-
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
- How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
1177 B.C. (Revised and Updated)
- The Year Civilization Collapsed
- By: Eric H. Cline
- Narrated by: Eric H. Cline
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages.
-
-
The narration is awful
- By J. Colville-Hanson on 07-10-21
By: Eric H. Cline
-
The Scythians
- Nomad Warriors of the Steppe
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.
-
-
Well researched but narrator is terrible
- By John M. on 01-17-21
By: Barry Cunliffe
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
As a complete layman, this is very good
- By Donald Carroll on 09-13-18
By: James C. Scott
-
The Etymologicon
- A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
- By: Mark Forsyth
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: How you get from “gruntled” to “disgruntled”; why you are absolutely right to believe that your meager salary barely covers “money for salt”; how the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world (hint: Seattle) connects to whaling in Nantucket; and what precisely the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.
-
-
Why settle for the whole nine yards...
- By Dubi on 12-21-15
By: Mark Forsyth
-
Gobekli Tepe
- Genesis of the Gods: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden
- By: Andrew Collins
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built at the end of the last ice age, the mysterious stone temple complex of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is one of the greatest challenges to 21st century archaeology. As much as 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge, its strange buildings and rings of T-shaped monoliths - built with stones weighing from 10 to 15 tons - show a level of sophistication and artistic achievement unmatched until the rise of the great civilizations of the ancient world, Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon.
-
-
Thin gruel
- By Laurie S. on 08-19-18
By: Andrew Collins
-
Babylon
- Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place. In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ago to the eclipse of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. Bringing the people of this land to life in vibrant detail, the author chronicles the rise and fall of power during this period.
-
-
Solid overview 3000 years of history
- By Alsor2000 on 07-19-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
-
1177 B.C. (Revised and Updated)
- The Year Civilization Collapsed
- By: Eric H. Cline
- Narrated by: Eric H. Cline
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages.
-
-
The narration is awful
- By J. Colville-Hanson on 07-10-21
By: Eric H. Cline
-
The Scythians
- Nomad Warriors of the Steppe
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.
-
-
Well researched but narrator is terrible
- By John M. on 01-17-21
By: Barry Cunliffe
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
As a complete layman, this is very good
- By Donald Carroll on 09-13-18
By: James C. Scott
-
The Etymologicon
- A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
- By: Mark Forsyth
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: How you get from “gruntled” to “disgruntled”; why you are absolutely right to believe that your meager salary barely covers “money for salt”; how the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world (hint: Seattle) connects to whaling in Nantucket; and what precisely the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.
-
-
Why settle for the whole nine yards...
- By Dubi on 12-21-15
By: Mark Forsyth
-
Gobekli Tepe
- Genesis of the Gods: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden
- By: Andrew Collins
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built at the end of the last ice age, the mysterious stone temple complex of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is one of the greatest challenges to 21st century archaeology. As much as 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge, its strange buildings and rings of T-shaped monoliths - built with stones weighing from 10 to 15 tons - show a level of sophistication and artistic achievement unmatched until the rise of the great civilizations of the ancient world, Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon.
-
-
Thin gruel
- By Laurie S. on 08-19-18
By: Andrew Collins
-
Babylon
- Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place. In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ago to the eclipse of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. Bringing the people of this land to life in vibrant detail, the author chronicles the rise and fall of power during this period.
-
-
Solid overview 3000 years of history
- By Alsor2000 on 07-19-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
-
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
- The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Adam Rutherford
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species - births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex. But those stories have always been locked away - until now. Who are our ancestors? Where did they come from? Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our DNA has completely upended what we thought we knew about ourselves. Acclaimed science writer Adam Rutherford explains exactly how genomics is completely rewriting the human story - from 100,000 years ago to the present.
-
-
DETAILED BUT ENTERTAINING
- By Robert Blais on 04-24-19
By: Adam Rutherford
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Great book, poor narration
- By Nick M. on 03-27-16
By: Jared Diamond
-
The Inheritance of Rome
- Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000
- By: Chris Wickham
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 32 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prizewinning historian Chris Wickham defies the conventional view of the Dark Ages in European history with a work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessible scholarship. Drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches, Wickham argues that these centuries were critical in the formulation of European identity. Far from being a middle period between more significant epochs, this age has much to tell us in its own right about the progress of culture and the development of political thought.
-
-
Excellent Intro to An Obscure Period
- By Earth Lover on 07-30-18
By: Chris Wickham
-
Origins
- How Earth's History Shaped Human History
- By: Lewis Dartnell
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the southeast United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea.
-
-
GREAT Book with a Narrator Who's Falling Asleep
- By aaron on 08-02-20
By: Lewis Dartnell
-
The Ancient Celts, Second Edition
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 2,500 years, the Celts have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then, huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds. All these developments are part of this fully updated edition.
-
-
History of the other part of Europe
- By Christopher on 08-29-19
By: Barry Cunliffe
-
Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World
- By: Philip Matyszak
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This thorough guide explores those civilizations that have faded from the pages of our textbooks but played a significant role in the development of modern society. Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World covers the Hyksos to the Hephthalites and everyone in between, providing a unique overview of humanity's history from approximately 3000 BCE-550 CE. Each entry exposes a diverse culture, highlighting their important contributions.
-
-
Gripping and seamless
- By Mike Heim on 05-13-21
By: Philip Matyszak
-
The Triumph of Seeds
- How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life, supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and the humble peppercorn drove the Age of Discovery, so did coffee beans help fuel the Enlightenment and cottonseed help spark the Industrial Revolution. And from the fall of Rome to the Arab Spring, the fate of nations continues to hinge on the seeds of a Middle Eastern grass known as wheat.
-
-
Wonderful, Accessible Book About Little 'Ol Seeds
- By Jeff Koeppen on 09-12-18
By: Thor Hanson
-
The Forge of Christendom
- The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the approach of the first millennium, the Christians of Europe did not seem likely candidates for future greatness. They saw no future beyond the widely anticipated Second Coming of Christ. But when the world did not end, the peoples of Western Europe suddenly found themselves with no choice but to begin the heroic task of building a Jerusalem on Earth. In The Forge of Christendom, Tom Holland masterfully describes this remarkable new age, a time of caliphs and Viking sea kings, the spread of castles, and the invention of knighthood.
-
-
A Worthy Expansion to the Dark Ages
- By William Ratkus on 12-11-18
By: Tom Holland
-
The Invention of Yesterday
- A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative. Many thousands of years ago, when we existed only as countless small autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers widely distributed through the wilderness, we began inventing stories - to organize for survival, to find purpose and meaning, to explain the unfathomable.
-
-
Relaxed but packed with insight
- By Tad Davis on 02-14-20
By: Tamim Ansary
-
A War Like No Other
- How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hanson compellingly portrays the ways Athens and Sparta fought on land and sea, in city and countryside, and details their employment of the full scope of conventional and non-conventional tactics, from sieges to targeted assassinations, torture, and terrorism. He also assesses the crucial roles played by warriors such as Pericles and Lysander, artists, among them Aristophanes, and thinkers including Sophocles and Plato.
-
-
"A War Like No Other" is a Book Like No Other
- By Chris on 02-06-20
-
Scipio Africanus
- Greater Than Napoleon
- By: B.H. Liddell Hart
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scipio Africanus (236-183 BC) was one of the most exciting and dynamic leaders in history. As commander, he never lost a battle. Yet it is his adversary, Hannibal, who has lived on in public memory. As B. H. Liddell Hart writes, "Scipio's battles are richer in stratagems and ruses - many still feasible today - than those of any other commander in history." Any military enthusiast or historian will find this to be an absorbing, gripping portrait.
-
-
Excellent performance of a tough script.
- By A. Johnson on 12-23-19
-
The History of the Medieval World
- From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T'ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled.
-
-
The First Half of the Medieval World
- By Troy on 08-11-14
By: Susan Wise Bauer
Publisher's Summary
Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe?
Until now, their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization.
Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David W. Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of Central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange.
He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding.
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries - the source of the Indo-European languages and English - and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anthony
- 08-09-19
Excellent
I have had this book at home for several years and did not finish reading it because it is hard to find the time to sit and read. Audiobooks provide a wonderful alternative and I was able to listen/read this excellent book in just a few days.
Please, audible, record more academic books like this one. It makes all the difference to people who want to read serious, non-fiction, archaeology, linguistics, science-related books written by scholars. Unfortunately books of this caliber dealing with a more unique subject are relatively rare here. I usually have to wade through the standard popular subjects and the books written about ancient aliens. For those who find David W. Anthony's writing to be too academic, that is the point. He is presenting academic research. I can't imagine why someone would purchase the book if they wanted a cursory overview of the subject. There is plenty of light weight and popular history on this site from which to choose. Although I did not need the pdf because I already own the book, it covered all the technical information described in the pages dealing with charts.
This subject is all the more fascinating in light of the genetic research that has been revealed since its publication. I recommend further researching his writings online as well as those of David Reich.
60 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L. Green
- 02-10-19
Fascinating Stuff, and then...Pots of the Steppes
After some fascinating insights about PIE, the Indo-European languages, and even methodological issues and divides, the book *really* bogs down into comparisons of pots, grave sites, figurines, pots, a few more pots, skeletons, and another eight splashes of pots.
The author is an archaeologist, and that eventually shows. The last third or so of the book seems to reveal that his real interest is in the physical remnants of steppe culture, not their language or its influence. He revels in the artifacts, not really letting non-specialist the reader in on the secret (all that often) of why this vast array of detail is all that relevant to PIE except in broad strokes that he already expressed much earlier. Admittedly, there may be some final chapters left that reintegrate linguistic elements, but I’ve been on the steppes of his pottery and pit grave talk for about 5 hours and I’m not sure I’ll see Zion.
The book is honestly worth it for the first 40% if you’re interested in the root of European languages, hence the 4 stars. Just...be prepared.
42 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- rvr-rnr
- 10-16-19
Great Narrator, Great Content, Wrong Format
This really needs to be read in print. It's fascinating, but academic enough to feel like taking notes/annotating and being able to flip back and forth between pages is necessary to follow the argument he's piecing together. I wound up downloading the ebook about halfway through and using it along with the audiobook.
Narrator is great
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Evan
- 05-08-19
great book!
very well researched. I wanted maps in the PDF. besides the lack of maps it was great.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous 626
- 04-10-19
Magnificent book
This book intertwines archeology & linguistics with an exceptionally detailed an compelling description of the origins of info-European language. At times the pace seems tedious, but the rationale and crescendo of evidence that ties everything together at the end makes this story compelling & irrefutable.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ebeth
- 11-03-20
The most boring book I ever tried to read
Even though I am a retired language teacher and some interest in linguistics, this book defeats me. It is so boring that I have not been able to finish reading it even though I have tried three times. It starts out well, but then bogs down in Proto-Indo-European linguistics at such great length that I couldn't stand it any more.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joseph Duke
- 01-03-20
Beating a Ceramic Dead Horse
Starts off tolerably well but soon turns into what could be considered an interminable doctoral dissertation rather than an approachable account of how civilization developed in a largely overlooked part of the world. It takes a lot of effort to take such an interesting subject and make it excruciatingly boring, but the author does just that by deluging the reader with mind-numbing statistics regarding pottery types and other archaeological minutia that would best confined to a PDF appendix. The book literally runs into the ground about a third of the way in and never recovers. I feel sorry for the narrator.
Overall, the writing style is sterile and academic, to the point of the author referring to his archaeologist spouse by last name (for some reason this irked me). A more personal approach and some judicious pruning of the data would have bumped this title up at least a couple stars.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael
- 01-07-19
Good but Dense and Variable and Monotonous
I am dubious about histories of never written languages (as there is a lot of guessing involved) and this is no exception. The arguments are strong, but questionable and unverifiable and seem of questionable practical value.
This book is not mostly about this scholastic language debate. Instead it also looks at the history of the wheel and horses in civilizations.
There is a 33 page PDF associated with the book which is much better than hearing the tables read aloud!
It is mostly too-much-information, except for the appendix regarding some of the issues with carbon dating techniques.
This archaeology is interesting, but dense, and alternates between popularly conversational and dense, abbreviation filled, academic text.
The narration is clear and audio is good, but monotonous (mostly due to the writing).
I definitely read this to the end, and I did learn a few things, but I can't say I enjoyed it a lot.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-17-19
Interesting but dense
Very data heavy and dense with archaeological detail. A truly fantastic book can create interest where none exists, and brings a distant culture to life. This book did neither. The point almost got list in the pottery shards. I wouldn’t have made it through this one if not for an intense pre-existing interest. Since I was interested, I survived the litany of Bronze Age grave site descriptions that started to run together. Ultimately worth the effort to pay attention.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Origins of Indo-European daughter languages
Narration: Enunciation clear but unvarying, monotonous rhythm is not much fun and impedes comprehension.
Content: Detailed--actually, turgid--explanations of how Indo-European root languages constitute the foundation from which modern European and central Asian languages emerged.
This information is certainly important to serious students of linguistics and archaeology. Laypersons, however, need more accessible explanations--less jargon, less meticulous detail, more concrete examples, and simpler explanations.
Potentially profitable for serious language theorists. All others directed to Teaching Company language collections, which cover much of the same material, but which are more accessible to laypersons.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Chris
- 04-27-19
Detailed academic work
Large parts of this book were unsuited for audio, however the more accessible opening chapters were fascinating. A great effort from the reader as this book must have been hugely difficult to narrate.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tony
- 07-01-19
A very impressive work
In 1786, Sir William Jones noticed the commonalities between Sanskrit and ancient Greek. This led to the recognition of the vast Indo-European language family spoken by 3 billion people today.
The original proto Indo European speakers were pastoral nomads who drove wheeled vehicles, rode domesticated horses and began to use dairy products – a package that was to guarantee their dominance wherever they went. Their migrations were the engine that powered the bronze age.
By combining the insights of historical linguistics with meticulous analysis of archaeological data (available since the end of the cold war) David Anthony describes who these people were and their history.
His conclusions are not so different from the recent powerful insights available from the genetic analysis of ancient DNA described in Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich (available on Audible) and more recent papers by Chuan-Chao Wang et al at the Department of Archaeogenetics, Max-Planck Institute
I enjoyed THE HORSE, THE WHEEL, AND LANGUAGE. It is very rigorous however - the sections on pottery were great for falling asleep to
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- john
- 04-21-21
Seminal contribution
An immensely important accomplishment in this fecund field of philosophy. Not an entirely easy read, but worth your while.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- hellojoanie
- 02-14-22
This was too academic for me
I thought this would be really interesting, but I found it difficult to listen, the narrator did not make the subject come to life.
I gave up on it by chapter three, I was very disappointed.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jeff
- 01-22-22
Not a great read. Lots of detail no story.
Not a great read. Lots of detail but no story. More an academic book than one for the likes of me.