I never finished American Gods. Things got hectic at home and I returned the book back to the library. Two months later, I signed myself up to get Social Studies certified and I needed a book that could cram as much history into me as I could get in a little more than a month.
World History for Dummies by Peter Haugen is a crash course in, well, world history. But it teaches it in such a way that you'll remember. And it teaches you things you didn't (or couldn't) learn in high school. Such as Vasco de Gama. Seriously, do you know who this guy is? You might know he was an explorer, but what he explored/founded, you may not remember. Well, he found a way to India by going around the tip of Africa. But this guy was an @$$hole. After his men, left to spy on the Indian ruler, were killed (for spying, of course), de Gama became extremely militaristic, killed Muslims (who he blamed for killing his men) and sent a shipload of body parts to the Indian ruler. Lovely!! (And memorable!)
It's also not like your history textbook in that it's not in sequential order. There's different sections, such as Civilizations, and it goes through different civilizations and how they were all interconnected. But it's written so lightheartedly, so...smoothly, that you're not bombarded with names and dates that you can't grasp.
One thing that IS annoying and you will be bombarded with is constant references to other chapters/sections. The book can be read any way you want. You want to learn about Egyptians - check out this chapter, this chapter, and this chapter. You don't have to read every page or section. I am, however. And that makes reading slightly annoying because every paragraph or so has a note about other chapters/sections I can read to find out more about a particular culture, person, or topic. It's not in the margins. It's in parentheses IN the paragraph.
Nonetheless, it's a great book. I'm 150 pages in and I'm confident enough to give this book an 8 out of 10. Way to teach history!!!
