Five Books which most influenced my research

(1) Ponting, C. 2007. A New Green History of the World
Great work! Even a word is not necessary to explain this book. Must read.

(2) Diamond, J. 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel
Master piece! Simple but profound insight into whole human history.

(3) Wrigley, E.A. 2004. Poverty, Progress, and Population
Wrigley has continuously proclaimed the important role of energy in the Industrial Revolution.

(4) Pomeranz, K. 2000. The Great Divergence
Pomeranz is a professor of Chinese history. With his findings from China, he argues 1. there were no significant institutional difference between West Europe and China, 2 then what caused the divergence of living standard between the two. He points out that new American colonies made the difference.

(5) Clark, G. 2007. Farewell to Alms
I don't buy Clark's main argument of his book. He argues genetic advance of English society made the country move forward faster. But he did remarkable data collecting work; he collected his data from old church records. Clark is an amazing historian.