A 14-part series that attempts to make simple and accessible one of the most complex subjects imaginable will be distributed via booklets given away free with The Independent and The Independent on Sunday beginning tomorrow, and will simultaneously be made available at independent.co.uk/historyoftheworld. Starting with the origins of the Universe itself, it traces the formation of our planet, the first stirrings of life, the shaping of the continents, the evolution of species, the birth of the human race, and the millennia of history that have led up to the sophisticated but precarious civilisations of the present day.
