The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and ConnectionFrom language to culture to cultural collision: the story of how humans invented history, from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative. Many thousands of years ago,
From language to culture to cultural collision: the story of how humans invented history, from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age
Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative.
Many thousands of years ago, when we existed only as countless small autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers widely distributed through the wilderness, we began inventing stories--to organize for survival, to find purpose and meaning, to explain the unfathomable. Ultimately these became the basis for empires, civilizations, and cultures. And when various narratives began to collide and overlap, the encounters produced everything from confusion, chaos, and war to cultural efflorescence, religious awakenings, and intellectual breakthroughs.
Through vivid stories studded with insights, Tamim Ansary illuminates the world-historical consequences of the unique human capacity to invent and communicate abstract ideas. In doing so, he also explains our ever-more-intertwined present: the narratives now shaping us, the reasons we still battle one another, and the future we may yet create.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tamim Ansary was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and came to the United States as a junior in high school. Culture and cultural perspective have been among his lifelong preoccupations. His new book, The Invention of Yesterday, looks at world history as the story of ever-increasing human interconnectedness: history from the perspective of the emerging global "we". Ansary has also written a history of the world through Islamic eyes, a history of Afghanistan from an insider's point of view, a literary memoir about straddling a cultural fault line in the world (Islam and the West), a historical novel set against the background of the First Anglo-Afghan war, and some 30 nonfiction books for children. In Road Trips, he tells the story of morphing from an Afghan into an American just as the sixties were giving way to the seventies. Ansary's Destiny Disrupted won the Northern California Book Award for nonfiction in 2009, and his first memoir West of Kabul, East of New York was selected as a One City One Book pick by both San Francisco and Waco, Texas. In 2001, an email he sent to 20 friends reputedly became the first viral phenomenon of the Internet Age, reaching tens of millions around the world within days.
REVIEWS:
"A beautifully written world history focused on the stories different civilizations have told about who we are. It ends with a fundamental question: In today's extraordinary world, can we build new narratives that are inclusive and global enough to encourage worldwide cooperation in the task of building a better future for humanity?" David Christian, distinguished professor, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and author of Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History and Origin Story: A Big History of Everything
"Tamim Ansary has done it again, writing an expansive, wonderfully readable account of our present world. With deft examples drawn from across history, he skewers the idea that there's anything pure about culture or race. Ideas have blended and meshed across space and time to make the modern world what it is. Ansary is a charming guide to this blesh of civilizations, and to the world's permanent-and hopeful-capacity for change." Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
"Brimming with essential insights and yet always approachable, this is the global history we need now." Lynn Hunt, author of Writing History in the Global Era
"Weaving together multiple complex strands of the human experience into a single compelling storyline, Ansary delivers-in his usual down-to-earth yet erudite style-an engaging global 'narrative of narratives' informed by decades of critical study, reflection, and personal transcultural experience. A deeply enriching, highly relevant read from an important, unique voice of our day." R. Charles Weller, Central Eurasian and Islamic world history, Washington State and Kazakh National University
"The Invention of Yesterday is an insightful guide into human civilization packed with information that shows how we have been connected globally since the beginning of history. Tamim Ansary unpacks complicated theories to make sense of how we became who we are today." Fariba Nawa, author of Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman's Journey through Afghanistan
"Ansary offers a remarkable big-picture synthesis that draws upon geography but resists determinism, and celebrates diversity while embracing humanity's commonalities." Booklist
Praise for Destiny Disrupted:
"Ansary has written an informative and thoroughly engaging look at the past, present and future of Islam. With his seamless and charming prose, he challenges conventional wisdom and appeals for a fuller understanding of how Islam and the world at large have shaped each other. And that makes this book, in this uneasy, contentious post 9/11 world, a must-read." Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns
Praise for Games without Rules
"In "Games Without Rules," Tamim Ansary has written the most engaging, accessible and insightful history of Afghanistan. With gifted prose and revealing details, Ansary gives us the oft-neglected Afghan perspective of the wars, foreign meddling and palace intrigue that has defined the past few centuries between the Indus and Oxus. This brilliant book should be required reading for anyone involved in the current war there -- and anyone who wants to understand why Afghanistan will not be at peace anytime soon." Rajiv Chandrasekaran
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… this would have made 5 stars but for 2 reasons.
A.) there were quite a few typos; misspelled words, missing quotations, “the his” mistakes, and various signs that maybe a proofread would do good.
B.) the writing was quite textbook. Late blooming omega is struggling with her new self, finds a absurdly wealthy pack of alphas, every thing is almost insta-love but she resists, then decides to love herself and let everyone be happy.
Rian was my favourite (obviously the author’s favourite too because he got the most page time) but I wish we could see more of his CEO side? He went to work maybe ONCE the entire time. Gray was supposed to be the “growly one” but he turned out to be puppy dog. Lucas was a genius brainiac doctor - but also super alpha with an aggressive hindbrain with a breeding k*nk?? And then there was no actual “breeding”??
Spice 3/5 - normally omegaverse books are super high on messy smut but this was tamer.
Romance 3/5 - insta-love that was then resisted because of personal hangup’s
Plot 2/5 - weird paced head hopping, showing the same scene from different POV’s that made me feel like it was 2 steps backward, 1 step forward.
Humour 4/5 - there were a dozen lines that genuinely made me chuckle out loud
Would have been five stars but the lack of proofreading and the predictable plot made me unable to get up to ADORED IT level - four stars is still and official ENJOYED IT, y’all. This isn’t a bad rating. The “Club Heat” has intriguing possibilities so I’m going to give the second one a shot.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2023
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Ruth Ann Burt
Belleville, US
★★★★★ 5
Great book
Format: Kindle
I absolutely feel in love with all 4 characters!!! The bedroom scenes were 🌋🌡🔥🔥🔥. I couldn't put this book down!!! I'm hooked for the whole series Book 2 here I come!!!!! Its a fun easy book and story to read!!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2024
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Danyelle
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 4
Fun with a late blooming omega
Format: Kindle
I like this book. The story is fun, cute, and sexy. There's just a little drama, some excellent, steamy scenes, and a fairly good relationship building storyline. I especially like how all the main characters are a bit older than the usual 20 somethings I tend to see in this kind of book.
Having said that, I wish there were more descriptions of the places, as well as the food in the fancy restaurant. I enjoyed the cocktails at the club, so I missed that kind of detail when Gray took Madison on a dinner date. I also wish there had been more interaction between Lucas and Madison, and Lucas and Rian. It felt a bit lopsided, with a focus on Rian, Madison, and Gray.
I wish it had been proofread - there are a lot of typos, but nothing too distracting.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2022
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Jennifer G
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 3
Madison Deserved Better
Format: Kindle
Madison was a beta...except she wasn't any longer. She was a late presenting Omega. And she was struggling. She was tall and thin, not tiny and curvy. She was opinionated. She was everything an Omega was not. After suffering through her first heat, her friends took her to Ardor, a club where Omegas came to safely find Alphas. She's not expecting much but then she connects with a sexy beta. And when she meets his Alphas, they set her body on fire. Maybe, she's found her no-strings-attached heat pack. Maybe, she's found something more.
I could not connect with the characters in this book, so their story never resonated with me. And there was no love story; there was sex. Grey made it clear from the beginning that he had a true love and it was his beta boy, Rian. He went so far as to reassure Rian “Say the word, I’ll never touch her again. Lucas can put the babies in her. I only need you, beta boy”. So, Madison was there for babies, no emotions needed. Nice. No, thank you. I want the Omega to be the center of their world, not an incubator. Lucas and Rian weren't any better. After her heat, they let her leave. Not one of them made her feel valued. No one gave her a reason to stay or even offered a cuddle. And the sex didn't even come across as mind-blowing. Madison deserved better.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2025
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Oregon BookWorm
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 5
No breakup, very sweet, instalove
Format: Kindle
Omegaverse and doesn't disappoint! Sweet guys, newly Omega FMC. The boyfriends are boyfriends. What's not to love? No angst, no breakup.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2025
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