Sometimes being first gives a person bragging rights, and sometimes it changes history. This fascinating book takes in the full sweep of human development and ingenuity over 12 millennia; Africa, for example, gave us the first monarch, algebra and great religions emerged from the Middle East, democracy was born in Europe, and America made the first flying machines. More than just a string of dry lists, Stewart Ross's guided tour encompasses the wonder of the Big Bang, bikinis, dentures, donkeys, herbs, web cams, heart transplants, and fighter-bombers.