Noticeable wear to cover and pages. May have some markings on the inside. Fast shipping. Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include companion materials.
Overall, a fairly enjoyable and interesting read. It has some great eyewitness accounts of famous events (Wyatt Earp's testimony about the gunfight at the OK Corral, the Red Baron's death, Captain Morgan's assault and sack of Panama)... However, I didn't like how the author tends to editorialize events. That, combined with the fact that there is VERY LITTLE in the way of bibliographic citations, made the material feel suspect at times.
This isn't so much weird history as just random bits of this and that. The book is mostly made up of snippets and primary source stuff with mediocrely written and questionably researched commentary. Not anything special, and not worth going out of your way for.
I like the history presented in first hand accounts. Unfortunately there was a lot of guilt-tripping about the American Indians. Yeah, I get it. We killed them all and ruined their culture. Let's move on to the other 6000 years of history.
Este es, ese libro aleatorio en la repisa. No tiene que ver con historia, aunque sí sus personajes, y no tiene que ver con nada. Mood Seinfeld en historia aunque más cayendo a la narrativa de datos sin importancia, notabilidad, celebración no obstante siempre ahí, sus personajes notables de momentos altos del movimiento de la humanidad. Es un libro ligero. Primero, recomiendo darle un lugar importante a la historia, de ahí la inquietud personal x adentrarme en lecturas de ese tema. "Quién no conoce su historia está condenado a repetirla". Quizá, y muy probablemente esa frase sea en parte verdad, quizá, el deseo de futuralgia (Dieck) sea también, y por qué no, de mayor peso y valor espiritual el salir de ese síntoma que hablaba Freud y crear esos momentos que sabemos, algún día, se convertirán en recuerdos.
Yes, some of what is included here is weird. Some is just sad, especially the "Victims of History" chapter. But there are some amusing tidbits, and I found the espionage Falcon/Christopher Boyce section fascinating. Also, good to learn some details about Atilla the Hun. A few "throwaway " facts dropped in hither and yonder were interesting to learn. But no, it's not all just "weird history."
I didn't read it all through really thoroughly, but I read most of it and I thought it was very interesting. I'm kind of a history buff and I'm pretty knowledgeable about history but I was fascinated with all of the new facts I've learned. I encourage people to read this book, but not if you don't enjoy history facts.
Some fun things - but I was turned off by the times he started preaching about issues. He is particularly hard on God and the United States. (This was a Christmas Book - I try to read any book I get for Christmas - it is just a principle.)