The Economic History of World Population

By:Carlo M. Cipolla Professor Cipolla, in his preface, sets out his goal to; `…describe from a global point of view the development of mankind…’. He himself admits that this is quite a task, but luckily he sticks to his guns and we do get a good description. The book starts by describing the two revolutions that he feels changed our history the most, the agricultural revolution of around 10,000 years ago, and the more recent industrial revolution. He explains how these affected our development, and relates this to mankind’s increasing need for sources of power. This is where I feel the book really shines. Although he tends to quote a little heavily, his quotes are always relevant