The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1776)<p>It's many volumes but I never considered not finishing.<p>Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay (1841)<p>Reading that helped me understand the NFT craze and how these things get going and usually end
The 11 volume set “The Story of Civilization” by Will and Ariel Durant<p>You can find it on audiobook.<p>This will bring you up to speed from the dawn of pre-civilization through the era of Napoleon.
For Middle East, <i>Lawrence In Arabia</i> by Scott Anderson.<p>For computing history, <i>Art of Unix Programming</i> by Eric S. Raymond.<p>For inspirational American stories, David McCullough (1933-2022) is
peerless. <i>The Wright Brothers</i> nearly brought me to tears.