Nikhil Iyengar's Reviews > The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection

The Invention of Yesterday would be much more appealing if it got the other half of its facts right. I tried my best to sift through the errors or the simplistic and misleading explanations given by the author, but I don't want to see the end of this. Here are just a few mistakes I spotted that I remember:

A) The original Indian chess pieces in the very beginning of the book are portrayed wrong. I agree that it's a fine example to discuss cultural passage between Asia and Europe, but he could have done some effort and got them right.

B) The author pretty much explicitly says that the development of language is biological and not psychological. As far as its origins go, yeah, but we wouldn't be able to pick them up without social influences. Does he elaborate? Of course not.

C) He states that the island of Madagascar has a language derived from Indonesia due to maritime trade. Ignoring the fact that he doesn't bother to mention either the terms "Austronesian" or "Malagasy", his statement reflects certainty when the reason behind the migration of the Austronesians remains speculation.

I understand that the author probably wished to keep his chapters short and sweet, but poor explanations of his sentences and misleading details could frustrate those who are well versed in the subject and misinform those who are relatively new to the field. For all its readability, still wouldn't recommend this.