Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature

This is top-notch work. The ideas presented in this book are challenging, the presentation clear, and the writing scintillating. Civilizations are ahistorical; this author gets it right.Iconoclastic historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's purpose is to disavow the use of abstractions -- "historical theory," an oxymoron -- to explain the existence of civilizations. He categorizes civilizations (a wide open term in common parlance) according to their environments, a novel and sage typology. But he draws few value judgments: each civilization has its own premises and style of life, according to which it is on its own terms a success, failure, or simply an experience through which its members must live their lives.Above all, I came away with an appreciation for the relativism and transciency of civilizations, including my own (North American industrial/imperial/multi-environment). One can already see the writing on the wall and the budding emergence of a more earth-friendly civilization, still inchoate, struggling to self-recognition -- and one hopes, dominance, before it's too late.This is an excellent read. I save a chapter for each new day, it's that yummy.

Thanks

If you are looking for a comprehensive treatise on the great civilizations of the world ... look elsewhere.Fernandez-Armesto discusses some of the major civilizations, but his focus is on the obscure. Nor is the book organized in a manner than makes much sense. Although Fernandez-Armesto acknowledges his "nature-oriented" perspective, it makes for difficult reading. This is coupled with the author's pretentious writing style. Reading the book, I had to wonder for whom he was writing this book. Unless one is well versed in history, this books will leave the reader confused rather than enlightened.I would recommend this book for historians, but not for the average reader.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto writes with grace and clarity, exploring a vast domain with an utterly new perspective that stimulates the imagination. Even readers familiar with the extensive literature on the development of civilization throughout human history will find this book well worth reading.

Bought it for my nephew who is a history buff. It was in fantastic condition. Tyvm!

This a bit of a dated take on World History. It loses its connection to the overarching theme by the end.

It is a broad and deep study of what we the humans are as part of our environment.

kill me now