
A History of the World in 100 Objects (2010) - tagawa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_World_in_100_Objects
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JohnBooty
I listened to the entire series and it's absolutely fantastic; one of my
favorite things ever. It's interesting on two levels.

One, the history itself is fascinating, even for somebody like me that's
generally not a big history buff. (Perhaps it helps that the episodes are
short!)

Two, the central conceit -- snapshots of history as told via examinations of
various historical artifacts -- actually changed the way I look at things
around me. Every single object we hold, mundane or otherwise, holds so much
information and is shaped by so many things.

Here's one example I remember well: the famous "The Great Wave off Kanagawa"
print. We tend to think of it as the most quintessential Japanese print.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa)

But it's more complex and interesting than that. It actually marks a big
turning point in Japanese culture, as it actually incorporates major European
influences: the rich blue inks and a European use of perspective to depict the
mountain in the distance. So this unmistakably Japanese print represents a
crossroads...

~~~
joosters
I love the way that this series shows how much can be revealed by the simplest
of objects. For example, the Oxus chariot -
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/sbCfsq5kSFak...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/sbCfsq5kSFaknMhxuK9zow)
\- transcript:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/ep...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode26/)

It's a tiny (but intricate) model of a chariot, rider and passenger, and yet
through this, the program explains how it reveals the vast orderly road
network of an empire, the functioning of a state and the diversity of its
religions and regions.

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aw3c2
You can get all the audio episodes for free at
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads....](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads.rss)

    
    
        wget  -i <(curl -s http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads.rss | grep -Po 'http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/.*?mp3' | sort | uniq)

~~~
fforflo
Is there a way to get the results "sorted" ? The filenames don't help much

~~~
aw3c2
They are tagged so you can use something like easytag to rename them based on
that. Alternatively just use a proper podcast client to download them all, I
like gpodder 2.

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SpanishArch1
Not a very great list for the history of the world in 100 objects in my
opinion. Neil could have picked anything but nope. Take the last 5 items
representing the past 100 years. No objects representing WW1, WW2 and the
computer revolution probably three of the most seminal moments in human
history are left out. In its stead is the painting "In the dull village" and a
Sharia compliant credit card. The whole list seems painfully diverse and
mundane.

~~~
bboreham
He picked objects _in the British Museum_.

Wars have their own museum in London - the Imperial War Museum - and the
computer revolution is somewhat represented in the Science Museum.

~~~
throwupper247
The Credit Card probably contains a 8051 core, anyhow.

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imglorp
The entire story of the HMS Beagle's chronometers is fascinating. She carried
22 where most vessels of time only one or three.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_chronometer_from_HMS_Be...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_chronometer_from_HMS_Beagle)

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spdegabrielle
Skip Wikipedia - it doesn't add anything. Go straight to
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/](http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/)

