Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: Strange History, by Bathroom Reader’s Institute

Published by: Portable Press

Publication Date: 14th June 2016

Format: Paperback

Price: $15.99

I.S.B.N.: 9781626865839

Blurb

From the 20th century to the Old West, from the Age of Enlightenment to the Dark Ages, from ancient cultures all the way back to the dawn of time,Strange History is overflowing with mysterious artifacts, macabre legends, kooky inventions, reality-challenged rulers, boneheaded blunders, and mind-blowing facts. Read about…

*The curse of Macbeth
*Stupid history: Hollywood style
*The secret LSD experiments of the 1960s
*In search of the lost “Cloud People” of Peru
*The Swedish queen who declared war on fleas
*Unearthing the past with the Outhouse Detectives
*The Apollo astronaut who swears he saw a UFO
*How to brew a batch of 5,000-year-old beer
*The brutal bloodbaths at Rome’s Coliseum
*Ghostly soup from ancient China
*The bathroom of the 1970s

And much, much more

My Review

Honestly, if this was supposed to be a humorous look at history I was only mildly amused. I only laughed a couple of times in the whole book. It’s a book that is part of a series covering strange facts. I can’t say I’d buy any of them if this one was an example.

There were errors, most obviously the whole section on Easter, which aggravated me particularly because every year someone spouts the bunnies and Eostre nonsense (there are no surviving myths) claiming it’s all ancient mythology and then I have to hit them with a copy of Ecclesiastical History (The Venerable Bede) and again with Teutonic Mythology (The Grimms), until they shut up. A book claiming to be about (the funny side of) history needs to be better than rehashing debunked rubbish. I may be being picky, but referring to the English and Welshmen who made up the armies of the Hundred Year’s War as ‘British’ is a misnomer; until about 150 years ago ‘Britain’ and ‘British’ referred to pre-Roman people or the island specifically. The British didn’t fight the French during the Hundred Year’s War, the English did, and the Welsh were recruited for their bows. There was some pretty complex politics involved.

And Joan of Arc heard voices because she was eating rye bread infected with ergot.
*bashes head against wall*

I’m sorry, I hadn’t realised how much this book irritated me. I like funny history books, the world can be a funny place amd history more so because the past is so alien, but funny, accurate history is preferred, at least by me.

Not recommended, although if you want a mildly amusing time when you defecate, this might do the job. I can think of better bog reading though.

Review: The Dark Side of East London, by David Charnick

Published by: Pen & Sword

Publication Date: 30th September 2016

Format: Hardcover

Price: £19.99

I.S.B.N.: 9781473856448

Blurb

Just hearing the phrase ‘the East End’ summons up images of slums and dark alleyways, with Jack the Ripper appearing from the mist, or housing estates and pubs where you might find the Kray twins. It is a place of poverty and menace, yet these images can prevent us from seeing the reality of life east of the City of London, and of its dark history. This study features stories of crimes and misdeeds that show what life was like in this area before the ‘East End’ existed. They also reflect the changes caused as the settlements of the Tower Hamlets became absorbed by the new metropolis of London.

As there is nothing new under the sun, so these stories find their modern counterparts in our times. However, they also take us into unfamiliar territory as they bring to light the often forgotten past that underlies the present-day streets and lurks behind the façades of some of the area’s older buildings. Many of the stories will be unfamiliar and indeed strange, but yet they show how the character and notoriety of the City’s famous shadow has been formed. Paying scrupulous attention to place, this volume features a wealth of specially-commissioned photographs, allowing the reader to locate these stories in the present-day London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

My Review

This volume concentrates on a specific part of London, the East End, exploring it’s past as the city spread out and swallowed up the hamlets and fields east of the Tower. Rioting, thefts, murders and child abuse (by a vicar, no less), all feature in this book, as well as a description of how the scenes of these events have changed since the crimes took place.

The information is interesting and I definitely want to learn more about the weavers riots in Spitalfield, but the execution left something to be desired. The text reads like a tour guide trying to hard to be entertaining while they’re leading you round the town. It might be for dramatic effect, but it doesn’t work. There’s something a little unprofessional about it.

2/5

Review: Origins, by Frank H. T. Rhodes

Published by: Cornell University Press

Publication Date: 6th Septhember 2016

Format: Hardback

Price: £22 (approx.)

I.S.B.N.: 9781501702440

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Review: Zombie Nation book 1: Zombie Juice, by Samantha Warren

Publication Date: 5th October 2016

Available from Amazon: UK, US

Ebook received in return for an honest review.

The Kin twins, Kinley and Kincaid have lived in White Willows all their lives, almost sixteen years. They can just about remember the time before the zombie apocalypse. They live with their grandmother and help her run the town diner around their schooling. Soon they’ll finish school and become adults with more responsibility.

Then a convoy comes to town, bringing with it a new and deadly drug. And and new future for the twins.
This is a short book, only 80 pages long, but it was very enjoyable and certainly more original than some of the zombie apocalypse books I’ve read in the last year or so. The Kin twins are likeable characters and well-written, plot is well thought out and easy to read, and I like where it’s going. This book is a prologue to the series and we must wait to see where the author takes her characters.
There were a few editing errors, in word choice or grammar, which I’m sure will be ironed out before publication, but other than that I liked this YA novel.

Review: The Tudor Murder Files, by James Moore

Published by: Pen & Sword History

Publication Date: 30th September 2016

I.S.B.N.:9781473857032

Format: Paperback

Price: £14.99

Blurb

In the Tudor age the murder rate was five times higher than it is today. Now, in this unique true crime guide, the Tudor Murder Files reveals just how bloody and brutal this fascinating era really was.

From the dark days of Henry VIII to the turbulent times of Shakespeare, James Moore’s new book is the first to chart the period’s most gripping murder cases in all their grizzly detail. Featuring tales of domestic slaughter, sexual intrigue and cunning assassinations, as well as murder mysteries worthy of Agatha Christie, the book vividly brings to life the violent crime wave that gripped the 16th century both at home and abroad. Enter a world in which stabbings were rife, guns were used to kill victims for the first time and in which culprits frequently escaped justice.

The book also reveals just how severe some of the penalties could be, with gruesome punishments for those who dared to commit the gravest of crimes. Discover how one murderer was gruesomely ‘pressed to death’, another boiled alive for poisoning his victims and meet some of history’s most notorious serial killers, including one considered so barbaric she was labelled a vampire.

MY REVIEW

An interesting book covering well-known and less well-known murders of the Tudor era. With as much detail as possible, and relying on pamphlets printed at the time, this book explores a more violent age where death was a constant threat and policing nonexistent.

Review: Mary Ann Cotton – Dark Angel; Britain’s First Female Serial Killer, by Martin Connelly

Published by: Pen & Sword History

Published: 1st August 2016

ISBN: 9781473876200

Format: Paperback

Price: £10.39 (from publisher)

Usual disclaimer: book provided in return for an honest review.

Continue reading “Review: Mary Ann Cotton – Dark Angel; Britain’s First Female Serial Killer, by Martin Connelly”

Review: The Long, Long Life of Trees, by Fiona Stafford

Published by: Yale University Press

Publication Date: 2nd August 2016 (UK), 27th September 2016 (USA)

Price: Hardback – £11.89 (UK), $30.00 (USA); Kindle – £11.30 (UK)

I.S.B.N.: 9780300207330

Continue reading “Review: The Long, Long Life of Trees, by Fiona Stafford”

Restoring my peace of mind

With a book about a nineteenth century serial killer in County Durham.

Because sometimes that’s how my brain seems to work. I should be writing a review of The Long, Long Life of Trees. Tomorrow maybe. Have a bonus tree picture.

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Blocking fat people and smokers from accessing healthcare hits our most scapegoated punchbags – http://wp.me/p1pLiJ-1kk

What a difference a decade (and a bit) makes

I’m reading a book at the minute called The Long, Long Life of Trees, by Fiona Stafford, which I will be reviewing next week. It prompted me to think about trees, surprisingly enough.

There’s a wood that used to be a cow field. Sixteen years ago The Woodland Trust planted about a third of it up with mixed deciduous trees. There were the usual casualties but the trees that survived have thrived and the old horse chestnuts that for the core of the wood have continued to flower and fruit. They’re laden heavy with conkers already. The mature willows that dot the edge of the field, a reminder that we’re on drained marshland, are going strong and the cherry stand continues to produce fruit. A couple of years ago a further half of the field was planted up. The young trees are spindly but growing. There are pines among this new bunch of trees. It will be interesting to see how the next decade treats this young woodland.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my pictures, there will be more in the book review, because if I’m writing about a book about trees there are going to be pictures of trees.