Pathfinders is a slow read, 400 pages of small print, interesting illustrations, and a multitude of characters from the first hominids to venture out of Africa to those who climb Everest or explore the ocean depths today. The author follows early man as he spread out over the world and became many peoples with different languages and cultures. Then he begins following the pathfinders who left their homes to go meet other cultures, sometimes to trade with them and other times to conquer them. The last section is about the globalization that took place in the 20th Century as fewer and fewer places were unknown and any major event in one place had repercussions all over the world.

On the whole I enjoyed this book even though the author couldn't spend too many pages on any one story but had to move on to the next. Otherwise there would have been many volumes rather that just the one. The only part where I got a bit bogged down was a section about a third of the way in and I think that only happened because of recent reads in the time period which made it seem like a summary of those other books. As an overview of human history it was very good and I liked his approach.

Todo lo que se aprende !!!

I thought this book began with promise. It kept me engaged for the first few chapters but began to tail off. You could say this book is a mile long, but an inch deep. I think it's hard to do such a broad topic justice in the span of 300-some-odd pages. ( )