Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World – A History of Civilization Through Trial and Error, Ice Age to Bronze Age - Hardcover
Synopsis
"Lost Worlds convinces us of the value of slowing down to recognize the tremendous diversity of the human past. But he presses hard against the conclusion that there was any direction or pattern behind its complexity." —The Wall Street Journal
“A spellbinding tour de force!” —Walter Scheidel, author of What Is Ancient History?
“This is non-fiction storytelling at its finest.” —Eric H. Cline, author of 1177 B.C.
The creator of the hit podcast Tides of History offers a new look at humanity’s deep past, showing us how our world was built not by inevitability, but by trial and error on a global scale.
There’s a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity’s deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age—the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word.
In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn’t always replace foraging, villages didn’t automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn’t necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn’t inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today.
Combining cutting-edge science with gripping storytelling, Lost Worlds explores:
- A Sweeping New History of the Ancient World: Discover how early societies rose, adapted, and collapsed across thousands of years of human history.
- The Archaeology Revolution: Ancient DNA, climate science, and new excavation methods are revealing how prehistoric people lived, migrated, and fought.
- From Ice Age Hunters to Early Civilizations: Follow the dramatic transformation that led from nomadic foragers to farming, cities, and powerful states.
- Why Societies Rise—and Fall: Learn how climate change, migration, population growth, and conflict shaped the fate of early civilizations.
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About the Author
One of the most popular history podcasters in the world, Patrick Wyman is the host of Past Lives, Tides of History, and Fall of Rome, and the author of The Verge: Renaissance, Reformation, and Forty Years That Shook the World and Lost Worlds. He received a PhD in history from the University of Southern California and has written for The Atlantic, Slate, and Mother Jones. In a past life, he covered mixed martial arts for Bleacher Report, Deadspin, and The Washington Post.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Lost Worlds
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Hardback. Condition: New. "Lost Worlds convinces us of the value of slowing down to recognize the tremendous diversity of the human past. But he presses hard against the conclusion that there was any direction or pattern behind its complexity." -The Wall Street Journal"A spellbinding tour de force!" -Walter Scheidel, author of What Is Ancient History?"This is non-fiction storytelling at its finest." -Eric H. Cline, author of 1177 B.C.The creator of the hit podcast Tides of History offers a new look at humanity's deep past, showing us how our world was built not by inevitability, but by trial and error on a global scale.There's a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity's deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age-the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word.In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn't always replace foraging, villages didn't automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn't necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn't inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today.Combining cutting-edge science with gripping storytelling, Lost Worlds explores:A Sweeping New History of the Ancient World: Discover how early societies rose, adapted, and collapsed across thousands of years of human history.The Archaeology Revolution: Ancient DNA, climate science, and new excavation methods are revealing how prehistoric people lived, migrated, and fought.From Ice Age Hunters to Early Civilizations: Follow the dramatic transformation that led from nomadic foragers to farming, cities, and powerful states.Why Societies Rise-and Fall: Learn how climate change, migration, population growth, and conflict shaped the fate of early civilizations. Seller Inventory # LU-9780063256484
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Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World - A History of Civilization Through Trial and Error, Ice Age to Bronze Age
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Lost Worlds
Published by
HarperCollins Publishers Inc, US, 2026
ISBN 10: 0063256487
ISBN 13: 9780063256484
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Hardback. Condition: New. "A spellbinding tour de force!" -Walter Scheidel, author of What Is Ancient History? "This is non-fiction storytelling at its finest." -Eric H. Cline, author of 1177 B.C. The creator of the hit podcast Tides of History offers a new look at humanity's deep past, showing us how our world was built not by inevitability, but by trial and error on a global scale. There's a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity's deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age-the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word. In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn't always replace foraging, villages didn't automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn't necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn't inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today. Combining cutting-edge science with gripping storytelling, Lost Worlds explores: A Sweeping New History of the Ancient World: Discover how early societies rose, adapted, and collapsed across thousands of years of human history.The Archaeology Revolution: Ancient DNA, climate science, and new excavation methods are revealing how prehistoric people lived, migrated, and fought.From Ice Age Hunters to Early Civilizations: Follow the dramatic transformation that led from nomadic foragers to farming, cities, and powerful states.Why Societies Rise-and Fall: Learn how climate change, migration, population growth, and conflict shaped the fate of early civilizations. Seller Inventory # LU-9780063256484
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ISBN 10: 0063256487
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Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. The creator of the hit podcast Tides of History offers a new look at humanitys deep past, showing us how our world was built not by inevitability, but by trial and error on a global scale. Theres a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanitys deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Agethe period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word.But instead of being an arc of progress, this period of immense change was not linear; it was littered with fits and false starts, failures, disasters, and the complete collapse of complex societies. With the recent explosion in available archaeological evidence, including ancient human DNA, we can now understand long-past people in unprecedented detail. By focusing on lost worlds of individuals and societies, we see that to be human is to try and fail. But it is also to endure.In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didnt always replace foraging, villages didnt automatically spark agriculture, and cities didnt necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasnt inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today.Sweeping, accessible, and filled with colorful detail, Lost Worlds is the story of how humanity built the world we live innot by destiny, but by experiment. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780063256484
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