Reddit reviews The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization's Best Bits

I think the suggestions people have made to specialize in an area of history that holds some interest to you are good ones, but getting a good general picture first isn't a bad plan.

I might suggest The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization's Best Bits as a fun way to introduce yourself. Is it the best summary evar? No, but it's fun to read and might be a good place to start for someone who hasn't previously had much experience or interest in the topic.

There are countless books to choose from, but one that is great for starting with, which I will often pick up just to reacquaint myself with certain material and funny jokes is The Mental Floss book of World History. It cuts world history down into short segments, lists, timelines, and vignettes, and is pretty hilarious at times.

https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Floss-History-World-Civilizations/dp/0061842672

To me is a nice easy and concise book. Fun to read and gives me a good break from the more scholarly and dense books I often have to read for courses I take and teach.

I'm a high school history teacher.

I've been digging an easy one by Mental Floss. https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Floss-History-World-Civilizations/dp/0061842672

It's written probably at a high school level. I teach high school English, so I think about vocab and sentence complexity a lot. It's broken into easy segments and fun to read, but not seriously academic in tone or mood.

Ok maybe not the best but History of the World is one that I enjoyed.

Their "History of the World" was a great book.