A History of the World in 10½ Chapters

Started off very promisingly, with a chapter about a woodworm telling the true story of Noah???s Ark, with criticism of humans and myths about Noah and all our preconceived notions about our superiority. Then it deteriorated. Some chapters were interesting, but ultimately foundered on their own cleverness. The point is made and brought home in the first few pages, but Barnes insists on carrying on with the clever ???joke??? for another 25 pages. Some were tedious from the outset, with the cleverness far too unsubstantial to sustain a 30 plus page point that didn???t justify one page. Certainly he can write, and switch genres, styles, centuries, viewpoints and characters with ease. But does he have anything to say that goes beyond ???Look at how clever I am??? and
???aren???t I iconoclastic and irreverent????. Worth a look at a later effort.