The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David Anthonyby David W. Anthony
Shares rank 18 of 51 history books by recommenders
People recommend it as a good starting point for learning about the Bronze Age, and describe it as interesting and pretty good.
People recommend it as a good starting point for learning about the Bronze Age, and describe it as interesting and pretty good.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good beginner book on Bronze Age
“This is the right book for a beginner on the bronze age”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Bronze Age mega-settlement in Kazakhstan has advanced urban planning, metallurgy” Generally well regarded and pretty good
“David Anthony's book ("Horse Wheel Language") is pretty good, no?”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “The Indo-European Family Tree” Interesting take on the topic
“Interesting book on this topic”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Bronze Age mega-settlement in Kazakhstan has advanced urban planning, metallurgy”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| The Horse, the Wheel, and Languageby David W. AnthonyThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“David Anthony's book ("Horse Wheel Language") is pretty good, no?”
“This is the right book for a beginner on the bronze age”
“Interesting book on this topic”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.