"This book is great. Wyman manages to move both quickly and patiently through a vast swath of time, focusing on a period before many histories even begin. His research and artful storytelling doesn't shy away from the darker side of events, but the tales he tells us about the deep past reveal something almost magical about our shared humanity." -Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry, co-authors of The Bright Ages and Oathbreakers

"Propelled by the latest archaeological methods and discoveries, Patrick Wyman transforms cutting-edge science into vivid human history as he reconstructs the lifeways of long-forgotten societies and upends outdated linear narratives about the emergence of civilization around the world. A spellbinding tour de force!" -Walter Scheidel, author of What Is Ancient History?

"This is non-fiction storytelling at its finest-an impressive and well-written narrative full of interesting facts, observations, and discussions that will challenge and change your understanding of humanity's earliest history and accomplishments across much of the known world." -Eric H. Cline, author of 1177 B.C.

"The book is a panoramic survey of human societies around the globe between the end of the Ice Age (some 13,000 years ago)and the dramatic collapse of Bronze Age civilizations (a little more than 3,000 years ago). . . . It is helpful to remember what Mr. Wyman is writing against: any version of social-evolutionary history in which the primary role of people in the past was to bring our present world into being. Here is a version of history in which a strong sense of unintended consequences plays a leading part. . . . Lost Worlds convinces us of the value of slowing down to recognize the tremendous diversity of the human past. But he presses hard against the conclusion that there was any direction or pattern behind its complexity." -The Wall Street Journal

"Behind mysterious ruins and aged artifacts lie the stories of vibrant peoples: their innovations, their failures, their perseverance, their ties to one another. In Lost Worlds, Patrick Wyman opens up the landscapes of these pasts to us, giving us a meticulously researched and refreshingly approachable view of humanity's past in all its glorious variation." -Jennifer Raff, author of Origin

"An illuminating history of prehistory." -Kirkus