This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.
This fascinating collection of historical facts takes listeners on an entertaining journey through the daily lives, customs, and beliefs of people across different eras and civilizations. From ancient Egypt to the Victorian era, discover how our ancestors lived, worked, dressed, and thought about the world around them. Learn about the surprising origins of everyday items like canned food without can openers, paper towels invented by mistake, and the first wristwatch designed for a woman. Explore the peculiar beliefs that shaped medieval life, from thunder being caused by bowling angels to various gemstones possessing magical powers. Uncover the sophisticated technologies of ancient civilizations, including Roman central heating systems, Chinese printing centuries before Gutenberg, and Egyptian cooling systems using wet reeds. The book reveals intriguing social customs such as Victorian women carrying pistols in their muffs, ancient Greek citizenship requiring military service, and Roman dining arrangements that indicated social status. Discover fashion trends across the ages, from Egyptian cone-shaped scented wax worn on heads to Victorian women wearing up to forty pounds of clothing and seven petticoats. The collection also highlights groundbreaking inventions and their unexpected origins, cultural practices that seem bizarre by today's standards, and the remarkable ingenuity of people throughout history. Whether it's learning about medieval monks who invented pretzels as fasting food, ancient Chinese scholars spending decades preparing for exams, or Roman gladiators selling their sweat to fans, these captivating facts illuminate the rich tapestry of human experience across cultures and centuries, making history come alive through these remarkable and often surprising details.
