History

My recent bedtime reading is Understanding the World's History in 3 Days by Sakurai Kiyohiko (櫻井清彥).

Although I had some fragmented private study in history, I decided to read some single volume account of the global history two or three years ago, and, for that reason, I bought The New Penguin History of the World. This 1200-page text is, unfortunately, too hard a nut for me to crack, and I could not resist the temptation to take the Japanese alternative when I saw it selling at a discount.

To be fair, Sakurai's book could not be compared to the Penguin's classic. Nonetheless, the section on the history of Middle East and the Islamic world is exceptionally orderly and balanced. I take it as the privilege of having an Asian author.

As the old Chinese saying: It is always wise to hear both sides of a story (兼聽則明).