Cav's Reviews > A Short History of the World in 50 Lies

"If you’re anything like me, then when you were growing up, your parents taught you not to lie. This is a fairly universal lesson – lying is bad... "

Despite being excited to start A Short History of the World in 50 Lies, the finished product managed to thoroughly bore me to tears...

Author Natasha Tidd is a historian specializing in 'untold history', mental health and gender. Creator of the pop-history website F Yeah History, Natasha is passionate about highlighting history's under-sung stories and making history accessible to everyone. She works as a history writer, researcher and consultant.

Natasha Tidd:


The book opens with a decent intro, and I had high hopes for what was to come. I am admittedly very particular about how engaging and lively the books I read are. Fault me if you will, but there's almost nothing worse in a book than an author who can't hold the reader's attention. Write what you will, but - for the love of God, please don't bore me...

The author drops the quote above in the book's intro, and it continues below:

"...That’s not to say we don’t lie; indeed, multiple studies have found that lying is an inherent part of human nature, and who hasn’t told a white lie to protect feelings or get out of a spot of trouble? Still, we continue to tell our children not to lie, and for good reason. Even when we put aside morals and ethics and just focus on the practicality of the thing, lying is more often than not a damaging practice that tends to spiral out of control, creating chasms and domino effects that are impossible to reverse. If this is the effect that lying can have on our individual lives, then you can imagine the immense impact it’s had on history."

She also lays out the scope of the book in this bit of writing:

"Over the next fifty chapters, we’ll traverse some of the darkest events in human history. At times it can feel inescapably bleak, but in that mire of lies there is always light. Because, when we peel back the lies of history, we can gain a better understanding of not only history itself but the legacies of the past we’re left with today. This isn’t so much a book about uncovering the truth, as it is one of untangling the web of deceit that hid it and looking at why that web was there in the first place."

In my experience (broadly speaking); books on history break into two distinct camps. Some are well-written, telling the reader an interesting story while placing a premium on continuity, cohesion, and flow. Unfortunately, these books tend to be few and far between. More often than not, the author rattles off places, dates, and names in a monotonous fashion, managing to bore tf out of the reader as they go. They rattle off an endless torrent of tedium and minutia; effectively losing the forest for the trees....

Unfortunately, this book was a good example of the latter, and not the former. The writing started OK in the intro, and then dove into the weeds right after, where it remained for the duration.

********************

I didn't like this one. My reviews are always very heavily rated on how engaging I found the book. Sadly, this one really missed the mark towards that end for me.
If it were any longer, I would have put it down...
I would not recommend it.
1.5 stars.