Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization

This book shows how the distant past has much to teach us, and one thing that caught me by surprise was that the financial system was every bit as complex as ours (futures and all), and it's impressive because they did it without computers. A scribe was a combination lawyer/ banker drawing up contracts, and all they had was their memory, a stick and slabs of clay. Their free-wheeling economic system crashed and burned too, usually resulting in people having to sell themselves or other family members into slavery to cover their debts. Fortunately we have now have bankruptcy as an option and have done away with the slavery, but you can see that either way there is no happy ending. It's too bad this isn't widely known or maybe someone might have spotted the parallels with our own situation in time to avert trouble.The book is packed with fascinating facts and you learn a lot about why the Middle East is the way it is. Some thinking that seems backward to us makes perfect sense when you find out the context and back-story; we still may not agree with it but at least we will understand it better. This should be a text book used in grade school when studying about the earliest civilizations instead of the boring stuff they're using now. I love history and reading but was put off this subject in school years ago due to the horrible text books, and only started reading about the period again after taking an art history course- the images drew me in. These people are interesting, and Mr. Kriwaczek makes it clear that there were some real characters. After all, history is the never-ending story of what actual people did, and it should be a crime to squeeze the life out of it. That's not a problem with this book and I enjoyed learning from it.

This book provides an appealing mix of overviews and detailed information that provide both perspective and insights. There is also some fairly well supported conjecture on the evolution (or even "sea-star changes") in norms for governance, religious beliefs and societal norms (such as the status of women).This spans the time period from early Sumerian culture to the end of the last (and greatest) Assyrian Empire. The text provides lessons in societal aspirations as affected by natural forces (drought, etc.) and the balance of power (inadvertent elimination of a vital buffer state – Elam – that lead to disastrous invasions). The quality of presentation is almost consistently good; the “sprinkling” of intellectual “nuggets” is unpredictable, but pleasing.It is sadly relevant in helping one to anticipate the magnitude of a new wave of chaotic disaster in the Iraq of 2014.

This is a great book that does an excellent job creating analogies between ancient Mesopotamian civilization, history, and culture and our modern times that make that ancient world feel alive and recognizable to our own. Each page is informative and interesting, offering fresh perspectives relevant to anyone interested in global history, or even how basic aspects of human nature are reflected in societies over thousands of years.

You don't have to be a history buff to enjoy this book. The style of writing is excellent. The author reveals that the ancient people were real live individuals. Without giving anything away, he shows the cuneiform tablets to almost be diaries of day-to-day living. He gives a great overview not only of these great civilizations, but what it was like to live in that ancient time. He also shows that our present day "greatness" represents our merely following ancient footsteps in the sand. This is not just a history book. It is a thought-provoking work that makes one wonder where we are now and where we are going.

I purchased the Kindle version of this book in 2017. I was looking for something about the beginnings of civilization. For me, the book turned out to be a real snoozer, mostly owing to the tidal wave of historical gobbledygook. Not what I was hoping for in learning about Mesopotamian beginnings and everyday life. So, I put the book aside. However, earlier this year, an audiobook version of the book was offered by Audible. Thought I would give it a try. I listened to the audio narration while reading the Kindle version. This time, I got through the book. While the underlying research was impressive, the presentation was still historical gobbledygook. One huge annoyance was that the Kindle version did not provide the photos (20) that the author was describing in his explanation. I had to search for the photo being described on another device – i.e., a true multimedia approach to reading a single book. I agree with the reviews that found the book too wide and too shallow. Hard to understand why a book entitled “Babylon” did not offer a single word about its famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world (I did a search of the book). This book was not for me. I do not recommend it.

As far as a history book goes this is great. However, with the title Babylon and a subtitle Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization it is quite deceptive. The book only dealt with the Babylon of the 6th and 7th century BC in half of the final chapter. I kept looking at the number of pages left and wondering when he was going to get to the reason I bought the book.All that to say that it was a book about Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization with a quick mention of Babylon towards the end.I like history and as far as Mesopotamia goes it was a great book. However I gave it four stars because of the deceptive title. Now I'll have to find another book about Babylon, because I really didn't learn much about the Babylon most people think of when you talk about Babylon.

Este libro es una de las joyas de kindle, es sin duda la historia de babilonia con muchas relaciones a temas de la actualidad, momentos de descubirimientos o devastaciones arqueologicas importantes, es un libro que se disfrutará mucho y contiene alto contenido historico pero relatado con una narrativa interesante y no tediosa.

As with his book Zarathustra this one if full of rich detail and interesting facts and stories. I loved it. I'll read both of his books again and again over the years.

For those of us who are genuinely fascinated with life in the ancient world, this book is a must read. Paul Kriwaczek gives a memorable account of how Mesopotamians as a people built a thriving civilization around themselves that flourished in trade and commerce, in the arts, in agriculture, sculpture, and pretty much every other aspect of life. Just like Rome was not built in a day, neither was Babylon. More so, Rome, Byzantium and Persia followed the footsteps of Babylon, the undisputedly most progressive city in the ancient world.Each of the kings from Gilgamesh to Cyrus of Persia is a fascinating character in the book.Read for the sheer joy of it.

Il libro in sé è frutto di ricerca ed è esposto in chiave semplice, pertanto la lettura risulta scorrevole anche ai non madrelingua senza difficoltà. Tuttavia, mi vedo costretto a dare un voto medio poiché il testo contiene troppi accenni all ideologia e al pensiero politico Dell autore, certamente non richiesti in un saggio che dovrebbe essere puramente storico. Trovo insopportabile il modo in cui le idee sono poi esposte, subdolamente e facendo credere al lettore che il suo pensiero sia quello degli antichi popoli della Mesopotamia. Personalmente non sono nato ieri e si difendermi dalle scemenze con cui molti oggi infestano eventi storici... Lo stesso però non vale per il lettore medio.

Very well written, the subject is fascinating. I did not know that much about Mesopotamia before reading this book, especially taht they had tried so many different systems or that they were so closely related to our present day ideas, techniques and myths.