We’ve all noticed the recent saturation of microhistories on bookstore shelves. You know, there’s Salt: A World History, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, A History of the World in Six Glasses, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance and 1421: The Year China Discovered America, to name a few. Admittedly, we’ve never read one, but we imagine the gimmick gets old at some point. The animated microshistories below, however, are too fast and entertaining to get old and therefore are, in our humble opinion, better. So here are Listicles’ Top 5 Animated Microhistories.

The History of Evil

The History of Money

The History of Logging

A Short History of the Wheel (that is also trippy and surreal)

The History of New York City’s Meatpacking District (by Gary Leib)

Also check out Leib’s animated histories of Wall Street and The Bowery.