Last night was one for collapsing on the sofa in front of the TV, and I watched The Human Planet and an archive episode of the 1973 series by Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man. It was serendipity city. The former, a gorgeous series, was looking at the Arctic and the interplay between environment – now changing – and human societies in the region. I turned from its vibrant HD images of Norwegian reindeer herders to the Bronowski programme – which also featured reindeer herding. His theme in this episode was nomadism giving way to settled agriculture. Which just happened to have been part of the territory covered by the sections of Ian Morris's Why the West Rules for Now, my current reading.

It reminded me just how terrific the Bronowski book of the series was – for that was how I came to it. The show passed me by but when I caught up with the book (also published in 1973) a little later, I was bowled over. It was a formative read for me, and I remember curling up in my favourite reading spot, on the floor by the window in our northern terraced house, devouring the book – and at the same time trying to make it last as long as possible. Both the DVD and the book (2nd hand eg from Amazon) are still available!