Got my monthly credit from Audible this morning and, as always, I’m stressing over picking the right book to download. I will begin my revealing that I’m an unabashed History buff. I will devour anything I can get my hands on as long as it discusses people in the past and how they did what they did when they did it. Recently I’ve been on a kick of listening to what medieval peoples did what they did when they did, downloading the following:

A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England - HIGHLY recommended. This was written as a sort of light and breezy “travel guide” for you to use as if you were planning on taking a vacation. Tells you what to expect upon arrival in the various cities and villages in England in the 14th Century; describing the people you would encounter, the customs they partake in, and the common culture of those people. I loved it for the entire 8:34:00 run time and I’ve listened to it twice in the last month)

Great Tales From English History Vol. 1 - accounts of the lives of several important people, as well as the popular legends and myths that have been recounted of them, in English history from the Celts to The Battle of Hastings. With a running time of 5:45:53 it does an admirable job going as in-depth as could reasonably be expected covering a span of over 1,000 years when people didn’t write things down.

This Sceptred Isle Vol.1 55BC-1043AD from Julius Ceaser to William the Conqueror – Bleh. Watered down, over-stylized, and foofy BBC production basically crib-noting the previous book I mentioned. I can’t recommend it unless you just want a quick crash course in the beginning of English history. To be fair that’s all this was meant to be and only cost $4. 1:30:30

Pompeii – Fun! A Romp! You’ll laugh till you cry!! Seriously though, this is another light offering that was created to be a radio production and while I don’t hold that fact against it I can’t recommend it. Actors portray various Romans (in one delightfully silly vignette a visiting egalitarian) inhabiting Pompeii & Herculaneum on the day Vesuvius erupted. The dialog is so forced and expository I couldn’t help but laugh a few times. “Never mind him; he is just a fuller I pay to stamp on laundry in urine all day in order to get the stains out. As you know there are several fuller houses devoted to this long standing Roman practice.” 1:34:05

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History – My man Dan Carlin came through (FINALLY!) with Thors Angels. It had been quite a long time since he had any new content on that side of his podcast (I don’t listen to his current event podcast “Common Sense”), and I had listened to everything. However I revisited his multi-episode “Death Throws of the Republic” about the fall of the Roman Empire. He makes me glad the internet exists. I’m glad I saved all of my old downloads because I see he’s now charging for the older ones. My faves: Ghosts of the Osfront, Macedonian Soap Opera, Punic Nightmares I-III


So…any Medeivel or Roman or Greek histories you think a history buff absolutely MUST have? Any histories of any time and place you think a history buff absolutely MUST have? Keep in mind this is my monthly free credit from Audible so I try and use it on a real high-end, high-ticket item. Anyone have an opinion on the following: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Churchill’s “History of the English Speaking Peoples”?



Get me mad & sad because the fad is fake

RIP CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS - All caps when you spell the man name