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566 reviews for:
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Ian Mortimer
4.02 AVERAGE
566 reviews for:
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Ian Mortimer
4.02 AVERAGE
His sense of humor and mastery of the subject really shine through in the chapters on health & hygiene and the law, but the chapters on food and clothing made my eyes glaze over in exactly the same way they do when GRRM goes on at length about what his characters are wearing or eating.
Fascinating stuff and well written. Mortimer does his best to acquaint the reader with this time period without too much transposition of modern thoughts and views.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
General Overview
A great and easy to read delve into not only the history but the lives who lived in Medieval England.
Style
Written sometimes with a narrative, this book keeps the reader interested. There are some tables to explain heirarchies, currency, trade etc, but they are not so lengthy as to become dull. This is not a text book. It is a narrative history lesson written down. The style is clear and concise, and though I did not agree with all of the sections chosen (the last pages on different medieval writers for example) they all in general build on a style of sudo-narrative, covering an interesting and dynamic time in history.
Story
This book should definitely be read alongsides [a:Ken Follett|3447|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1480592356p2/3447.jpg]'s [b:World Without End|5064|World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509545511s/5064.jpg|2845518] the gripping story set during the event covered in this book bring the two perfectly together. I gained so much more from reading the two together.
Moving through a wide selection of aspects of medieval life, this book gives you a general overview of the time and place of medieval England. It is not to weighted down with detail and facts, though those offered are very interesting, and appear throughout the rest of the book, to build on the overall picture of medieval England that is developed.
Final Thoughts
A good read for anyone interested in this period of history, which does't become to dull to read. It keeps human tales at the heart of its knowledge, instead of relying on cold statistics.
A great and easy to read delve into not only the history but the lives who lived in Medieval England.
Style
Written sometimes with a narrative, this book keeps the reader interested. There are some tables to explain heirarchies, currency, trade etc, but they are not so lengthy as to become dull. This is not a text book. It is a narrative history lesson written down. The style is clear and concise, and though I did not agree with all of the sections chosen (the last pages on different medieval writers for example) they all in general build on a style of sudo-narrative, covering an interesting and dynamic time in history.
Story
This book should definitely be read alongsides [a:Ken Follett|3447|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1480592356p2/3447.jpg]'s [b:World Without End|5064|World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509545511s/5064.jpg|2845518] the gripping story set during the event covered in this book bring the two perfectly together. I gained so much more from reading the two together.
Moving through a wide selection of aspects of medieval life, this book gives you a general overview of the time and place of medieval England. It is not to weighted down with detail and facts, though those offered are very interesting, and appear throughout the rest of the book, to build on the overall picture of medieval England that is developed.
Final Thoughts
A good read for anyone interested in this period of history, which does't become to dull to read. It keeps human tales at the heart of its knowledge, instead of relying on cold statistics.
funny
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
I read this book to get a better idea of daily life in the fourteenth century to inspire my medieval fantasy stories, and I'm glad I did. By allowing himself to fill in the blanks in historical evidence using related sources and common sense, Ian Mortimer paints a more vivid and comprehensive picture of history than I have seen anywhere else, answering many questions that I hadn't even thought of asking.
informative
medium-paced
funny
informative
medium-paced
The concept of free history and virtual time travelling the author talks about is so interesting and the way he humanises the information makes it much more enjoyable of an experience.
Excited to read more of this series
Excited to read more of this series