The History of the World According to Facebook (original 2011; edition 2011)

by Wylie Overstreet

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
157	6	181,902	(3.61)	6

Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-history-of-world-according-to....

The History of the World According to Facebook requires both an understanding of history and an irreverent sense of humor. As the title suggests, the book presents history from the beginning of time to present day (or present day a couple of years ago) in status updates and comments. What a record of history might have been if Facebook had always existed, and if everyone and everything posted on Facebook.

As a reader, you have to have some knowledge of history. The status updates and comments are funny if you understand what they refer to. For example:

The update is "The Sun is now friends with Earth and 7 other planets." Pluto's comment, "Not cool."

The update is "Helen of Troy changed her current city to Troy." Menelaus's comment, "Did your acct. get hacked babe?"

The update is "Princess Peach is at Another Castle with King Koopa." Mario's response, "You've got to be kidding me."

I found myself looking up references when I did not quite get something, and then going, "Now I get it!"

As a reader, you also have to have a sense of humor and the ability to not be easily offended. The books tackles history - political, religious, ethnic, economic, and cultural. Many of the issues are very serious, but are presented in a humorous, irreverent fashion. If that is likely to offend your sensibilities, this is not the book for you.

I found the book amusing, and easy to pick up and put down. And as someone who has books in every room of the house, this one did find a home somewhere where the writer suggested. (

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njmom3 | Sep 2, 2012 |

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Showing 6 of 6

Very quick read and a funny book. I laughed out loud in many places. (

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dorie.craig | Jun 22, 2017 |

A clever and funny way of describing historical events from the creation of the earth right up to the modern day. This book has some hilarious moments where as others, particularly the more obscure references may need a bit of research to fully understand the joke, overall though and fun, light book to flick through for a good chuckle. (

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Elliots89 | Jul 10, 2013 |

Yes, it's a one trick pony. But it made me guffaw any number of times. Overstreet has his finger on the pulse of ... well, us as hive-mind. Some of the pictures he chose to represent historical people/events were hilarious. I thought the inclusion of the odd modern bit into the historical timeline (Marty McFly, for example) was well done. Silly, fun, and worth picking up. (

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satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |

Just like reading a bunch of Facebook status updates, this book got annoying after a while and it was time to put it down and do something else. I'm not writing that as a bad thing, just that the author got the Facebook flavor.

The book definitely requires a knowledge of history or the willingness to look references up. The jokes aren't funny if you don't know what he's talking about.

I did find myself wondering if the specific dates he gave for some events were correct. Obviously Lincoln at Ford's Theater and JFK in Dallas were right, but I wondered about some of the more obscure references. Also, the profile pics were pretty well matched, but someone didn't do all their research. For example: the picture of Pharaoh for the Israelite's exodus from Egypt was a picture of Akenaten. Ramses II was the pharaoh of the Exodus. That bugged me.

I also thought the book could have been a little longer. With not much text on a page he could have added more historical events both past and present.

Overall I did enjoy the book, hence the 4 stars. (

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sailorfigment | Apr 4, 2013 |

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njmom3 | Sep 2, 2012 |

This was all right -- chuckle-worthy at times, though no outright laughs. I would probably appreciate it more if I was on Facebook more often. The author provides a pretty comprehensive history of the universe from the Big Bang up until May 2011. (

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meggyweg | Oct 31, 2011 |

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Showing 6 of 6