Mini-Review– Holocene: the Missing 6000 Years

I had high expectations for Holocene: the Missing 6000 years. I have a minor in anthropology and have always enjoyed learning about the past. The Holocene is a tempting topic. It is the time period between the end of the Ice Age and the invention of writing (hence the start of history), and is a period when much must have happened with civilization, war, government, and art, and yet for which there is little evidence. I was hoping that some of that blank slate would be filled by this book. However, this book proved to be a chapter length list of what we don’t know about the Holocene. It was correct and it was well-written, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I doubt I would recommend this book. The questions presented therein can be found in other places– free on the net, for instance. However if you are interested, here is the link to the book on Fictionwise.