'Colin White has produced a work of staggering scholarship. It is in every sense ''big history''. The narrative encompasses the entire span of human experience - as well as that of its hominid predecessors. It offers provocative and original insights into virtually all the forces that have shaped thousands of years of economic history - genetic, social, cultural, political and environmental. It is an intellectual tour de force which few others could have achieved.'--Robert Ash, SOAS, University of London, UK