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Weird World of Wonders
The Romans
Tony Robinson takes you on a headlong gallop through time, pointing out all the most important, funny, strange, amazing, entertaining and gory bits about the Romans! It's history, but not as we know it! Find out everything you ever needed to know in this brilliant, action-packed, fact-filled book including: - How to keep the gods happy - Why you should never ignore an omen - How to defeat an army who are riding elephants, and - How to spot a barbarian
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
155 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2012
4 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Tony Robinson
216 books90 followersSir Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, amateur historian, TV presenter, author and political activist. He is known for playing "Baldrick" in the BBC television series Blackadder and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 26, 2015
Really fun, and pretty good, introduction to the Romans.
October 11, 2017
This book was a lot of fun and had some information that we hadn't come across before. I wish it had been a bit more in depth, but would be great for younger children with shorter attention spans. My son (13) enjoyed it, though I think he too had hoped for a bit more information in some of the areas it coveted.
September 30, 2017
A funny look at the history of the Romans.
January 17, 2018
A good book with stories and facts from the Roman times. Very engaging for children and adults alike.
Audiobook - read by Tony Robinson himself.
Audiobook - read by Tony Robinson himself.
February 13, 2017
Very funny
September 13, 2023
The sort of stuff you’d expect this type of book to have. No better or worse than a Horrible History.
February 18, 2024
Un libro sobre Roma para todos los públicos, aunque está pensado para jóvenes lectores.
Divertido y entretenido, además de bien documentado (aunque tiene algún error que otro). Se nota el fuerte peso de la nueva historiografía anglosajona.
Magnífico para niños, pero también para que los adultos lo lean con los más pequeños: No aburrirá ni a los lectores ni a los oyentes.
Divertido y entretenido, además de bien documentado (aunque tiene algún error que otro). Se nota el fuerte peso de la nueva historiografía anglosajona.
Magnífico para niños, pero también para que los adultos lo lean con los más pequeños: No aburrirá ni a los lectores ni a los oyentes.
August 20, 2015
At first glance, this seems to be a rather obvious attempt by Tony Robinson to cash in on the "Horrible Histories" phenomena, the hugely successful series of educational but incredibly funny books by Terry Deary.
Using the same formula as Terry Deary, Robinson shows us how Roman toilets were the bane of everybody's life, how Romulus and Remus came to found the city of Rome and how the first model of a democratic state was born. However, the book concentrates less on the well-known facts and more on the weird and wonderful that allow us to make fun of ancient Romans.
Full of funny b&w drawings that accompany the text cartoon-style, the book is informative yet very entertaining. The Romans, "the greatest bog builders in the world", are clearly a personal favourite with Robinson, whose unfettered enthusiasm for history has carried many a dull "Time Team Special" over the past 15 years or so since the Channel 4 programme was launched.
I liked the pictures of real artefacts from ancient Rome best, as they demonstrated far better what this so called democracy was all about. Since democratic Rome only catered for the rich and powerful and revelled in killing, conquering neighbouring countries and keeping slaves, it's not a part of history I enjoy reading about.
Still, modern-day British children will recognise that little has changed over the past 2 millennia. The rich and powerful still have the greatest fun in the UK, just as they did in ancient Roman times. Employing slaves is now called paying "a living wage" which of course makes slavery politically correct and a weird and wonderful fact of our times.
Robinson's chapter on "fast food Roman style" is very entertaining. What, one wonders, would a Garum factory owner do today to get around our crazy food hygiene, health and safety laws!
Using the same formula as Terry Deary, Robinson shows us how Roman toilets were the bane of everybody's life, how Romulus and Remus came to found the city of Rome and how the first model of a democratic state was born. However, the book concentrates less on the well-known facts and more on the weird and wonderful that allow us to make fun of ancient Romans.
Full of funny b&w drawings that accompany the text cartoon-style, the book is informative yet very entertaining. The Romans, "the greatest bog builders in the world", are clearly a personal favourite with Robinson, whose unfettered enthusiasm for history has carried many a dull "Time Team Special" over the past 15 years or so since the Channel 4 programme was launched.
I liked the pictures of real artefacts from ancient Rome best, as they demonstrated far better what this so called democracy was all about. Since democratic Rome only catered for the rich and powerful and revelled in killing, conquering neighbouring countries and keeping slaves, it's not a part of history I enjoy reading about.
Still, modern-day British children will recognise that little has changed over the past 2 millennia. The rich and powerful still have the greatest fun in the UK, just as they did in ancient Roman times. Employing slaves is now called paying "a living wage" which of course makes slavery politically correct and a weird and wonderful fact of our times.
Robinson's chapter on "fast food Roman style" is very entertaining. What, one wonders, would a Garum factory owner do today to get around our crazy food hygiene, health and safety laws!
June 30, 2013
This was a nice gentle romp through Roman history which didn't require too much thinking (though having a degree in the subject, and it being a kids book meant it didn't break any new ground - but that's not the point of it).
HOWEVER, it was hard to miss the glaring errors, most notably that Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii etc. in 79BC. This was 79AD. I assume that this was a typographical and thus layout error, however with all the Pompeii information out at the moment (the excellent British Museum exhibit for a start) and the educational nature of the book, this was an extremely upsetting mistake to make.
Therefore approach this with a degree of caution...(sorry, Sir Tony)
HOWEVER, it was hard to miss the glaring errors, most notably that Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii etc. in 79BC. This was 79AD. I assume that this was a typographical and thus layout error, however with all the Pompeii information out at the moment (the excellent British Museum exhibit for a start) and the educational nature of the book, this was an extremely upsetting mistake to make.
Therefore approach this with a degree of caution...(sorry, Sir Tony)
July 19, 2016
This book is great. It's the first book by Tony Robinson that I have read although I couldn't say why. It's very informative and has a great sense of humour. My children and I are studying Romans and this has enabled me to add lots of colour to our learning and discussions.
I will definately be buying more of the series.
I will definately be buying more of the series.
July 1, 2013
I liked this book because it was full of facts that I didn't know, and it was really hilarious.
January 1, 2015
Bad rip-off of the Horrible Histories books.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews