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Figuring Out The Past
A History of the World in 3,495 Vital Statistics
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See moreThe numbers that tell the story of humanity
The numbers that tell the story of humanity
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Description
What was history's biggest empire? Or the tallest building of the ancient world? What was the average life expectancy in medieval Byzantium? The average wage in Old Kingdom Egypt? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ritual human sacrifice ever?
We are used to thinking about history in terms of stories. Yet we understand our own world through data: vast arrays of statistics that reveal the workings of our societies. So, join the radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer for a dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past.
Drawing on their own Seshat project, a staggeringly ambitious attempt to log each piece of demographic and econometric information that can be reliably estimated for every society that has ever existed, Figuring Out The Past does more than tell the story of the past: it shows you the large-scale patterns.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Figuring Out The Past is seen as a vital resource for understanding historical patterns, particularly for those interested in empire-building. It has been suggested, somewhat humorously, that such knowledge could have changed the course of history for leaders like the last Song emperor.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781788161930
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 03 November 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Economist Books
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 13.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 228.0mm
Weight: 330g
Pages: 272
About the Author
Professor Peter Turchin is Project Leader at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. He is a founder of a new transdisciplinary field of Cliodynamics and has authored nine books.
Dr Dan Hoyer is an historian and social scientist serving as Senior Reseracher and Project Manager of the Seshat: Global History Databank Project. He has been collaborating with Peter Turchin since 2014.
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