If I wanted to start learning more about History where do I start?

If I wanted to start learning more about History where do I start?

Your family and where your from

With the Greeks

No, the earliest written records of the Indus Valley, Mesopatamian, and Egyptian cultures

>implying those cultures were ever relevant
I agree withThe Greeks are the best start

Read primary sources

>relevant

in library

Start with the definitive history of your country, then a history of your socioeconomic region, then some world history. At that point you'll know enough to start picking subfields and specialties to investigate.

For instance I'm American, so I went with this sequence:

People's History of America by Howard Zinn
Europe: A History by Norman Davies
The History of the World by J. M. Roberts

Arise with the Argives.

Leave this place.

This

Read the Penguin History of the World, it's a good overview of world history that will give you a good basis for digging deeper.

Honestly, I still read the occasional historical book but most of my knowledge I get these days just digging through Wikipedia and easily available original sources online, like first-hand accounts of say a 17th century soldier's experience in the religious wars.

History works best by focusing on the big timescales of history but to really understand you'll need first-hand knowledge of those times, to imagine what they were like and bring them to life.

>People's History of America by Howard Zinn
dont

why?

RUN!!!

This. In original languages

not historical? Biased towards left-wing politics?

You won't see the big picture or significance of primary source without some foundational knowledge.

oh ok

Something to take its place my friend?

...

>written records of the Indus Valley
Literally untranslatable.

Pic related, with a whole shitload of primary source excerpts and readings from other sources to supplement it. Especially concerning Nixon and Jackson, Garraty hates them, and it shows. Also, some Zinn excerpts are a good way to begin learning about historiography and spotting bias in sources, since Zinn is so unashamedly biased that it's pretty easy to spot his more insane tangents. ('American entry into WW1 was a capitalist plot to stop the proletariat from rising up!' Is my personal favorite.)

>Europe: A History by Norman Davies
>not A History of the Modern World by Robert Roswell Palmer

I mean Davies is great to, but c'mon, Palmer was a better writer and a better Historian.

battle of kadesh then move on

Genesis 1:1

which bit of history are you most interested in?

Avoid this You will not understand shit unless you get an edition with massive amounts of footnotes. Start with prestigious (note that this doesn't mean famous) scholars and, after that, read the primary source.

The past

Start with the Greeks

Just start with a subject that interests you the most. If you have fun with history you're more likely to keep with it and want to learn more.

Play video games set in historic times like Total War or the Paradox games. They might not be accurate but they'll probably spark your interest in the subject so when you read about it you might enjoy it more.