Harry Leeming

Brilliant

Reviewed: 22-05-23

He conjure up vivid sense of what society throughout different periods. Detailed enough to be thorough but without being dense.

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Factual but Dissatisfying

Reviewed: 29-04-23

The story covers all the basic facts but lacks the power of writing to conjure up a sense of the different times, places and people.

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Dull, uneventful barely has a plot

Reviewed: 15-01-23

Some of the conversations about race relations and Marxism are mildly interesting, but overall this book barely has a plot and meanders from one bland scene to another with very little driving it.

The way it is written makes it seem like your hearing an account of her life from the outside in but an account with any vitality taken out. The protagonist is not a human but an automaton. You also don’t leave the book with a particularly detailed sense of what life in South Africa was like under apartheid.

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1 person found this helpful

The Essential backbone for any comprehensive understanding of European history

Reviewed: 29-05-22

A brilliant survey of all of Europe’s history. Brisk enough to be a manageable read, yet never feeling rushed. The author evokes characters and complex situations with remarkable brevity. It is worth reading even if you consider yourself to have a good intermediate gauge of various parts of history: it gives you a sense of the overview which lets you see how all the different parts of history you might already know fit together. It also informs you of new areas of history which you can then look into in further detail.

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Meh

Reviewed: 15-04-22

Starts off interesting when laying out the scene but then just descends to repetitive descriptions of sexual perversions. It manages to be tedious, off putting and not in the least erotic. This version also has pretensions of being a wild uncensored version, but it does not include any of the torture (not realising this is the only reason people read this book). Find a version which includes all the story. You are not going to be horrified by this pointless edition.

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1 person found this helpful

3 parts history 2 parts political handbook

Reviewed: 23-01-22

A good read but it wasn’t the handbook for political scheming I was expecting. While there was some of this, it was mainly a history of late mediaeval/ early renaissance Italy. This is interesting but can be a bit obscure.

Worth a read but best to skim till you get to the juicy bits of political insight and then revisit them in more detail a second time.

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Deeply unprofessional narration

Reviewed: 12-12-21

I applaud the narrator of this book for making volume 1 of one of the most influential hadith collections available in audio form. If you are interested in Islam this is the logical next step after the Qur’an as it gives insight into the person of Muhammad and the lived reality of Islam, whereas the Qur’an is more concerned with high theology.

However, this is The most unprofessional narration I have ever heard. She often stumbles on a sentence, stops and repeats the sentence again. The audio quality is not good and probably comes from an inferior microphone. At one point you can hear her phone going off on vibrate. These are features that would not be present in a professional narration and really should’ve been edited out. If she is to do the next volume she should edit out mistakes and get professional audio equipment.

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7 people found this helpful

Comprehensive, accessible, interesting

Reviewed: 01-10-21

A really good series that progresses in a clear and easy to follow narrative which is never scattered. It manages to dwell on the interesting aspects while ensuring we progress at a good pace. The Ottomans represent the Middle term history for the Middle East and North Africa and gives very good background that enriches one’s understanding of contemporary politics in the Islamic world.

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Impenetrable translation

Reviewed: 27-12-20

The translation is obnoxiously Archaic. I’m not just talking about a few thous here and there. It reaches pre-shakespearean levels which actually makes an already difficult (if rewarding) text inaccessible and ruins the read. Listen to the translation by Robert Kirkpatrick instead.

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4 people found this helpful

You'll appreciate it but don't expect tears

Reviewed: 03-01-17

Evokes a Beautiful image and creates characters that are both Thoroughly believable and interesting. you can't help but appreciate Fitzgerald's talent in literary technique. However, I couldn't help but feel that far more feeling could have been coaxed out of the( rather short) plot. Maybe if we had other people's point of views rather than the deliberately dull main character (and some detached narration) the book could have moved my heart as well as my appreciation.

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