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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
Really enjoyed that this tied to (and even directly referenced) some of the Innana/Ishtar myths and hymns I’ve read recently.
Approachable for a lay reader, very readable. Good depth of information for such a long time period to be covered.
Both notes cultural differences but humanizes the people of the ancient culture. Interesting ties to similar patterns and behaviors in later history and recent days.
Approachable for a lay reader, very readable. Good depth of information for such a long time period to be covered.
Both notes cultural differences but humanizes the people of the ancient culture. Interesting ties to similar patterns and behaviors in later history and recent days.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
*3.5*
this was a great read for someone with the most basic knowledge of this very important span in our universal history. as far i was concerned, mesopotamia was the euphrates and the tigris rivers and some hammurabi thrown in the mix eventually. saying i had some gaps in my knowledge would have been a gross understatement. however, the greatest asset of this book is not so much its content on babylon but how it bridges the gaps between this civilisation and our present day. like it states at the very beginning history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes
this was a great read for someone with the most basic knowledge of this very important span in our universal history. as far i was concerned, mesopotamia was the euphrates and the tigris rivers and some hammurabi thrown in the mix eventually. saying i had some gaps in my knowledge would have been a gross understatement. however, the greatest asset of this book is not so much its content on babylon but how it bridges the gaps between this civilisation and our present day. like it states at the very beginning history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I listened to this as an audiobook so I could digest it in little bits. The author did his best to make it interesting to a modern reader and draw parallels to the current times. Some of that seemed like it may have been a little bit of a stretch, but it was really interesting to hear about the current views on the start of civilization in the Fertile Crescent. I didn't expect to learn so much about the Sumerians and Mesopotamians who preceded the Babylonians, but the story would not have been complete without understanding all of them. I've always been fascinated with cuniform writing and cylinder seals it was great to learn about it's development and use, as well as some of the parts of their civilizations that had similarities with ours, including in commerce. People are so much the same, even 3-5000 years ago. This added a nice dimension to my understanding of history and I like that he also made connections with the intersecting history in the Bible as well.
I enjoyed this book immensely, knowing relatively little about the period. One of my favourite parts of this book was how comparisons were drawn between the past and the modern era and the way the author showed how the past drew into the present.
While this book took me a reasonable time to get into (and I didn't read on Saturday because I was very busy), once I was around two chapters in I could not put it down. I read the first 100 pages or so on the metro and after that was hooked and kept going back to it.
If you are interested in history, I would definitely recommend this book, however I would recommend not believing every word as true, given the amount of speculation needed to look at this time. As a general outline of the time period, however, this book is a fascinating read.
While this book took me a reasonable time to get into (and I didn't read on Saturday because I was very busy), once I was around two chapters in I could not put it down. I read the first 100 pages or so on the metro and after that was hooked and kept going back to it.
If you are interested in history, I would definitely recommend this book, however I would recommend not believing every word as true, given the amount of speculation needed to look at this time. As a general outline of the time period, however, this book is a fascinating read.
Kriwaczek is a brilliant writer. I purchased this after really enjoying In Search of Zarathustra. His prose is encapsulating, and while this is a more traditional history, it is a pleasure. Highly recommended.
This is one of the most enjoyable non-fiction books that I've read in years. The author covers both the sweep of history across four thousand years and more of Mesopotamian culture and the fascinating details of daily life, such as arguments between husband and wife, or the day-to-day chores of a farmer. Most of all, he successfully shows both how the civilisations of Mesopotamia, as they rose and fell in succession, differed greatly from our own viewpoint on the world while also contributing but by bit to the world we have inherited. (My personal favourite anecdote being King Shulgi of Ur's invention of ultra-distance running.) If you have any interest at all in this part of the world, or in the grey area between myth and history, make it your business to read this.
This is a fascinating, extremely captivating book that describes, to great detail, the history of ancient Mesopotamia.
Its details are impressive, and you end up feeling really weirded out at how similar Mesopotamian society truly was to our own, how little of what we think of as modernity is actually modern or created by modern cultures, and how we might be facing the end of our society as we know it if Mesopotamia is any indication. A deeply sobering thought!
Its details are impressive, and you end up feeling really weirded out at how similar Mesopotamian society truly was to our own, how little of what we think of as modernity is actually modern or created by modern cultures, and how we might be facing the end of our society as we know it if Mesopotamia is any indication. A deeply sobering thought!