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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
The ultimate travel book. I got it as a resource for my evening classes on Ancient Egypt. Anything involving Greece and the surrounding empires around 500 B.C., this is the book to read.
dark
funny
fast-paced
take a shot every time someones body gets chopped up and served to someone else
Worth taking the time to read. This is a fascinating look into the world as perceived by Herodotus 2400ish years ago. Sure it's dry in parts, but for the most part it is an interesting book.
This was a *loooooong* read. Herodotus is very, very detailed and his tangents give Tolstoy, Hugo, and Melville a run for their money. It was kind of a slog at points, but I think it is worth it. It is a panoramic view of the Classical Greek world. Parts of it read like a collection of fairy tales. And half the joy of reading the Histories is reading all of the notes calling Herodotus out on his BS. I loved reading about the Persians, the Scythians, the Ionians, Croesus, and Cyrus. Reading Herodotus also undermines a lot of the propaganda about the Persian wars. The Greeks do not always cut a heroic figure, and the Persians do not always cut a villainous figure. The story is much more complex. Herodotus frames the struggle through personal intrigue instead of as a product of historical and societal forces, but it complicates one's view of this historical event.
Compared as many translations as I could find this time around, and found Tom Holland's to be the most enjoyable by far.
That star rating might be more like a 3.5...I finally finished this. The final stretch over the last few weeks, when social distancing started...let me just say, this is not escapist reading. An interesting read, though dry at times.
We were doing a read-along at my blog Gather Together and Read. You can read the discussion posts (if you're interested) here: https://www.gathertogetherread.com/2020/02/1000-books-project-herodotus-histories.html
and
here: https://www.gathertogetherread.com/2020/04/1000-books-project-herodotus-histories.html
We were doing a read-along at my blog Gather Together and Read. You can read the discussion posts (if you're interested) here: https://www.gathertogetherread.com/2020/02/1000-books-project-herodotus-histories.html
and
here: https://www.gathertogetherread.com/2020/04/1000-books-project-herodotus-histories.html