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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
DNF at 32%
Although I love this particular section of history (and I'm especially glad Frankopan mentioned Islam entering China in the Tang dynasty, a fact that most history books skip over or ignore), I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I was listening to the audiobook and found myself dreading the next reading session.
I think the issue, besides the dry language, was that the author kept zig zagging through time and space. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention to it but I often caught myself thinking "wait, I thought we covered that already" and less frequently, "how did we get here?" The book mostly contained stuff I already learned before, which makes it especially strange that I found the book so confusing.
It seemed to me like Frankopan kept jumping back and forth in time while moving across time and space. To be fair, that is not uncommon in history books, but it needs to be done mindfully if you're trying to show the connecting threads.
Maybe I'll try the book again someday. Maybe not. But right now, I don't want to invest anymore time into this 24 hour long audiobook.
Although I love this particular section of history (and I'm especially glad Frankopan mentioned Islam entering China in the Tang dynasty, a fact that most history books skip over or ignore), I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I was listening to the audiobook and found myself dreading the next reading session.
I think the issue, besides the dry language, was that the author kept zig zagging through time and space. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention to it but I often caught myself thinking "wait, I thought we covered that already" and less frequently, "how did we get here?" The book mostly contained stuff I already learned before, which makes it especially strange that I found the book so confusing.
It seemed to me like Frankopan kept jumping back and forth in time while moving across time and space. To be fair, that is not uncommon in history books, but it needs to be done mindfully if you're trying to show the connecting threads.
Maybe I'll try the book again someday. Maybe not. But right now, I don't want to invest anymore time into this 24 hour long audiobook.
adventurous
informative
reflective
informative
sad
medium-paced
I thought it was better to read on Audible
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I may come back to it but for now its not really what I was looking for (for a book thats supposed to be about the east it centers the west way too much)
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Pretty interesting. The best parts are the Ancient and Medieval sections, then it picks up again in the twentieth century. Loses focus a few times and talks about Europe too much but does convincingly argue for Central Asia as the centre of the world.