This Fleeting World Essay

This Fleeting World takes about two hundred and fifty thousand years worth of history and compacts it into a one hundred and twenty page book. I believe Christian did a stellar job of doing so. Although short, it is very rich in knowledge about how our world came to be. His points are powerful and well put. This book definitely stands out in all the black and whiteness of history books. This fleeting world ties the start of humanity, to current life very efficiently.

The moment the earth was made was when history was first conceived.

The introduction tells us about the making of planet Earth, which sets up the scene for the arrival of the Foragers. The history of man consists of three primary eras: the Era of Foragers, the Agrarian Era, and lastly, the Modern Era. The Era of Foragers, also known as the Paleolithic Era, lasted the longest out of the other two eras. Historians must piece together this era with fossils and such, since there was no written evidence.

Foraging; the act of food collecting, or living off the land, was humanity’s first step on this long journey or civilization.

As time ticked, agriculture was discovered. The advancement of farming techniques allowed for more efficiency in producing food; population increases resulted of the more abundant flow of food and nutrition. This new way of living would be the Agrarian Era. Unlike the people before their time, the Agrarians farmed off their land and settled down. Lastly, came the Modern Era. The era in which we live in today. This era consists of lots of technological, and industrial advances. This Fleeting World is a spectacular representation of the world’s journey.

The book views it in the bigger picture which is a perspective that makes it very easy to understand. In writing this book, David Christian’s intention was to enlighten people on how far mankind has come in all of its aspects. Aside from the many events of history that Christian left out, the course that he took in mapping out mankind’s journey was still very clear and impeccable. History should be told as a story; rather a series of facts written down to blandly inform us in which we may not even retain.

He wanted to capture our attention so we could maybe realize the importance of our prehistory. Christian’s book gives you a better understanding of the order of how the world began to fall in place. He allows us to know not only what and where, but also when, which is important in understanding our history. Starting out as Homo Sapiens, human kind has come a long way to become what we are today. I believe David Christian backs up his claims exceptionally with information. He creates an outstanding balance between fact and opinion.

His opinions are always backed with reasonings and fact, which leave us very convinced and satisfied. For example; “The emergence of new forms of radical anti-Westernization is merely one reflection of growing resistance to Western values” (Christian 88). He then backs up his claim in the next paragraph stating, “In 1960 the wealthiest 20 percent of the world’s population earned about thirty times as much as the poorest twenty percent; in 1991 the wealthiest twenty percent earned sixty-one times as much” (Christian 88).

To prove his point, Christian applies opinions, facts, statistics, and judgement to stand next to his claims. He is a writer in accuracy, not just opinion. David Christian has indeed written a phenomenal book that breaks down our history into satisfactory proportions. It gives us a better grasp on our history and the lives of those who walked the Earth before us. This Fleeting World ties the start of humanity, to current life very efficiently.