Don't Know Much About History . . .

[Cindy C.]

Hey, all,

Lately, I've become interested in learning more about world history. 
My American history isn't too bad, but the rest of the world is a
rather unfortunate blur in my mind.

Has anyone read any good non-fiction history books they could recommend?  

I'm looking for something that is an entertaining read (as contrasted
to the dry-as-dust history books I was forced to read in school), and
I'm more interested in quality than subject matter, really.  European
history, Russian history, Chinese history, African history . . . it
all works for me.

Any ideas?

Cindy -- too lazy to just go to the library and see what's out there