Figuring Out The Past
The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History
Published on 29. October 2020
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-78816-192-3 (ISBN)
Description
What was the tallest building of the ancient world? Or the average life expectancy in medieval Byzantium? 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. Radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer draw on their own Seshat project - a staggeringly ambitious log of demographic and econometric information for every society that has ever existed - to find the large-scale patterns in Figuring Out the Past. Join them now for a dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past.
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. Radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer draw on their own Seshat project - a staggeringly ambitious log of demographic and econometric information for every society that has ever existed - to find the large-scale patterns in Figuring Out the Past. Join them now for a dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past.
Reviews / Votes
If you're thinking about setting up a giant land empire in Asia, you cannot do so without this book ... Vital ... If only the last Song emperor had had this book by his side, he might have avoided his appalling fate -- Dan SnowMore details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
460 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-192-3 (9781788161923)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Peter Turchin | Daniel Hoyer
Figuring Out The Past
The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History
E-Book
10/2020
Economist Books
€11.49
Available for download
Persons
Professor Peter Turchin is the founder of a new transdisciplinary field of Cliodynamics. He has authored seven books and has published 200 articles, including a dozen in such top journals as Nature, Science, and PNAS.
Dr Dan Hoyer works with Peter Turchin on the Deep Roots of the Modern World, part of the Seshat: Global History Databank Project.
Dr Dan Hoyer works with Peter Turchin on the Deep Roots of the Modern World, part of the Seshat: Global History Databank Project.