Review with respect to the English paperback edition

The book in itself deserves 5 stars: historically accurate and exciting and good for lay people prepared to say, the history of mankind from the earliest known beginnings is represented up to the present time. An occasion to talk about certain periods and specific regions and cultures, is always an exhibit from the collection of the British Museum.
Even as historically interested people with some knowledge you can learn from the book very interesting details that would otherwise find only in reading special, longer fiction books on the respective topics.

Now the reason for the two-point deduction for the TB issue:
I was wondering how you want to get this heavy "ham" hardcover in a pocket, in which the only glued back somehow has to hold everything together. I tapped on a two-volume edition (which incidentally is the original and should have done quietly, because the hardback is extremely difficult).
Instead, you gave up about 2/3 of the images and also replaced some of the high-quality photos by simpler illustrations on a white background, such as one often sees in textbooks.
The lyrics are still wonderful, but I would rather recommend to anyone the Hardcover with all pictures.