About two years ago a good friend of mine died. He was once a history professor at the University of New Mexico, and because his family knew he and I used to ramble on about history, they gave me his heavily annotated copy of The Columbia History of the World [x].

After two years of gathering dust on my shelf I decided to pick it up and leaf through it. From what I read, skimming excerpts at random, I found the style enjoyable--and his annotations entertaining and intimate in that used-book sort of way.

Now I'm no historian, just a fan of history, but regardless the book is over 30 years old and I was wondering how wary I should be going into it.