As the title said, I grew up in a Young Earth Creationist household, so my historical (and scientific) knowledge is lacking at best. I'd like to learn more about known world history, but I'm finding that my knowledge of the subject is so shallow that I can't even pinpoint specific events to learn more about.
I've been lurking this subreddit for a while, and am slowly gaining bits of knowledge about random subjects. But I need a way to get an overview of big events throughout history so this knowledge can gel a little better.
Can anyone recommend some good reads to help me acquaint myself with world history? Maybe even something that compares/contrasts with a Biblical background, so I can grasp a bit of context from it?
For the record, I am no longer religious, and will by no means be offended by something that tells me how wrong my upbringing was. I just want to learn.
If you would like to have some fun while learning about technological development, I recommend a series that aired on BBC, and later US PBS called "Connections". It was hosted by a very interesting guy by the name of James Burke (no direct relation to myself).
The series is very interesting and the names, places, and inventions he talks about will provide you with an endless number of subjects, events and historical figures to study in depth.
He also has a very interesting view of how our world has developed.
Enjoy!
The AskHistorians book list
Crash Course World History and Crash Course World History 2 are probably the easiest and most digestible things I can find on youtube. I enjoyed them, anyway. They also have other science-y cool things on that channel if you're interested.
I know many of the contributors on this board have a dislike of this book, but if you're looking for one book to provide a basic introduction to the modern study of world history, I would suggest Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. The book itself is, to quote another flaired contributor, "problematic", and I fully admit that Diamond does sometimes discard good history in favor of weaving a good story. That being said, GG&S is a good introduction to one of the major lenses through which history is presently studied: the Trends and Forces theory. The basic crux of this school of thought is that history evolves as the result of impersonal events, and that over time certain inputs will lead to predictable (if mutually discernible) results.
The other end of the "scale" of historical study is what might be called classical Great Man theory: the idea that certain individuals play an inordinately large role in the formation of their times, and so to understand them is to better understand the events they influenced. Like many classical understandings of the humanities, this concept was disavowed by large sections of academia for a good portion of the 20th Century, but it has undergone a resurgence in Western circles in recent years based on some of its own merits. For instance, it is difficult to imagine the Civil War progressing as it did had Abraham Lincoln never been President, or World War II being the world-spanning maelstrom of ideologies it came to be without the existence of Adolf Hitler, so obviously an understanding of influential individuals is useful in the study of history, even if it is no longer considered a be-all, end-all explanation of the same. If there's an historical figure you would like to know more about, or a time period you would like to better understand, there are definitely plenty of biographies on almost everyone in the worldwide historical cast of characters from which to choose.
Please note that I am simplifying for the sake of clarity; there are whole college courses on what is known as "historiography", which is the study of the history of history, confusingly enough. There are books on this, too, but since you didn't ask I'll try to stay on topic.
If you want an interesting way to learn history without all the reading of thick tomes, might I also suggest Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast. Like Jared Diamond, Carlin does occasionally simplify or embellish for the sake of the story, but on the whole his work is generally credible and very, very engaging. If you spend a lot of time in the car or listening to the radio, podcasts are an easy way to pick and choose your topic without having to devote lots of time to reading. He does big multi-part series on huge events (the Mongols, the Collapse of Republican Rome, World War I, etc.), and the most recent 8-10 of his podcasts are free! Find him here.
I expect there will be a lot of backlash attached to this comment, but I've recommended these because I hope they'll have a sort of "survey effect" for you. They touch on a lot of topics and if one in particular engages you, I would encourage you to explore it further!
Please just remember this: the reading of a few books does not an expert make. Occasionally we'll have people post all over this board with "facts" they've read in Howard Zinn or Jared Diamond or whatever; this is a one-way, express ticket to getting absolutely crucified by both the flaired posters and the mods. We are more than welcoming of questions inspired by something you've read - after all, that's why we're here! - but the great curse of history is that there is always more to know.
Welcome aboard, friend.
Why the West Rules - For Now by Ian Morris is probably the best book for a summary of history. It's like Diamond's book, but better sourced and more convincing. Morris is an actual archeologist.
The BBC and British Museum collaboration 'A history of the World in 100 objects' is absolutely fantastic.
You can explore the archive chronologically or by geographical region.
For each object there is a webpage where you can view photos, read a few paragraphs about that specific object and read about the wider context in which it originated.
Each object page also has a link to a short podcast, usually about 15 minutes long which tells its story (BBC radio so they should be free and accessible outside the UK)
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/a_history_of_the_world.aspx