Below are my interpretations of Mr. Noble's thoughts, in black, and my thoughts in red.
Please take note that the text below does not necessarily correspond to what he said, but rather what I "thought" he meant. Please listen learn and add your comments thru the feedback. Thank you.... "truth belongs to humanity"

Western Civilization and Foundations
Chapter 1 (intro)
Chapter 2
Western - Defined by Culture, Politics, Capitalist Economy, Religious Toleration, Rational Thought (scientific), Innovative Spirit
A cultural phenomena that began in Mesopotamia moved into Mediterranean Basin and crossed over to Western Europe then at dawn of modern world went global. It started in Sumer, today's southern Iraq

Chapter 3
Civilization - Civil polite people living in a city/town/tribe. Civilization started after Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution started 9-10 thousand years ago and ended about 5 thousand years ago in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The revolution brought about agriculture, domestication of animals, tools and weapons. and defined how groups of people live with one another. Civilization arose among river valleys. The need to "share the river" for all brought about a need for organized social existence. The specialization of labor was also a driving force of politics or organized social existence.
Perhaps the most profound development of the Neolithic Revolution was the advent of writing.

- Federal Farmer
The advent of writing was probably the original "Information Revolution".
It is my belief that the original Revolution created the elite class.
The elite will hoard or create and use information over others as a method of control and a guarantee of "their" survival.
One can only speculate the great lengths today's elite are going to "cover their tracks".

 - crossbowman
First, the advent of writing itself created no "revolution" at the time. The earliest writing was simply a way for the powerful to keep records of who owed them what, what rules they wished to impose, what agreements they wished to make, etc. It helped them organize and solidify their power - but they were powerful before it arrived. In fact, it came into existence because they were already powerful and needed that "tool". The true first basis of the elite was simple force. People in all cultures, including the hunter-gatherer, have always gathered around someone they saw as charismatic or powerful, the kind they figured would enhance their own prospects if they followed him. Prior to the advent of agriculture, this didn't mean much - the influential person led his tribe, and that was the extent of his power. If he marshaled his power against another tribe, the threatened tribe would either beat him or, if defeated, head off for safer territory.

The advent of agriculture changed that equation. You could no longer simply walk away because to do so meant abandoning your crops, and herds made tempting targets for raiding. If someone threatened you and you didn't have the power to fight him off, you had to buy him off - or pay some other powerful person to keep him off your back. The recipient of your payment and his followers gained wealth, you essentially became his "subject", and he used your payments to increase his strength and threaten - or protect - others in turn. Leaders fought each other for such subjects, increasing their own wealth by defeating other leaders and absorbing their subjects - and some eventually grew to the point that they needed some sort of record-keeping system to keep track of who owed them and what promises they'd made. THEN came writing.

Even then, writing wasn't about control - it was about organization. Spears were about control. If the leader's men came to collect your tax twice, it didn't matter that some tablet somewhere proved you'd already paid once. You paid them twice 'cause they had the spears and the numbers to wipe you out if you didn't, and they had orders they weren't about to ignore just on your say-so, and neither they nor you could even read the tablet assuming the clerks let either of you get within a hundred yards of the thing. The wise ruler tried to avoid that, lest his subjects decide that hitting the road was healthier than starving on your own farm. However, if he needed a little extra cash, then the records "said" whatever he commanded that they say - and of course whoever actually did the reading and writing could likewise doctor the records to gain a little for themselves. Pity the poor farmer.

On the other hand, so long as you were paying protection money to one "ruler", he had an incentive to keep you healthy and paying. Thus, the ruler would use his force to try to keep you safe from competition - not just other rulers, but bandits and raiders as well. The early foundations of the modern state, law, and policing lay in what amounts to a primitive protection racket.

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6
Foundation - To look for the foundation of civilization is to study the origins of it. Western civilization is nothing new, it is just the "best" of all that came before it. What did the ancient societies, political structures, and ways of life look like?
The "best" of all that came before it, may not have been the "best" choice for humanity, but the "best" choice for the rulers of that time.
 - Federal Farmer

History Begins at Sumer
(Sumer - "Land of the Lords of Brightness", or "land of the Sumerian tongue")

Chapter 1
Civilization is currently thought to have begin in Sumer which is located in Mesopotamia about 3 to 5 thousand BC. Note: there are other places, but less studied at this time. We find in Sumer, during the Uruke period, the Wheel, the plow, orchards, metal casting, writing, mass produced potter, the first "cities".

Chapter 2
Mostly small independent "towns" there are no "Nation States" as of yet. There are no grand structures, but there are temples called a Ziggurat. During the Sumer Dynastic period there are conflicts between and within cities. There are "big shots", powerful individuals, kings and monarchies. For the first time in "western tradition" there is a Theocratic Kingship or "King" by the will of the god(s).

Chapter 3
There are "large landowners" that began to form a warrior aristocracies. Kings had to get information from other "warrior aristocrats". Kings "the elite" only had to answer to the gods and not to the people because of the religious beliefs/doctrinaire. The Acadians made the first real regional takeover in Mesopotamia.

Chapter 4
King Sargon from Arcadia 2371-2316 BC was found in a reed basket floating in the river. (Hmmmm) When he conquered Sumer he "absorbed" the Sumerian culture rather than destroying it. When people at a lower cultural level take over a higher culture they move up to their captives higher culture. Sumerian culture spreads although it is "conquered". Sargon/Sumer/Mesopotamia was overtaken by the "Old Babylonians" or "Amorites" Again the Amorites "spread" the Sumerian culture. Sumerian culture is polytheistic, they worshiped may gods. Sumerian culture is also syncretistic, they borrowed the "better" aspects of other cultures/peoples.

Chapter 5
Animism - Everything in life is alive from wind to animals to love. The Religious rights were to try and keep the "Gods" in order. The "Gods" had little bearing on an "ethical" life. The Sumer were believed to be the first to "scientifically" differentiate the world. Law is another important development of Mesopotamia, it started with the "religious leaders" first then the "kings". It "appears" that the first laws were written to limit the powers of the "elite" over the poor.

Chapter 6
The "Law" does not belong to the powerful, it belongs to all and all are subject to it.
Sumer is the foundation under "Western Civilization"

Egypt - The Gift of the Nile

Chapter 1
As mentioned civilization began along river basins. The need for irrigation and water mills instigated greater and greater need for larger and larger political structures.

Chapter 2
In Legend and Myth Menes unified Egypt about 3100 BC. There were 30 sum dynasties/familys throughout the history of Egypt. Egypt was never continuously conquered/overtaken like Sumer, it was a bit more isolated. Old Egypt was very fruitful like Sumer never was. It was in Egypt that we learned to make a distinction between "office" and "holder of office".

Chapter 3
Egyptian Kings/Pharaohs were a little more steeped in Religion than they were in Sumer. As Egypt grew the Pharaoh was forced to "share" the power.

Chapter 4
The greater masses were less and less willing to just give all power to the Pharaoh. As the Middle Kingdom came to an end, Semitic speaking people overtook Egypt. The Semitic speaking people were known as the Hyksos, they came from Palestine around 1700 BC. The overtook Egypt by essentiall "extorting" the "big shots", they were a conquering minority. The Egyptians were one of the first to "build an empire". This empire collided with the Hittites. The Egyptians and Hittites warred and warred and warred and both civilizations eventually declined.

Chapter 5
Egyptian Culture starts with Pharaoh. Pharaoh was not a common man/leader as he was regarded as a God. In the Middle Kingdom there was a surge of temples and gods, and a "better afterlife" became open to everyone. It was in Egypt where we find a belief that how you live your life will determine your afterlife, unlike Mesopotamia.

Chapter 6
Akhenaten started to promote the idea of worshiping only one God, a monotheistic worship. Technologically speaking  Egypt is where paper came from. Due to preserving bodies Egyptians became "surgeons". The Egyptians are "more important" for how they are remembered rather than what they did for civilization.

The Hebrews - Small State and Big Ideas

Chapter 1
The Hebrews have had a larger impact on society because of their profound religious tradition. From 1200 to 700 BC a number of "small states" developed. Phoenicians or Canaanites planted trading colonies all over the Mediterranean creating the first "commercial empire" about 900 BC. Thus they anticipated the Athenians, the Venetians, the Dutch. They did not "conquer" cities/lands, but rather built an empire within many lands. They spread the ideas of Mesopotamia throughout the rest of the regions creating a particular culture.
It is interesting that the author uses the term "the small peoples", it is customary that elitists refer to the rest of us a "small peoples". This is also evident later when rulers started breeding for height, while starving their subjects to keep them short. Also, one could say they built the first "internet" their "colonies" created an information network. In the original "Information Revolution" they were the only players. This time around the commoners are discovering the elitists and what they do.
 - Federal Farmer

Chapter 2
A pastoralist named Abraham was told by God to take his people from Sumer. Sumer was a land of settled agriculturalists/farmers. Pastoralists and farmers tend not to get along and it is suggested that the pastoralists were "invited to leave". It is believed that some found life on the plains "difficult" and possibly migrated to Egypt. Later in Egypt, during the "New Kingdom", there was a movement within to remove all foreign influences. The Hebrews, resident aliens, were reduced to subjection/slavery.

Chapter 3
The Moses Exodus, the Hebrews left Egypt and "wandered 40 years" before settling again in the land from where they came. One account says they slowly migrated and another they fought the battle of Jericho. Probably there was a patient slow entry to this "new land". Unity only comes from a strong sense of an external threat. It wasn't until the external threat of the Philistines/the "seas peoples" the the Hebrews united as a people. But a fear/rejection of a strong centralized authority lead the "unified" kingdom to break into two, Israel and Judah. In 722 BC Israel was conquered by the Assyrians. Judah fell later to the Neo-Babylonians. The Hebrews not numerous not powerful, not united, left us a religious heritage the bible or rather the old testament.
This is an anomaly to me, if they settled in the land from where they came why did they "enter new" land? I have heard this before and it caught my attention then. I need some "clarity"... ;-)
 - Federal Farmer

Chapter 4
The Hebrew bile contains three kinds of material, the teaching of man's relation to God, prescriptive material (do and do not), the prophesies. It is not about living happily, it is about living with the rule of God.

Chapter 5
The idea of a covenant. The idea of one God for one people. Exclusive Monotheism.

Chapter 6
You worship one God, but you don't deny there are others. By the time of Isaiah we meet the notion that there is one God only.
Does this mean that all others are Godless? Times of great tension have begun. Ethical Monotheism did not appear in Mesopotamia, but was hinted at in Middle Kingdom Egypt. Historically social justice has been more religious based than secular based.

Dark Age and Archaic Greece

Chapter 1
The study of Greece is broken into 2 groups the Dark Ages and the Archaic. Greek did not have a steady rise there were a few "bumps" in the road. Greece had a long struggles that eventually wore it down. The Dorians were known as the great invaders.

Chapter 2
There are several kinds of Greeks with the fundamental differences being linguistic. They all spoke Greek, but different dialects. Greeks were the only civilization that forgot how to read & write. There was also a large depopulation at this time. The dark age is dark because we just don't know about it.

Chapter 3
Between 800 to 700 BC the Greek world is going thru a "revival",  a transition from the dark ages to more prosperous times. The great achievement of this transition period was the advent of the Polis. Greece ran into overpopulation problems. There were one of three responses to this situation in Greece. Take over your neighbors (Spartan) - Live by trade (Athens) - Colonize or "export" your population (Corinth)

Chapter 4
In "exporting" colonies they intended to expand Greece.

Chapter 5
The Greeks were known for skill and wisdom in using it.