A review by trop_de_livres
A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins

adventurous informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Five stars if you are REALLY interested in history, marine archeology and/or the history of ships. 

David Gibbins is one of the most famous marine archeologists in the world and so it is logical that he should have written a book detailing twelve famous shipwreck discoveries. 

Each chapter is devoted to one of these shipwrecks, in chronological order. By doing so, Gibbins can expand upon the information about the shipwrecks and connect them to to the history of the world at the time, compare them to each other, and to similar discoveries in other locations. This is a clever (and new to me) way to look at history, by focusing on the history of traveling by ship. Gibbins was personally involved in many of the shipwreck discoveries and relates his experiences as a marine archeologist in a captivating and personal style. 

Highly recommended if you are a history buff, love archeology and find shipping history fascinating. If you are just slightly interested in these subjects, you might find the pure amount of information to be overwhelming, and that it reads more like a textbook. However, you also might be inspired to go down many rabbit holes (I was!) and find out more. 

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for letting me read this in exchange for an honest opinion.