The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

4.02 AVERAGE

acciohannah's profile picture

acciohannah's review against another edition

5.0
If you’re wondering how I’ve coping with…well everything…the answer is 2 things: my beloved penjamin & nonfiction books about bad things that have already happened. I actually think it’s bringing me peace in a weird way. It just constantly reminds me that things have always been and will always be bad, and yet, we persevere in spite of it. It’s kind of lovely, that sentiment, however I am (and I genuinely mean this when I say it) grateful EVERY DAY that I am not living in the middle ages. EVERY SINLGE DAY. 

Anyways this book!!! You guys this book! I can’t recommend it enough. It’s just a perfect of why I love narrative nonfiction so much, when done at this level it’s so completely immersive and Ian Mortimer’s writing is so incredibly vivid, wicked, and witty while being informative.
fablestag's profile picture

fablestag's review against another edition

4.0
informative medium-paced

caz_book_coz's review against another edition

3.75
informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

numbersnumbers's review against another edition

3.0
3.5. Interesting, yes

christa_bauer's review against another edition

4.0
dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

lastvisible's review against another edition

4.0
Interesting book about life in medieval England.

sophieconstable's review against another edition

3.0
This was a really good and highly original history book. I have never read anything like it! It was also incredibly well-researched and was full to the brim with info about life in the 14th century. This is a fascinating book that I would definitely recommend.

emily2442's review against another edition

3.5
informative slow-paced

pozo67's review against another edition

3.75
informative mysterious sad slow-paced
Packed full of information. Again it's an example of me not liking 2nd person- I don't find him misogynistic but he does expect you to shape-shift into being an average height straight (presumably white and English) man while taking the trip. I made up for this by highlighting the women, it's the washer women you learn most about taking this approach. The plague stuff made me think about covid and how lucky we are to have modern medicine. There's also some sad stuff in the food and drink section- a lot of famines - and the law sections (it was mostly about who you knew and how well you got on with them. But it not being a capitalist society yet led to some funny punishments too - if people swindled you selling bad products, their punishments would be particularly poetic! I was prepared for some cruelty in how animals were treated including rabbits but the cat stuff shocked me! Far from being beloved pets, they were instead used as animal products to make things from! Pets were things that are wild today like squirrels and sparrows! If you were nobility, you would have the pleasure of riding in a gilded carriage with such pets! 
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pnwchickadee's profile picture

pnwchickadee's review against another edition

3.5
challenging informative slow-paced