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sidney's review
2.0
I had a relatively hard time reading this, and did spend a large amount of time doing it, despite all the effort trying to read just a bit faster. Two things that slowed me down:
1. Novel names of places or people. There are simply so many of them, you can simply find dozens just denoting those tiny islands in the Aegean Sea. And that's not all, most of them are either Greek or stemming from even more unfamiliar languages, which drives me crazy whenever I see a super-long name that's essentially jibberish to me, for I can neither pronounce nor remember.
2. I don't know if I'm not skilled in reading history books, but this book just made it even harder for me because I'm quite certain that it's a scholarly work. It's simply crammed with facts and dates and names that I didn't know whether to toil through this paragraph or simply just skim through or even skip it.
Overall, I'm not satisfied.
1. Novel names of places or people. There are simply so many of them, you can simply find dozens just denoting those tiny islands in the Aegean Sea. And that's not all, most of them are either Greek or stemming from even more unfamiliar languages, which drives me crazy whenever I see a super-long name that's essentially jibberish to me, for I can neither pronounce nor remember.
2. I don't know if I'm not skilled in reading history books, but this book just made it even harder for me because I'm quite certain that it's a scholarly work. It's simply crammed with facts and dates and names that I didn't know whether to toil through this paragraph or simply just skim through or even skip it.
Overall, I'm not satisfied.
ndsr's review
4.0
Starred reviews can be difficult. This is a perfectly satisfactory overview of classical European history, and measured by its accomplishing of its apparent goals, it deserves five stars. However, in comparison to other works by the same authors and to other books in the same series (The Penguin History of Europe), this volume is somewhat unsatisfying.
The occasional sidebars of "modern relevance" were often interesting, but contributed little to the depth of the book, which is limited.
The occasional sidebars of "modern relevance" were often interesting, but contributed little to the depth of the book, which is limited.
missmarketpaperback's review
3.0
So I've tried to read this book several times and it has never stuck. The first two chapters are almost impossibly dull. However, this time I powered through. I found the book to contain some good anecdotes about different scholars and archaeological finds, but generally skimmed over large historical moments. I was grateful for the description of the Hellenistic period, but found other chapters to be overly simplified.
ellanarose's review
4.0
An interesting book.
As a narrative, it was fascinating. The book covers a wide range of both time and place, covering most of Europe. However, I found a few conclusions to be inadequate, badly explained, or just plain wrong.
For example, in one chapter a burial of "The Doctor" is described, a Celtic person who was cremated, then the urn buried with trinkets and important items. The book casually says the burial was "probably of a man" but shows no evidence to say why. There were many of these little things throughout the book.
As a narrative, like I said, it was a fascinating read. The book covers a wide range of subjects, from the fall of Troy to the fall of Rome. I quite enjoyed reading it, despite its flaws.
As a narrative, it was fascinating. The book covers a wide range of both time and place, covering most of Europe. However, I found a few conclusions to be inadequate, badly explained, or just plain wrong.
For example, in one chapter a burial of "The Doctor" is described, a Celtic person who was cremated, then the urn buried with trinkets and important items. The book casually says the burial was "probably of a man" but shows no evidence to say why. There were many of these little things throughout the book.
As a narrative, like I said, it was a fascinating read. The book covers a wide range of subjects, from the fall of Troy to the fall of Rome. I quite enjoyed reading it, despite its flaws.
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