Time Traveller's Guide To Medieval England by Ian Mortimer

[vodkafan]

I love history books. But usually when reading one you have to stretch your own imagination to try to put yourself "into the landscape" as it were.

That is exactly what this book sets out to do, By asking you to imagine yourself as a first time visitor at a particular place and time and has given you a guide book with all the basic essentials to find your way around. The author asserts that his is a new approach of looking at history - I am not totally sure it has not been tried before - but it is certainly a very good and entertaining read.

Make no mistake though, it is a proper history book, there are copious notes in the reference section at the back. And lots of contemporary illustrations in colour.

As it is a non-fiction book, It is not a spoiler to tell you that the short chapters deal with the following topics:

The landscape, the people (high and low), essential info, the medieval mindset, clothes, travel, eating, health, law and order, and lastly what medieval English folk did for entertainment.

By the way the author restricts himself to the fourteenth century only.

If I have any niggles with the book it would be that maybe Mr Mortimer could have pushed the time traveller aspect even a little more; he gently reminds the reader every now and then when description threatens to get a little dry. Keeping it fun is what makes the book different and makes facts stick in the memory.

 

I would recommend this book.

 

James

[Mac]

This sounds quite interesting. I love history, so might well look out for this. Thanks, James.

[Michelle]

I've listened to some of this as an audiobook, and was surprised how enjoyable it was.

[Anika]

Thanks for pointing out this book! I read a lot of history and am always looking for those that help give a clearer picture as to the actual conditions for the people living then. This is one I will definitely check out. Any more recommendations?

[Peahen]

I have this one but have not read it yet, definitely has gone up higher on my TBR list.  I always need a kick start :-)  None such a good kick start for reading than a recommendation. 

[JKHolmes]

I have this book. I love learning about history, but struggle with reading non fiction books as they can get boring. This book started out amazing, i loved it though it does become more like a normal history book the more you read. (to be fair, i haven't finished it)

[Cookie]

I really enjoyed this one and some of the info in it actually stayed in my head. I find it difficult to read regular history books but not this one!