Review: Lost Worlds
I’m a big fan of Patrick Wyman’s work in history podcasting and was happy to check out Lost Worlds. This is a history of prehistoric or at least early history societies that are often overlooked in our historical narratives. Wyman’s not just taking readers on a tour of interesting societies that most people haven’t heard of. He’s also championing the idea that none of humanity’s development is a guaranteed outcome. If some of these societies had hung on longer our world might be very different.
Along the way he describes a ton of new scientific techniques in enough detail to understand them and find out more if you want. Even if you hate the idea that the organization of modern states was not the only outcome, the info about how we’re learning more about the past is a worthwhile investment.
Wyman writes clearly both in describing how isotope distributions in bone remains correlate with locations and in the dirty day-to-day of a society we barely understand. Doing the latter without overstepping the bounds of what we do know is a joy to read.
Strongly recommended.