Romping through ancient times in the framework of a single day in the modern Western world, British public historian Greg Jenner invites us to question our place in world history and scratch our heads. Who, for example, really invented dentistry? Nine thousand years ago, in Pakistan, someone was making holes in teeth with a flint-tipped bow drill to relieve the pain of cavities. And what about clothing? Stone Age statues indicate that prehistoric women, at least, wore prehistoric woven fabrics… “so it seems,” Jenner concludes, “that even tens of thousands of years ago, humans weren’t just draped in animal carcasses, they were also wrapped up in knitwear.”

Jenner's ingeniously constructed book begins as “we” awake on a typical morning and make our way through a typical day, each phase of which --- using the toilet, searching for breakfast goodies in the fridge, walking the dog, dressing, feasting with family, imbibing with friends, brushing our teeth and settling into bed after setting the alarm --- becomes a staging ground for a look back at such routines in ancient days.

"Told with a quest for the quirky, a zest for satire and some lovely British idioms...Jenner’s lively look at us through the ages is bound to bring on some grimaces, smiles, perhaps even a blush or two."

Though we may think, for instance, that "pet cemeteries" are a 20th-century phenomenon, Stone Age folk buried or were buried with their favorite furry friends (in one case, a faithful fox). Icons --- recurrent symbols that we associate with computer-speak --- were a means of communication seen on the walls in prehistoric French caves, and in fact formed the building blocks of many modern languages. Examining hygiene, we learn that even chimps wash in water and rub their bodies with “sweet-smelling forest fruits.” According to Jenner, there is nothing, or very little, absolutely new or totally modern about modern existence.

Told with a quest for the quirky, a zest for satire and some lovely British idioms --- a bathroom is a bog, a kiss is a snog, a cat is a moggy --- Jenner’s lively look at us through the ages is bound to bring on some grimaces, smiles, perhaps even a blush or two. Did we in the US really create a law to curtail the consumption of alcohol that actually increased its use and made it far more dangerous? Pious medieval monks got drunk on their daily grog; Victorians took such pride in their toilets that they decorated the inside of the bowl with lovely paintings; tin cans were in use for years before anyone ever thought of inventing a can opener. 

While revealing and poking fun at the foibles of our ancestors and our modern selves, Jenner manages to slip in a slew of important points: “focus” is the Latin word for hearth, for example, creating a warm familial image worth contemplating in any era. 

A history of life’s simple but significant rituals and how they might have developed, been forgotten and then redeveloped, A MILLION YEARS IN A DAY delivers a laugh and a lesson on nearly every page.