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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Very informative! Ian Mortimer is my go-to author when I want to learn about more medieval things.
informative
inspiring
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
funny
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Great book that is really enlightening on why the middle ages are important and putting into perspective how advancements during the period were just as important and impactful for people living during them as they have been for us in the modern day.
Although not a book that will necessarily keep you glued to the page day and night, I feel it's a really important one to change or enhance your perception of the middle ages.
This would be essential reading for anyone writing a novel with the middle ages as a setting as there is so much to learn from how ones' house was furnished to how fast a messenger could pass on some information.
Important reading!
Although not a book that will necessarily keep you glued to the page day and night, I feel it's a really important one to change or enhance your perception of the middle ages.
This would be essential reading for anyone writing a novel with the middle ages as a setting as there is so much to learn from how ones' house was furnished to how fast a messenger could pass on some information.
Important reading!
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
Forget everything you think you know about the Middle Ages.
Embark on a journey to Medieval England, and discover why the Middle Ages actually matter. In today's modern society, we tend to think of smartphones, airplanes and nuclear warfare as the epitome of technology. We often say that "if a peasant from 1100 woke up in 2023, they would probably faint upon hearing a ringtone for the first time". Well, they might. But the Middle Ages, as described by the author, spanned over six centuries, from 1000 to 1600, and to think that there was close to no change during those times only reinforces bias. A peasant from 1100 would be shocked to discover that in 1600, people weren't serfs anymore, wore dyed clothes, had found a New Land, or even slept on pillows, in rooms where a chimney was built in, and windows were made of glass.
Ian Mortimer has made it his mission to expand our horizons, and has executed it beautifully. It is simple to forget, in the light of all the recent inventions, that our predecessors walked so we could run. In this book, the author chooses to develop several themes based on what we, as a society, take for granted and what we think this era was really like. War, because we always tend to think of the Middle Ages as barbaric and violent ; Inequality, and what life for the poor, women, and people of colour actually was ; Comfort, to evaluate how far we've come since sleeping in huts with one meal a day ; Speed, and how travel times reduced considerably in 600 years ; Literacy, for we often forget that someone from the 1600 wouldn't have spoken the same language as someone from the 1100 (!) ; and finally Individualism, explaining how we came to regard ourselves as human and becoming aware of our nature.
All in all, I felt a deep sense of connection to our Medieval ancestors. Whether they were peasants, merchants or nobles, I felt grateful for people I have never met. Everything that they have been put through - plague, hunger, disease, death and war - led to us being here today, in our comfortable homes, being able to read about them.
Embark on a journey to Medieval England, and discover why the Middle Ages actually matter. In today's modern society, we tend to think of smartphones, airplanes and nuclear warfare as the epitome of technology. We often say that "if a peasant from 1100 woke up in 2023, they would probably faint upon hearing a ringtone for the first time". Well, they might. But the Middle Ages, as described by the author, spanned over six centuries, from 1000 to 1600, and to think that there was close to no change during those times only reinforces bias. A peasant from 1100 would be shocked to discover that in 1600, people weren't serfs anymore, wore dyed clothes, had found a New Land, or even slept on pillows, in rooms where a chimney was built in, and windows were made of glass.
Ian Mortimer has made it his mission to expand our horizons, and has executed it beautifully. It is simple to forget, in the light of all the recent inventions, that our predecessors walked so we could run. In this book, the author chooses to develop several themes based on what we, as a society, take for granted and what we think this era was really like. War, because we always tend to think of the Middle Ages as barbaric and violent ; Inequality, and what life for the poor, women, and people of colour actually was ; Comfort, to evaluate how far we've come since sleeping in huts with one meal a day ; Speed, and how travel times reduced considerably in 600 years ; Literacy, for we often forget that someone from the 1600 wouldn't have spoken the same language as someone from the 1100 (!) ; and finally Individualism, explaining how we came to regard ourselves as human and becoming aware of our nature.
All in all, I felt a deep sense of connection to our Medieval ancestors. Whether they were peasants, merchants or nobles, I felt grateful for people I have never met. Everything that they have been put through - plague, hunger, disease, death and war - led to us being here today, in our comfortable homes, being able to read about them.