This is a book which synthesizes a lifetime of reflection on the origins of the modern world. Through forty years of travel in Europe, Australia, India, Nepal, Japan and China, Alan Macfarlane has observed the similarities and differences of cultures. It is also based on a wide reading of contemporary and classical works in history, anthropology and philosophy. Among the topics covered are the following: war, trade and empire; modern technology, the origins of capitalism; caste and class; kinship, friendship and population; civil society; power and bureaucracy; education, language and art. It ends by explaining how the English deviated from the normal path of civilizations and by accident created many of the basic features of our modern world. It is based on the Wang Gouwei lectures at Tsinghua University given in 2011.