I'm not sure how the author managed to pack so much into a single book! Admittedly some of the concepts and events are told with very little detail, but since the book has such a wide scope, this is to be expected. I will say that, for the most part, the author does a good job explaining complex ideas and events quickly and clearly.

The audiobook is narrated by the author. I appreciated his enthusiasm while describing all the interesting facts and histories included in the book.

I received a free audio recording of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention is written and narrated by Christopher Lloyd. Buckle up for an extraordinary ride through the 14-billion year history of absolutely everything! This remarkable story (which is far more amazing than anything you can make up) sweeps through natural history with the creation of planet Earth, the beginning of life, the age of dinosaurs, mass extinctions, and the rise of prehistoric humans. The story then leaps through the ancient civilizations and into medieval times, where wars, revolutions, and scientific inventions reshape the world. Finally, we arrive in the modern age which brings with it new challenges of pollution, climate change, viral pandemics, and much more. How will a world of 8 billion humans survive in the future?

Absolutely Everything! is fast paced and a fascinating overview of the history and science of our world. LLoyd's narration is very well done. I love audiobooks read by the author, because their excitement about the subject matter often shines through, and that is certainly true in this case. It does not hurt that he just has a wonderful voice, and I think I could listen to Llyod narrate just about anything quite happily. I found myself stopping the other tasks I was attempting to do while listening, like cleaning or cooking dinner, to give the audio my full attention. It was just such a well done explanation of interesting information- some of which I knew, but most went well beyond what I already understood- and then connected those smaller topics together for a bigger picture. I was very happy that the chapters were split up the way they were, because that allowed me to investigate and read further on some of the shared information before moving on to the next part. Perfect for car rides, or for inclusion in distance learning or home schooling to help understand the way the world itself was shaped, and the effect we and he rest of the living creatures of the world have on it.

Absolutely Everything! is a wonderful book for all ages. It gives a nice broad understanding of the world and Lloyd's narration is engaging and animated.

Such an engaging book! I think the target audience (children) will find it just as interesting as I did. Two things I found particularly commendable: Christopher Lloyd provides a nuanced perspective on different historical events (e.g. how civilisations existed and thrived before colonialism, how Western scientists built their inventions and ideas on inventions and ideas from different parts of the world). Secondly, the last part of the book allows the reader to consider where the world is heading today and our role in it. Thoroughly recommend Absolutely Everything! for the young lover of all things non-fiction. I also cannot wait for his next book.

This was not the audiobook for me. I could only listen to about 20 minutes and not the rest of the hours on audio.

Wow! I can't express enough how much I loved this book! I received an audio copy through NetGalley and my family and I all listened to it together. While I believe it is technically a book for youth, it is 100% a book that everyone should read. It is a concise history of absolutely everything, and zooming back through time it is very interesting to see how much Earth has changed, and how it is very much the same after so many thousands of years. Author, Christopher Lloyd (no, not THAT Christopher Lloyd), includes a lot of material in this compendium, chock full of intriguing stories on how the earth came to be, the history of wars, climates, animals, cultures, inventions, and so much more. You name it, this book has ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

Factual and interesting, without overloading the listener with information. I really appreciate the authors ability to explain difficult concepts and complicated history in a way accessible to children. As the book is long (it really does cover everything) I would recommend this for older children and preteens.

This book is amazing! It is packed with very well done research. This book is full of absolutely everything, it is a dizzying amount of information. Great information and Christopher Lloyd's narration was perfect. I think it would be good to have the physical book and the audio book at the same time. It would be nice to mark the amazing information in the book to reference back to it. Listening to Christopher Lloyd read the book with his English accent hypnotic.

Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention, by Christopher Lloyd, narrated by Christopher Lloyd, illustrations by Andy Forshaw

Initial impressions. (First couple chapters) Christopher Lloyd has so much excitement and passion when providing the information and narrating this book. It is perfect for all ages! I'm in my mid 50's and loving this book, learning about … well Absolutely Everything!

Concluding impression. Christopher Lloyd crams more history into less than 7 hours than you can possibly fathom; and the audio is filled with such enthusiasm! I liked the way the author always kept time in perspective in particular and he did so in several ways. In relating the history of the world to a 24 hour clock and also what one dynasty (in China for example) and then jumping over to also discuss what another group (the Incans/Mayans) were doing at the same time.

During this time of covid-19 and more people are probably home-schooling than ever before; if I had middle school age children (and were home schooling them) I would have them read 20 pages (or so) of this book and then have them take ONE SENTENCE and have them write a paper on the sentence of their choice. If a student can't something that they might want to research further, with as much information in this book, there is something wrong.

This book goes from the creation of earth through to Black Lives Matter. It is really pretty amazing.

This audiobook was courtesy of NetGalley Advance Read Copy; thank you to the author/Christopher Lloyd and NetGalley!

This is an absolutely fantastic book.

It's a great insight into history. It includes just about everything (as it says on the tin).

I know some of the things the author talks about but there are some really interesting bits that I said wow out loud too.

We have a fascinating and at times very sad history. This is a brilliantly neutral insight into all parts of history.

I would recommend this to anyone and I may buy it for my dad for Christmas as I've enjoyed it so much.

This book will take readers on a long journey through time from 13.8 billion years ago to the present day. Kids (and adults!) will learn about humans, animals, space, civilizations, empires, science and so much more. Each chapter begins with a timeline and an introduction.

It's for kids, but a fun book for adults too, who may, or may not remember their days in History class.

(Please note that I received a free advance from NetGalley without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

As promised by the title, this book takes us from the creation of the universe to the modern era. As you might expect, no single event gets much detail. This is especially true since the intended audience is middle grade. Even major world events, from mass extinction to the world wars, get a few sentences apiece. The focus of the text is less on the details of events and more on general movements, the sorts of things that were happening and what that tells us about various cultures or species interactions. Even more, there is an emphasis on how the whole of human history makes up just a tiny fraction of the history of our world.
The interest level for the text is high. The vocabulary is accessible. As an audio, it's well read. Lloyd has a flair for the dramatic, so it may be a bit over-acted at times but that will simply add to the excitement for a young reader.

I feel this is more of a reference resource than book you can read straight through. Maybe the actual book is more interesting, but the audiobook was very dry and boring. I had such a hard time following. There was a lot of information in it, which is why I feel a reference book (encyclopedia/dictionary) would be a better way to use this book.

Absolutely Everything! is an outstanding children's audiobook that introduces prehistorical and historical facts in a highly entertaining and approachable way. It's been a few decades since I could claim to be a child, but I am not too proud to admit I still learned a heck of a lot from this book.

"The real world is far more amazing than anything you can make up."

The imagery Lloyd provides helps the listener not just understand but also envision the nuggets of info he's offering us. From the Big Bang, to the Theia Impact, to the emergence of eukaryotes, to Lucy, to all the things humans have done in our "two seconds" of life in the universe, Lloyd provides interesting and intriguing tidbits to bring all of prehistory and history to life for us. One of my favorite books is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, and Christopher Lloyd's Absolutely Everything! is exactly what a 12 year old me would have loved just as much.

I especially appreciated how, in the Afterward, Lloyd asks his readers/listeners for feedback on his novel. He asks us to go to www.whatonearthbooks.com to send him ideas for a follow-up, "Absolutely Everything Else", to include all the other interesting things he couldn't cram into this book. It's wonderful how he engages us, so we can all share in our love of discovering cool stuff about our world.

Wow! What a great summation of major historical events. I loved listening to this book with my son! Highly recommended for all readers/listeners.
*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this audiobook. It is interesting for both youth and adults. I can admit I forgot a lot of this information. This is such a fun audiobook. The narration is good. The book flows well. It would be a great in the car listen for families on road trips.

I received this as an ARC in return for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Absolutely Everything is an enjoyable romp through history that is geared towards older Middle School readers (but those of us a 'little' north of our early teen years can enjoy it too). It comes in print format (with amazing illustrations, so I've heard) but I listened to an eAudiobook version and really enjoyed it.

The author himself narrates the book -- but don't be thinking it's the actor Christopher Lloyd (aka 'Doc Brown') from the Back to the Future series though. This Christopher Lloyd is a UK author and lecturer and he does a bang-up job relaying a lot of information in an engaging way.

Lloyd gives readers a taste of many different parts of history from the beginning of the earth, approximately 13.8 billion years ago to present day. That's a large time frame but he provides readers with a visual of a clock to illustrate just how much (or very, very little) time certain historical events occurred in the grand scheme of things.

His entertaining and easy-going description of history touches on major environmental and historical events and humans' impact to our earth. From The Big Bang to dinosaurs roaming the earth, to earlier civilizations, wars, inventions, animals, religions, scientific discoveries, cultures, and how humans have fared since the beginning of time, this is a fairly comprehensive, yet well-summarized book that doesn't have that 'dry textbook' feel in its delivery. I appreciated that Lloyd acknowledges history's tendency to tell history from the POV of white people and tries to incorporate other cultures and aspects and also includes social issues like Black Lives Matter, Feminism and how these have impacted society as well.

I enjoyed this science-based viewpoint and how it briefly touches on different aspects in history, making it a great way to open discussions and perhaps even entice middle schoolers to do more historical research on their own. Parents, be prepared for lots of great "Hey mom, did you know that ..." kind of conversation starters.

Overall, this is an enjoyable book that discusses humanity's successes, failures and gives kids ideas on how we can make things a little better too. In the last pages, the author encourages readers who want to know more to contact him with ideas for his next book and what they'd like to learn about.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to What on Earth Books for providing me with a complimentary eAudiobook copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Christopher Lloyd’s narration of this book makes the abundance of facts irrisistable and completely compelling and impossible to turn off. I am learning so much and could listen to him for hours.

Absolutely Everything! - A History of Earth, dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numberous to Mention // written and narrated by Christopher Lloyd

I really enjoyed this audiobook! There really was a lot of information about the world in this and Lloyd narrated it very well. He put a lot of excitement into this and made it sound very interesting. I liked how he used the format of a clock to show how much time has passed of the history of the world because even though I knew some of that, it still really put it into perspective just how much time each part took up. While much of what he spoke of for the last couple of hundred years was very eurocentric, it was nice that he pointed that out himself at the end as well and that he is planning on coming out with an addition to this audiobook that will address topics that he could not cover in this one. I highly recommend this for children but also for adults that just would like a quick overview of the history of the world.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredibly comprehensive yet condensed history of (as the title implies) everything.
Lloyd goes back to the very beginning of everything and makes his way to modern times while giving information on topics from biology to history and so many other things in between that I could write a thousand-word essay on just what gets talked about in this book.
It's one of those books that gives you a little bit of information on a myriad of topics so you can always have an interesting fact on hand to impress others or so you can know where to start looking further into something that interests you.
The way everything is presented is also very jovial and even a little bit playful, so you never really feel like you're starting to tune out from droning like one is won't to do when being talked at. The audiobook lacks the images to go with what's being presented, but it more than makes up for it with how delighted Lloyd seems at sharing all this information with listeners. Also, the English accent plays into the wise professor image that has been drilled into us by popular media and makes this an even better listen because of it. Although, I admit to cracking a smile at how he pronounces some of the names of things. Took me a couple of tries to figure out Maya.
Overall, very informative, very easy to listen to, and very well presented. This is definitely a good book to have on hand for when you're feeling like you want to learn something but don't want to do it in a boring way.

Many thanks to NetGalley and What on Earth Books for the read/listen.

Christopher Lloyd’s Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots, and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention was published in 2018. However the wonderful audiobook was recently released. Christopher Lloyd narrates his own book, and the audio storytelling of this rather large book is wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the history of some many things I have heard of in the past, but never realized the timeline in which the events occurred. Lloyd presented a moment in history and then told other events going on in various parts of the world occurring at the same time. I was especially intrigued by the way Lloyd compared the creation of the Earth to a clock and what a huge amount of time occurred prior to humans roaming our planet.