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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I was certainly hoping for more cultural elements of the Vikings rather than lists of kings and battles and names and jumping between various centuries to prove points. The beginning of the where he would discuss artifacts like boats and relating it to archaeology was fascinating, as was the steady conversion from ‘heathen’ practices to Christianity, but it was incredibly dense and boring. I love reading nonfiction, but this was a tough one to get through.
This was an interesting book. It created connections between concepts I never thought of before, and just plain didn't know about before. Whether those connections are legit is another matter, but it definitely gets you thinking. The author talks about more than just Scandinavia, he talks about almost any aspect of the world the Vikings touched, and how that affected other things. It was definitely thought-provoking, but at the same time it felt like a lot of information.
It also felt like a lot of time was spent focusing on the leaders, the kings and chroniclers and bishops and whatever else. There were a lot of names, and a lot of dates. I didn't learn much about the Viking culture, just where they raided and who they battled and who ruled them. The gods were rarely mentioned. Greenland and the expeditions to the New World had a chapter or two, but I still didn't feel like I learned much about them. It was much more focused on Vikings in the wider world, which isn't bad, and it's still interesting, but I like learning culture more than dates.
The way the book was organized confused me a little too. A chapter could be spent talking about the Danes in England, going over a couple hundred years, and the next would jump backwards those couple hundred years and talk about something else. It just made things confusing for me and making correlations was harder because of it.
Overall still good, and there were a lot of interesting information and connections I haven't read in other books. At the same time, I didn't feel like I got to really know the Vikings.
It also felt like a lot of time was spent focusing on the leaders, the kings and chroniclers and bishops and whatever else. There were a lot of names, and a lot of dates. I didn't learn much about the Viking culture, just where they raided and who they battled and who ruled them. The gods were rarely mentioned. Greenland and the expeditions to the New World had a chapter or two, but I still didn't feel like I learned much about them. It was much more focused on Vikings in the wider world, which isn't bad, and it's still interesting, but I like learning culture more than dates.
The way the book was organized confused me a little too. A chapter could be spent talking about the Danes in England, going over a couple hundred years, and the next would jump backwards those couple hundred years and talk about something else. It just made things confusing for me and making correlations was harder because of it.
Overall still good, and there were a lot of interesting information and connections I haven't read in other books. At the same time, I didn't feel like I got to really know the Vikings.
This is a very interesting and quite comprehensive history of the Vikings, covering everything from their exploits in exploration and conquering to their conversion to Christianity.
I wasn't too crazy about this one. While there was a lot of information, it was not my focus so maybe that was why I had a disconnect. Otherwise, I'm glad I read it.
The first half of the book was informative, but the second half dragged a bit into minutiae on what more obscure rulers did. This is meant to be a general history book, and for the most part, it does a good job of that. But the book does suffer a bit when it gets into lesser-known figures and describes their activities without keeping in focus the main overall themes of the book, and not placing their doings in the greater context of the whole.
I waited so long to finally get this, and it ended up taking me so long to get through. I skimmed a lot. The author is supremely knowledgeable, but somehow the book is very dry. And this is coming from someone who reads nonfiction almost exclusively. I just couldn’t get into it, which is kind of ridiculous because Vikings are so utterly fascinating. Review to come.
The Vikings is a a thorough book for someone who already has a depth of knowledge about this subject, but for a beginner, this book was difficult to read and sort of a slog. I had to take careful notes the entire time to have a grasp of what was happening. (I recommend keeping a map of Northern Europe and a timeline with you as you read.) The author provides very little context or connective tissue between the events that he explores. I had a difficult time seeing a cohesive story in my head, and mostly felt like I was inundated with fact after fact without being provided a sense of why it was relevant.
Very interesting book but a rather difficult read. Early Middle Ages were very dynamic times where rulers and local warlords rose and fell in a matter of months. As a result you end up with multitude of characters and it takes pretty good concentration and focus to discern who is who at what time.
I read few reviews of this book and they said that book was sensationalistic in terms that it would bombard readers with pretty bizarre descriptions of torture. I agree that these are not things you would usually ind in historical texts but again these are all things that were common for the period. Brutal, yes they are [especially in our times] but they were common at the time.
Interesting book, highly recommended to anyone interested in Early Middle Ages or Vikings themselves.
I read few reviews of this book and they said that book was sensationalistic in terms that it would bombard readers with pretty bizarre descriptions of torture. I agree that these are not things you would usually ind in historical texts but again these are all things that were common for the period. Brutal, yes they are [especially in our times] but they were common at the time.
Interesting book, highly recommended to anyone interested in Early Middle Ages or Vikings themselves.
This is the type of book you need to read multiple times to really absorb it and appreciate the material. This was the first time I’ve read it, so I can only admit to remembering maybe 10% of the facts, but I have a very good idea of the trends and themes during the Viking Age. With a reread I’m sure I would remember more of the specific details. Something I really appreciated about this book was the author’s dedication to avoiding speculation. He was very honest about what information was available and mentioned all working theories where possible. I was listening to the audiobook, which made it a little harder to place events without ready access to a map, but the narrator was great.