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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
A great journey with lots of insights. Will try to read first few books that make The Histories again. Due to my preference of anthropology over fighting, out of the 9 books the 2nd was my favorite.
The single most based thing I've ever read. The original "Source? My source is that I made it the fuck up". Deeply entertaining 10/10.
informative
challenging
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
I was really excited to discover that there's an outline at the back of the book, because prior to that discovery I had issues understanding literally anything that was happening. Good primary source, but not very good reading for entertainment. Also, really long.
Herodotus really is a pretty fun read for the most part! I especially enjoyed the parts about Egypt. He can be a fairly unreliable narrator; he has quite the funny hang up on the Nile origin source and doesn't believe it when he's told it starts from melted snow water I believe in Libya. He also doesn't have the nicest opinion about women and they are, as often times in ancient historical literature and even into some contemporary times, listed as chattel a d booty for the most part. But you don't go to ancient literature for enlightened feminist treatises :')
What this history *is* is a quite fascinating look into the times that he was researching and speaking about. He goes to Great Lengths to explicitly state when he is just reciting what he was told versus what he has seen which I appreciated. I think some of his bad rap is an unreliable narrator comes from him pointing out these stories and tales he is told from the people themselves, but I think it's an excellent addition. Stories like those he brings up are a good way to see into the minds and lives of the people he's talking about.
What this history *is* is a quite fascinating look into the times that he was researching and speaking about. He goes to Great Lengths to explicitly state when he is just reciting what he was told versus what he has seen which I appreciated. I think some of his bad rap is an unreliable narrator comes from him pointing out these stories and tales he is told from the people themselves, but I think it's an excellent addition. Stories like those he brings up are a good way to see into the minds and lives of the people he's talking about.
Interesting to see the genesis of modern history writing. The vignettes are the best ("Hippoclides doesn't care!"). The "nothing new under the sun" moments are always neat (eg ancient Egypt had specialty doctors).
This book has been on my to-read list for over ten years, but I was always rather intimidated by its size. I found that this book is actually quite readable, and appreciated the copious amounts of footnotes included, as I was able to get context and further information as I was reading. (Google also came in handy.) I will say this book is quite dense. It has small font, small margins, and few breaks. It was at times tedious to read, with sometimes entire paragraphs listing places, or a person's ancestors, or detailing at length how soldiers from various places were dressed. It also had humor, a narrator who knows he goes off track and refuses to apologize for it, and lots and lots of backstabbing, in-fighting, and sore feelings between various Greek nations. I'm glad to have finally given it a read, and also pleased that I enjoyed it so much. I do recommend taking this in small chunks if you decide to give it a read, though!