Clarkey
Some of the two and three star reviews seem to have wanted some counterfactuals explored at length, something that the title, strap line, and (cool) cover might seem to promise. Rather, this is a scholarly and entertaining exploration of the different types, histories, uses and abuses of counterfactuals and their role in increasing our understanding of historical events. Or not, as is argued here. It does this with some style and incisive analysis while giving right-wing rent-an-academic Naill Ferguson a good doing over, which for me made it worth the gate money on its own.
Recommended.
I enjoyed this much more when it focused on the politics and sociology of malls rather than the architecture and architects that take up a lot of the pages. This is my issue rather than the author's, and this is clearly a brilliantly researched account.
It's also well written and has some fascinating insights and jaw-dropping facts, so 3.75 stars.
3.75 stars. This was very enjoyable, and a lesson in not judging a book by its (terrible) cover: it is sharply written and clearly well researched. As a Gen X-er much of it rang true and there were some brilliant insights and many laughs. It focuses exclusively on the US (fair enough, but the title might seem to promise a wider perspective) with even American foreign policy rarely getting a look-in, other than an account of the Gulf War.
This is the first thing I've read by this author and it made me keen to read some of his other work.
Well, I finally read Book 1 after much nagging from daughter. I really wanted to love it - I love many people who love it!
About a third of the way through, though, I was tempted to ditch it and say that it just wasn't for me. It took ages to get going, and some of the long passages of description and past deeds (with everyone having at least threes names) seemed to go on forever. And as for the songs...
In the end though, it won me over. The good bits were really good and became more frequent in the last third. The atmosphere and the characters eventually got to me and I became more invested as it went on, pretty much from the mountains onwards.
So I'm going to have a go at Book 2 - there, I said it!
A lot of the reviews for this book mention the difficulty of working out who is saying what to who. One answer is to go for the superbly narrated audio book. The production was superb and the story gripping, though I think a passing knowledge of England in the 16th Century would be a help.
I'm about to download the next in the series.
