltaire (1965)
1.10 X. Rousseau and Revolution (1967)
1.11 XI. The Age of Napoleon (1975)

Besides talking about kings and wars, each book has long sections about the cultures of civilizations being discussed, their arts, music, writings, philosophers, and the common everyday lives of the little people.

You could not find a more thorough description of the world history than here.

You can buy the complete set of eleven books at once from Amazon for five hundred dollars, but Amazon does mention “used” sets for ninety-one dollars.

You might get them even more cheaply from eBay.

Oh look! 😃
I just did a search on eBay and found plenty of offers.
ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2051337.m570.l1311.R2.TR4.TRC0.A0.Xwill+durant&_nkw=will+durant+story+of+civilization&_sacat=267&_from=R40

Er…
there is also the Columbia History of the World
amazon.com/Columbia-history-world-Arthur-Garraty/dp/B00005VN3D
 
I liked Warren Carroll’s history series and he is Catholic! I read them like i did novels 🙂

Here is the first of the series. They got a bit more condensed towards the end as he was very old and possibly ill; he died a couple of years ago.

Check out Abebooks–they may have is less expensively, but be aware of shipping costs.
 
Rocks_91 said:
Which are readable and not too dry. I want an all-encompassing world history book for cheap which goes into details, not just skims over everything, for cheap but good price per page (I can spend 15-17$). If there ain’t a one volume book, recommend me detailed but inexpensive, readable book on any ancient times in egypt (those pharaohs interest me!), greece, rome, and other parts of the world as a starting point. or middle ages, times of the crusades also. It would be a bonus if - I don’t want a textbook with just dates. I want to know about the important events, AND the culture, and social history, if possible.
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I haven’t read it but I heard that Professor McNeil (a Canadian)l taught Western Civilization at the University of Chicago for years and this was the book used for his course:

amazon.com/History-Western-Civilization-William-McNeill/dp/0226561607/ref=la_B000APKA14_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385510355&sr=1-5
The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community is a book by Canadian and University of Chicago historian William H. McNeill, first published in 1963 and enlarged with a retrospective preface in 1991 (University of Chicago Press, 1992). Its first edition won the U.S. National Book Award in History and Biography in 1964[1] and it was named one of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the 20th century by the Modern Library.[2]
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ris…uman_Community

Most of the following books are very expensive (also in the second post below) because they are out of print but if you have access to even a mediocre public library my guess is that they will have some of these books in their collections.

Almost any public library should probably have some or most of the Time Life books and a few of the Isaac Asimov history books:

“The World According to Isaac (Asimov)” :egyptian::

Famous as an author of science fiction, Isaac Asimov was a prolific author and wrote many books about the sciences, the humanities, and history.

These history books I think were mostly written in the 1960s; they were originally written for older children in junior high and high school but today would be considered Freshman college level books.

These are very readable and Asimov always makes a point of mentioning the important developments in the various civilizations’ literature, science, and technology.

Asimov does make some negative comments about organized religion in some of the books, especially in the book about Constantinople, and he always points out in the beginning of the books he refuses to use the year designation of A.D. and uses the secularist CE (“Common Era”) instead but I wouldn’t let any of these flaws turn you away from his books.

Asimov had a real talent in bringing the historical personalities and events of the civilizations he wrote about to life in his books.

amazon.com/The-Near-East-Years-History/dp/0395065623/ref=pd_sim_b_4

amazon.com/The-Egyptians-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395065720

amazon.com/The-Greeks-A-Great-Adventure/dp/0395065747/ref=pd_sim_b_4

amazon.com/The-Land-Canaan-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395125723/ref=pd_sim_b_9

amazon.com/The-Roman-Republic-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395065763/ref=pd_sim_b_8

amazon.com/Roman-Empire-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395065771/ref=pd_sim_b_1

amazon.com/Constantinople-Forgotten-Empire-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395109086/ref=pd_sim_b_2

amazon.com/Dark-Ages-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395065658/ref=pd_sim_b_7

amazon.com/The-Shaping-England-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395065798/ref=pd_sim_b_6

amazon.com/The-shaping-France-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0395138914/ref=pd_sim_b_5
 
By Harold Lamb:

Harold Lamb’s history books about the Crusades are written in a more literary style of writing and hence make great reading:

This book is about the First Crusade:

amazon.com/The-Crusades-Iron-Men-Saints/dp/B000QLTE6E/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

This book is about the doomed Second Crusade:

amazon.com/The-Crusades-Flame-Islam/dp/0961600519

Time-Life’s: The Great Ages of Man Series are written by various historians and are a bit dry to read but they contain great photographs of the art and important buildings of the various periods of history unlike the previous books I have mentioned above:

Barbarian Europe - The Great Ages of Man Series:

amazon.com/Barbarian-Europe-Great-Ages-Man/dp/0809403803/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385515010&sr=1-3&keywords=time+life+barbarian+europe

Great Ages of Man: Age of Faith (TIME-LIFE BOOKS)

amazon.com/Great-Ages-Faith-TIME-LIFE-BOOKS/dp/B009JW09E2/ref=pd_sim_b_16

The Reformation: A History of the World’s Greatest Cultures (The Great Ages of Man):

amazon.com/Reformation-History-Worlds-Greatest-Cultures/dp/0662278208/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385515212&sr=1-1&keywords=time+life+the+reformation

Byzantium (Great Ages of Man):

amazon.com/Byzantium-Great-Ages-Philip-Sherrard/dp/0809403277/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385515279&sr=1-1&keywords=time+life+byzantium
 
Hi. I will look into those. Some of those are not available on Amazon-India at the moment like the Durant series. Is the one-volume New Penguin History of the World by J.M.Roberts good for getting a beginning history overview? I saw it recommended on some other websites. It’s a little less than 20$.

I thought about getting different books for ancient egyptology, greco-roman history, and middle ages, but I can’t find good books which are CHEAP! I also saw Barbara Tuchman recommended but I read the preview on Amazon for Distant Mirror, and not sure if I like her writing too much, but it was ineteresting and I will probably get it later. If you guys know of somewhat cheaper books, please share. Also, church history.
 
Persian Fire by Tom Holland was a easy book, I think you’d enjoy it. Its about the rise of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great, capturing Babylon, invading Greece and a showdown with the spartans at Thermopylae… and lots more.
 
Can anyone tell me if The Templars by Piers Paul Read is an easy read and informative for those without prior knowledge of the crusades? I’m considering buying it, but some reviews on sites like Amazon and Goodreads say it is dry and tedious whereas others rate it well.
 
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