Book excerpt: The Twenty-five Years that Changed the World is the second book in the Our Place in Time trilogy portraying the advancement of the four major civilizations extant today—Confucian China, Hindu India, the Muslim Middle East, and the Christian West. With their expansion, they represent 85% of the world’s population. The intent of these works—including the prequel, Our Axial Age—is to understandably capture the march of history with its pronounced progress in time while highlighting the fascinating people involved. In this work it is argued that, for the three-hundred-year period from 1400-1700, every happening of key consequence remarkably had some major connection with the brief quarter century from 1501 to 1526. The colorful people brought to life include: • The eunuch admiral whose treasure ships were the grandest armadas in Chinese history. • The most magnificent and memorable sultan in the history of the Ottoman Empire. • India’s splendid Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his beloved wife who died in childbirth. • The two great contemporary geniuses who, for all their extraordinary art, were far apart. • The personable father of science and the enigmatic playwright who heralded a new age. • The mystic Muslim and the stubborn Christian who secured their faith’s structural division.