书籍介绍
翻开这本《人类简史》，你很难把它当作一部严谨的史学著作来读——它更像一位坐在壁炉边讲故事的老人，东一句西一笔，前因后果常常断裂，被不少读者批评为“流水账”。但正是这种“不严谨”，构成了它不可替代的魅力：房龙写迦太基，看到的是十几个船主和矿主把祖国当成生意场；写罗马，强调的是“少一点言辞，多一点行动”的务实。他不满足于告诉你“某时某地发生了某事件”，而是逼你去发掘行为背后的动机。它适合那些不愿被史实淹没、只想摸到历史体温的普通读者；也适合想换一种轻松姿态重新认识西方文明脉络的人。它不给你洞见，只给你观察——这恰是它与当代那些宏大叙事最本质的区别。
作者简介
作者简介：
亨德里克·威廉·房龙（Hendrik Willem van Loon, 1882—1944）20世纪美国历史学家，影响数代人的人文启蒙作家。他曾获得慕尼黑大学历史学博士学位，但与一般的历史作家不同，他的历史类著作大多幽默诙谐，轻松易懂，字里行间充满了强烈的人文情怀，因此受到世界各国读者的喜爱。他一生著作颇丰，代表作有《人类简史》《圣经的故事》《宽容》《房龙地理》等。
译者简介：
沈性仁（1895—1943），浙江嘉兴人，商务印书馆编辑沈秉钧之女，北大教授、著名社会学家陶孟和之妻。早年翻译有王尔德的作品《遗扇记》，并在《新青年》发表，受到诸多读者喜爱。后又与徐志摩一起翻译《玛丽玛丽》，受到胡适、金岳霖、朱自清等人的赏识。1925年沈性仁用心翻译房龙的《人类简史》，此书一经出版，便在中国掀起了一股经久不衰的“房龙热”。
AI导读
核心看点
- 本书并非尤瓦尔·赫拉利版《人类简史》，而是房龙经典历史著作《人类的故事》的早期译本。内容侧重西方文明史，涵盖从远古、埃及、两河流域到希腊罗马、中世纪及近代革命的完整脉络，旨在以通俗幽默的方式普及历史知识，而非探讨人类学或哲学理论。
- 作者房龙以讲故事的方式呈现历史，拒绝枯燥的学术堆砌，将历史人物还原为有血有肉的普通人。书中对战争、政治斗争及社会变革的描述生动且具戏剧性，强调历史事件的因果联系与人性动机，试图让读者感受历史的温度与情感，而非冷冰冰的数据与年代。
- 该书具有鲜明的时代局限性与作者个人偏见。内容极度偏向欧洲中心主义，对非西方文明如中国、印度等涉及极少。同时，作者对基督教及西方价值观持有强烈认同，部分历史评价带有主观色彩。读者需具备批判性思维，将其视为一种历史叙事而非客观真理。
读者共识
- 读者普遍认可房龙生动的叙事风格，认为其将历史人物写得鲜活有趣，具有感染力。但大量评论指出该书内容严重偏向西方，缺乏全球视野，且部分历史叙述存在错误与偏见。许多读者强调，此书不能作为严谨的历史学习依据，仅可作为娱乐性历史故事阅读。
- 多数读者强烈建议不要将此书与赫拉利版《人类简史》混淆或对比。两者受众与目的截然不同，房龙版被批评为缺乏深度、逻辑松散、流水账式叙述。部分读者认为其翻译质量差，阅读体验不佳，甚至认为其内容空洞，不如直接阅读正规历史教材或更客观的通史著作。
- 尽管存在争议，仍有部分读者欣赏其文学价值与人文关怀，认为其能激发对历史的好奇心。但共识是，该书不适合严肃的历史研究或深度思考，仅适合低龄读者或完全的历史零基础者作为消遣。对于希望获取正确、全面、客观历史认知的读者，普遍不推荐此书作为主要学习材料。
精彩摘录
- "Carthage was a plutocracy and the real power of the state lay in the hands of a dozen big ship-owners and mine-owners and merchants who met in the back room of an office and regarded their common Fatherland as a business enterprise which ought to yield them a decent profit."
- "Of course, such a "plutocracy" was forever at the mercy of the crowd. As long as there was plenty of work and wages were high, the majority of the citizens were quite contented, allowed their "betters" to rule them and asked no embarrassing questions. But when no ships left the harbor, when no ore w"
- "But just as the Greeks had not loved their Aegean teachers, in this same way did the Romans hate their Etruscan masters. They got rid of them as soon as they could and the opportunity offered itself when Greek merchants discovered the commercial possibilities of Italy and when the first Greek vessel"
- "But once the kings had been driven from the city, the Romans were forced to bridle the power of the nobles, and it took many centuries before they managed to establish a system which gave every free citizen of Rome a chance to take a personal interest in the affairs of his town."
- "They were less imaginative than the Greeks and they preferred an ounce of action to a pound of words."
- "He refused to accept battle but forever he followed Hannibal, destroyed everything eatable, destroyed the roads, attacked small detachments and generally weakened the morale of the Carthaginian troops by a most distressing and annoying form of guerilla warfare."
- "Unfortunately the messengers fell into the hands of the Romans and Hannibal waited in vain for further news until his brother's head, neatly packed in a basket, came rolling into his camp and told him of the fate of the last of the Carthaginian troops."
- "Driven from one city to another, a fugitive without a home, Hannibal at last knew that the end of his ambitious dream had come. His beloved city of Carthage had been ruined by the war. She had been forced to sign a terrible peace. Her navy had been sunk. She had been forbidden to make war without Ro"
目录
用户评论
适合义务教育阶段读
这种翻译不应该出版
翻译太拉胯了，不能说味同嚼蜡吧，简直比蜡还难嚼，太鸡肋了。
老公读了一本人类简史，我也读了一本人类简史，却不是同一本，毫无相同之处。这本犹如回顾中学时代的世界史，不知道是翻译的问题还是作者太过精简，总觉得读不透，点到为止戛然而止的感觉有点难受。
基本就是西方世界史
当我们以旁观者的身份重新审视曾经的那些故事的时候，没有了成功者的完美无暇，也缺少了失败者的一无是处，取而代之的是一个个鲜活的人物和一段段波澜起伏的故事。
其实是欧洲史吧，但世界观很🐮。讥讽和怜悯！译文应该是很早的。那个时代的文辞用法和现在很有差距。所以有的地方看起来有些吃力。有现代的改变就更好了！
铁打的地球，流水的人类！
富含人生哲理的历史书
了解世界历史的没必要读这本、不了解世界历史的不建议读这本
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