This Fleeting World Summary

We are only a brief second in the long history of the universe; many things have preceded us to make us the most complex creatures that ever walked the Earth. We are a “new level of complexity” which makes us different from all other creatures that have come before us. Our species has only been around for 250,000 years, a short time compared to the formation of the Earth at 4.5 billion years ago and the creation of the Universe at 13.7 billion years ago, but the time we have had on this Earth has greatly affected the outcome of history. In an attempt to provide an overview of human history in his book This Fleeting World, David Christian introduces it in the context of the history of the universe and then systematically breaks it down

.There are five themes that are focused on in AP World History which are significant in understanding World History. First, the major theme of interactions between humans and the environment is significant because the environment impacts a large amount of human society. Though the human society is also progressively making a change in the environment. In addition, the theme development and interaction of cultures is important for because observations from this theme can show how groups in the community see themselves and others, and how they react to varieties of conflicts. Observations such as religions, philosophical interests, and technical approaches. Next, state-Building, expansion, and conflict is another valuable theme for AP world for

This Fleeting World is a small summary of ‘big history’. David Christian’s book is a mere 92 pages long with an included 9-page prequel (on topics during the first years without humans such as Earth’s creation and more) and 16-page appendix on the book’s use in school, historical periodization, and a 4-page list of sources. With around 120 pages, this short book seems to be the perfect size to represent how our species’ history is only miniscule fraction compared to the history of that around us. In a world that has been around for over four and a half billion years old (6) in a universe that is 13.8 billion years old (1), homo sapiens have been around for only approximately 250,000 of those years (9). It seems impossible, though, to fit those hundreds of thousands of years into the modest text. However, Christian does the impossible and makes a well written short ‘big history’. Where many other historians before him have failed at making one, Christian’s book, This Fleeting World, summarizes history from the big-bang all

William Deresiewicz, “The end of solitude”, The Chronical, January 30, 2009, pg. 1 to 4.

In reading a Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich you realize that history seems so much less complicated when you are the one standing back and reflecting on the past. You realize how easy it is to often forget that every single new idea, religion and war was a struggle that lasted generations upon generations. History is more than just a page or a story, its our account of the world. That goes to show how short life and history is, you realize that history is always repeating, war after war, peace then war. There are good and bad periods in history and its up to us to learn from them. In a way history is much like a human being it goes through stages, learns about life, and has inner struggles or wars about their ideas and their beliefs.

Numerous advantages and disadvantages exist when explaining the history of the world in seven minutes, as seen in "The History of the World in Seven Minutes." As a result, many events are briefly looked at, or ignored completely. Both major and important occurrences in history are summarized, giving the events most influential to humans a spotlight or greater focus. On the other hand, humans have made exceptional progress over the last 15,000 years, consequently, all of the major time periods, civilisations, and confrontations cannot be observed by more than a name and a date; the lack of depth creates a sense of lacking and a gap of missing knowledge.

The Paleolithic Period is the earliest time period man has been alive, and the longest of the Stone Age's. It dates from 2,000,000 B.C to 10,000 BC The people of the Paleolithic Period lived simple lives, which consisted primarily of survival. Man's life was simply to hunt, eat, and survive, while the woman's job was to gather and watch over the children.

     The Paleolithic Period is the earliest time period man has been alive, and the longest of the Stone Age's. It dates from 2,000,000 B.C to 10,000 BC The people of the Paleolithic Period lived simple lives, which consisted primarily of survival. Man's life was simply to hunt, eat, and survive, while the woman’s job was to gather and watch over the children.

Christian envisioned the periodization of world history like a puzzle and the pieces of the puzzle were the theoretical, organizational, ethical, and technical problems of the periodization. Christian was able to solve the problems of the periodization of world history, since his “organizational aspects of all periodization systems moderately well in its first and third eras” (104). This is valid since the author arranges the book in chronological order by providing the reader with a list of main events in a chart (Era of Foragers- page 2, The Agrarian Era- page 26, The Modern Era- page 59) which allows the reader to know understand the sequences of each era. Also, he provides the readers a glimpse of the main ideas to help the readers understand a specific time period. To illustrate, “Explaining the Modern Revolution” on pages 64-67 “explains why rates of innovation have risen so fast during the modern era” which includes Accumulated Changes of the Agrarian Era, Rise of Commercial Societies, and Development of a Single Global Network. As mentioned on page 98, periodization problems appear because world historians have difficulty choosing what are the important

My favorite era is the Contemporary Era. In history, the Contemporary Era is a time that had profound changes the modernized the identity of the development of many new cities. In the early modern era, people and cities grew through the spirit of modernism throughout all over the world. People were going away with cultural traditions and starting a new civilization future for the twentieth century. The founding on new discoveries cause new foundation trends to be expressed with a new understanding in believing and living.

Political, economic, and social conditions have often led to turning points that have changed the course of history for nations and people. The Paleolithic Era and Neolithic Revolution was a turning point that changed the orbit of history for mankind. In Documents 1, 2, and 4, they explain life before the Neolithic Revolution and what changed during the period and provide an analysis of results of the revolution. They introduce food supply and settlement, and civilization and trade.

In This Fleeting World, a nonfiction novel by David Christian, the ability to create, destroy, communicate, travel, and farm have all changed greatly over time, while the trends of life expectancies, equal rights, and competition have stayed the same.

Francis Schaeffer summarized his the entire book when he wrote, "To understand where we are in today's world–in our intellectual ideas and in our cultural and political lives–we must trace three lines in history, namely, the philosophic, the scientific, and the religious" (Schaeffer, 2005, p.20). Schaeffer is mainly stating that society is getting away from its Christians roots. He walks through instances in history where society has moved away from the principle teachings of the Bible. He believes that the problems in society are because individuals are ignoring the Christian principles that this world was built upon. He warns that this shift can have a catastrophic effect on how the world will look in the future.

The first scholars that existed named the whole period of human devolvement the “Stone Age.” The stone age is divided into three periods which are Paleolithic which means the old Greek age, Mesolithic and Neolithic which is the new Greek age. The Paleolithic and Neolithic stone ages have many great differences and has changed greatly between the two periods.

Right when the subject of a dangerous atmospheric devation emerges numerous people either groan and evade talk, or wear their dueling gloves and prepare for a warmed verbal showdown. A couple people feel remorseful, and concerned; some fundamentally couldn 't mind less. Unmistakable viewpoints yield assorted positions on the subject. Beginning from the intelligent and natural viewpoints, myrmecologist Edward O. Wilson looks at the earnestness of an overall temperature modification, a bit of the strings of trusting that repudiates his own, and a bit of the results of continues with manhandle of the earth in his book The Destiny of Life. While a couple people may ensure deadness on the subject, an unsafe environmental deviation and critical data exhibiting yearly additions in overall temperature have been conveying all through the media and analyzed in schools and workshops around the world. While there might make countries that don 't fathom an unnatural weather change or how individuals add to it, the made countries that are the best providers to a hazardous climatic division are incredibly especially instructed of the condition. The question is will the all inclusive community who can act and take off enhancements to extra nature do in that capacity, or will they play bonehead and look the other way while the world as they most likely know it breaks down at their feet?