“…we always look back to a time that didn’t exist.” Hannah Rose Woods has crafted a superb book that entertains as much as it does illuminates and does so without trying to be witty or find some forced clever idea that doesn’t work. Instead, she writes with the absolute precision you’d expect from an historian.… Read More Book Review: Rule, Nostalgia by Hannah Rose Woods
I’ll come straight to it: this book is utterly pointless. It’s a pity because it need not have been. The idea – of presenting a brief history of twenty-eight of the major nations of the world – was a good one. There is, of course, an immediate issue with deciding which twenty-eight should be chosen… Read More Book Review: Histories of Nations edited by Peter Furtado
My rating: 3 of 5 stars A short history of a country is never going to be an all-encompassing in-depth review of historical events. As such, a book of this sort is always going to be open to criticism and Simon Jenkins’ book has certainly received plenty of that. Some, I feel, is unjustified. While… Read More Book Review: A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s not often I differentiate between books I read in print, books on e-format and books which I listen to, usually via Audible. For this review it is important that I do so as this ‘book’ is actually a series of 48 one-hour lectures by Professor Bob Brier covering… Read More Review: The History of Ancient Egypt by Bob Brier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars Hans Rosling’s book on how to ‘get it right’ and not allow yourself to believe or propagate what has come to be known as ‘fake news’ is now rightly considered a classic and very probably a ‘must-read’. What I didn’t expect, as I read it, was to find the… Read More Book review: Factfulness by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund
My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is certainly one of the most intriguing books I’ve read in a while (and I’ve read some very strange ones); it takes a special kind of genius to think that such a subject as menus could make the basis for a book. In some cases the menus Vincent… Read More Book review: Menus That Made History by Vincent Franklin and Alex Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars James Felton is, on the strength of this book, my new personal god. There is literally nothing to fault bar the fact he uses copious amounts of ‘F’ words and insults. But then, with the title featuring the words ‘bellend’ in it you’d have to be pretty bloody stupid… Read More Book Review: 52 Times Britain was a Bellend by James Felton
Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings by Craig Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars Interesting Literature is a fascinating online site which, among many other wonderful things, reviews quirky books from time to time. Unfortunately for me (more accurately, my bank balance) these books almost invariably pique my interest and I… Read More Book Review – Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings by Craig Brown
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard My rating: 2 of 5 stars Flying in the face of other reviews for this book, I can honestly say I lost precious hours reading this book that I will never get back. Possibly the worst book I’ve read on Roman history; certainly the most boring.… Read More Book Review: SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari My rating: 4 of 5 stars The four stars I’ve given this book are, I’ll admit from the start, somewhat out of respect for this brilliant author rather than wholly deserved with this ‘sequel’ to his superb ‘Sapiens’. There are many passages which frankly… Read More Book Review – Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
Write Out Loud 