Reddit mentions of Millennium

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (an Oxford professor of history) has written several books you might like.

The World - A History, a two volume work, is very well regarded in teaching circles. I have heard great things about this book, but I haven't read it myself.

I have read his Millenium - A History of the Past One Thousand Years and can highly recommend it. Looking at Amazon though, it looks like it might be out of print. He also wrote Humankind - A Brief History.

A Terrible Beauty - The People and Ideas that Shaped the Modern Mind. A History by Peter Watson may also be of interest; though it focuses exclusively on the 20th century. In it, the author attempts to provide a history of the twentieth century that does not focus on 'wars and dates', and that addresses an alarming lack of focus in many recent history books. As Watson puts it himself in the Introduction "In one recent 700-page history of the first third of the twentieth century, for example, there is no mention of relativity, of Henri Matisse or Gregor Mendel, no Ernest Rutherford, James Joyce, or Marcel Proust. No George Orwell, W.E.B. Du Bois, or Margaret Mead, no Oswald Spengler or Virgina Woolf. No Leo Szilard or Leo Hendrik Baekeland, no James Chadwick or Paul Ehrlich. No Sinclair Lewis and therefore no Babbit." (He was referring to Martin Gilbert's The Twentieth Century - Volume 1, 1900 - 1933). I highly recommend this book. Another example, but of a far more personal nature, would be Clive James's Cultural Amnesia, a fascinating collection of biographical essays on some of the 20th century's greatest thinkers, musicians, artists etc. James is justifiably famous (in the UK at least) for his prose and erudition, as well as his humourous critical columns.

Finally, the much lauded trilogy by Daniel Boorstin sounds like a good fit too. The Discovers, The Seekers and The Creators are excellent. Personally, Boorstin's style is not my favourite, but there is no arguing the value of these books; superb works of learning.

If you want more recommendations, just ask. :)

EDIT: Kenneth Clark's famous TV series Civilization may also interest you. It is primarily a history of western civilization and, by implication, a history of western art & culture. It's also from the 1970's so it is considered a little dated in some circles; Clarke certainly shows his western bias. But nevertheless, it is wonderful TV, remarkably interesting, well produced (though not HD!) and a fascinating subject.

I don't want to discourage you from reading my fellow redditors' proposals, but consider this: Do yourself a favor and don't try to cram your head full of dates and facts, but rather try to get a look at the bigger picture. After all, humans have been around for a few hundred millennia, and only obsessing on the last couple centuries, and then on minute details, is kind of short-sighted and a sure-fire way of getting frustrated.

Millennium takes a nice look at the last thousand years and does a nice job of boggling your mind at that by taking your eyes off Western history for a change.
Anything by Jared Diamond will help you get an original look at how the cogs of civillizations turn.
The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin is also a fascinating read that highlights mankind's continuing search for new horizons, new knowledge and new conquests.

Millennium: A History of Our Last Thousand Years [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Millennium-History-Last-Thousand-Years/dp/0552994820] is a good overview and Eric Hobsbawmn "Ages of" series gives a more detailed broader analysis