Mackenzi Lee has several books and bestsellers, especially for children and youth. It is also close to historical fiction. Even in History of the World in 50 Dogs, history will play an important role. The author recalls that the coexistence of humans and dogs began in the younger Stone Age, which has continued to the present day.

In chapters dedicated to each dog breed, he explains their origins, their breeding at royal and imperial courts from England to China, and in everyday life in a non-violent way. It brings stories not only about the dog breeds, but also about each individual dog. From mythical four-legged animals to, for example, the first canine cosmonaut, the female Laika.

Nor does he shy away from more serious and less cheerful topics, as in the case of fights or laboratory dogs. He unmasked the methods of the famous naturalist IP Pavlov and the brutality of vivisection in the service of science.

The audiobook was created by actress Tereza Dočkalová and it must be admitted that this is a good and correct choice. It has been pointed out that the author describes the story of Fifty Dogs in a very relaxed narrative language that, when necessary, reaches for irony, sarcasm and does not offend the reader, or listener, even with the more concise terms used here and there. All of this fits perfectly with the lightness of Dočkalova’s speech, which makes you feel like you’re with a likable young student casually telling her friends about her dog.

Therefore, it is not surprising that you sometimes laugh when you listen to this record. Apart from the more serious topics already mentioned, the audio book History of the World in 50 Dogs is rather relaxed and easy going, but at the same time brings a lot of knowledge and interesting things.

It is clear, therefore, that Lee had to put a lot of effort into preparing, compiling and studying the background and materials ahead of the first edition in the original English in 2019. An effort that paid off.

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