nathanjhunt's reviews
209 reviews

Pole To Pole by Michael Palin

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adventurous funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75

Haunted Somerset by John Garland

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mysterious fast-paced

2.0

This was my 82nd book finished in 2025.

I found this book to be very underwhelming. Rather than telling a scary ghost story, the author tends to give long historical background, and then a fleeting remark about the actual haunting. It reads way more like a historical reference document than an engaging haunted story! The author flits between history and tales in a clunky way.

The layout was bad with no sense of order - not in geographical nor themed order. Very random. A slog to get through; bland writing and barely interesting in places.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

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informative reflective medium-paced

2.25

This was my 81st book finished in 2025.

I struggled to get into this book, and it just got worse and less engaging throughout. I thought I would like it, but it was a disappointment; overrated.

My biggest issue was the fact it advertised itself as a history book, but it isn't really. I found the first few chapters to be the best - actual history and archaeology (aside from when it started talking about Peugeot for some reason).

The problem is, the genre was far too broad, and it wandered about a lot. There was not enough history, but far too much religion, philosophy, economics, capitalism etc. I just couldn't get into it, and I'm struggling to work out why. I think one of the reasons was that it was clearly written for an American market.

It somehow says so much and yet so little; it's very surface level; it asks more questions than it answers. Just full of a lot of waffle. You can imagine business bros talking about it to each other thinking they're so clever. It's just a bit cringe in places.

I found the section on war and peace very awkward. The author spends time saying we're living in a time of peace; that full out war is not possible anymore; that no country wants to, quote, "swallow up another". This book was translated in 2014 - the year Russia invaded Ukraine! Not to mention the uncomfortable fact that an Israeli author has the audacity to claim the above when his country is causing a genocide in Palestine. Absolute nonsense.

Lastly, a couple random things that confused me:
It weirdly mixes up metric with imperial, swaying between metres, feet, tons, fahrenheit etc.
I just found it an odd choice that the author used "her" every single time, instead of "they / their".
The book is SO pessimistic - it not a fun read in the slightest.
1984 by George Orwell

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

This was my 80th book finished in 2025.

What a tale! It's such a clever book, with so many fascinating and terrifying ideas; I really felt like I was trapped in Winston's shoes. Some of the ideas got lodged in my brain: Newspeak, the Ministry of Truth, doublethink, thought crime, Big Brother. Wow, wow, wow - so clever. 

It was so interesting to see Orwell "predict" the future, in terms of the Cold War and the KGB. Isn't it haunting that these dystopian ideas actually became a reality?

I have to say that the torture scenes were the most memorable and unsettling part of the whole book for me. So visceral, raw and uncensored. Terrifying.

I found the book very engaging, aside from when Winston read "the book" about 3/5ths in. This became a bit of a slog with a lot of info dumping, and I wish Orwell came up with a more clever way of getting the exposition across, like he did at the beginning. The pacing of the whole book got messed up here.

My biggest gripe was the way Orwell writes women. I don't think any woman is particularly well-written, and any mention or description of a woman is rather gross; it's a shame because I didn't really like Julia that much, even though I really wanted to. 

This is a very highly rated book for me. It will stay with me for a very long time. The end broke my heart.
From The Meadows Of Gold by ʿAlī al-Masʿūdī

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informative

4.0

This was my 3rd book finished in 2023.

It was interesting to read a history from an Arab source - something I've never read before.

It was very easy to read, I'd definitely consider reading the full works.
Dinosaurs: 10 Things You Should Know by Dean R. Lomax

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informative medium-paced

3.75

This was my 3rd and final book finished in 2021.

This was another book leant to me by slowloris, who had recently finished reading it herself. I finished it in one sitting during the Christmas period.

It was one of the most well-written science books I've read; very easy to understand. Got to love dinosaurs!
Crypt by Alice Roberts

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informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

This was my 79th book finished in 2025.

It was like listening to an Alice Roberts documentary. Very soothing.

It was very engaging and covered all kinds of interesting history, archaeology and biology. I had no idea about palaeopathology or archaeogenomics, but they seem very interesting.

It had such a seemless mixture of archaeology and history. It was so refreshing to hear something which didn't solely rely on historical records.

I got slightly lost when it came to talking about proteins etc; biology was never my strong suit. Occasionally, the subject sat just a bit too long on one thing, and it dragged a little bit.

I'd definitely be interested in checking out her other books.
Queen Boudica's Secret Diary by Terry Deary

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informative fast-paced

3.0

This was my 78th book finished in 2025.

It was alright, it really helped having "Marcus' Diary" included as well. I certainly learned more about the Celts than I did reading The Cut-Throat Celts book.
The End Of A Show by Barry Pain

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dark sad medium-paced

3.5

This was my 77th book finished in 2025.

This was a very dark and sad tale.
Lost Treasure by Caradoc Evans

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fast-paced

2.75

This was my 76th book finished in 2025.

Ehh, this was nothing special for me.