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Horrible Histories #13
Horrible Histories - Incredible Incas
Learn all about the incredible Incas, with all the nasty bits left in. Find out the horrible truth, like how a bucket of stewed pee could make you beautiful, why servants ate the emperor's hair and what happened in their legendary golden temples. Includes a grisly quiz to test your knowledge. These bestselling titles are sure to be a huge hit with yet another generation of Terry Deary fans.
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2000
44 people are currently reading
692 people want to read
About the author
Terry Deary
823 books823 followersA former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.
A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.
The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.
Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).
He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.
-Wikipedia
A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.
The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.
Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).
He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
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November 22, 2020As always, not giving these a numbered rating. I did find this one interesting (though not the most interesting), and I’m genuinely sad about the number of llamas the Incas sacrificed!
May 10, 2020
I love these books
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December 4, 2025Great holiday read
February 26, 2019
It's history with the nasty bits left in.! Want to know: Why llamas wore earrings and drank beer How a the bucket of stewed pee can the make you beautiful Why servants ate the emperor's hair Discover all the foul facts about the Incredible Incas - all the gore and more!
True terry deary to take the boring past and make it fun and intresting and once again this is what his done with the incredible incas. They where also pretty disgusting in some of the things they did, how they made beer will make you not want to drink another pint again! What they did was take the woman of the village and chew yeast and spit it into a pot and do this over and over till all the yeast was gone then let it fament for a few days and then drink it 🤮🤮 they also ate guinea pigs which is just mean. They weren't as rotton as the romans but they where cruel! But they also met a sad end with the Spanish Conquistadors that killed them with diseases and then guns and swords and stole all there gold so they met a very sad end. As for the book it's self as always with this series it's funny and factual and great for all ages that's why i gave it 4/5 and as always i reccomend this series to everyone!
4/5 stars on goodreads
90/100 Ginger points
True terry deary to take the boring past and make it fun and intresting and once again this is what his done with the incredible incas. They where also pretty disgusting in some of the things they did, how they made beer will make you not want to drink another pint again! What they did was take the woman of the village and chew yeast and spit it into a pot and do this over and over till all the yeast was gone then let it fament for a few days and then drink it 🤮🤮 they also ate guinea pigs which is just mean. They weren't as rotton as the romans but they where cruel! But they also met a sad end with the Spanish Conquistadors that killed them with diseases and then guns and swords and stole all there gold so they met a very sad end. As for the book it's self as always with this series it's funny and factual and great for all ages that's why i gave it 4/5 and as always i reccomend this series to everyone!
4/5 stars on goodreads
90/100 Ginger points
March 24, 2017
funny yet informative
December 7, 2019
Very informative and interesting read
October 18, 2018
Well, isn't it just nice to read something really easy once in a while? I had the series of horrible histories just lying in my bookshelf and I had nothing to do so I just picked up this book. I had just learned about the Incas last year in 7th grade so I thought I would have fun reading this book which I did. I really liked the wacky illustrations and I also learned lots more on how the Incas sacrificed their people, their llamas, and also which gods so served. I've been a fan of Terry Deary since like second grade and guess what? He has never let me down. I would recommend this for people who are in elementary because it's pretty childish and really easy. But if you're looking for some really simple and easy historical fiction book to read, this is your book! Also, if you liked this book, don't forget to check out all the other book in Terry Deary's series 'Horrible Histories.'
August 5, 2024
(4.6)
I read this to see whether they were appropriate for my class and I’m glad for two reason. 1) I found them a little to edgy and mature at certain points for my class and 2) I really enjoyed them and want to read all of them! These are great books for middle school aged students! The illustrations were fun and the humor solid. Not only that, but I actually feel I learned a lot, discovered some very interested historical tidbits to share when opportunity arises, and had an overall enjoyable experience with the book. I love that they quiz you and really do try to make learning history fun and educating you all while being playful and interesting! A great resource for the right crowd!
I read this to see whether they were appropriate for my class and I’m glad for two reason. 1) I found them a little to edgy and mature at certain points for my class and 2) I really enjoyed them and want to read all of them! These are great books for middle school aged students! The illustrations were fun and the humor solid. Not only that, but I actually feel I learned a lot, discovered some very interested historical tidbits to share when opportunity arises, and had an overall enjoyable experience with the book. I love that they quiz you and really do try to make learning history fun and educating you all while being playful and interesting! A great resource for the right crowd!
December 20, 2019
So, yeah~
February 25, 2020
A nice and funny way to know the Inca culture, history and traditions, I’m impressed by how much human fluids were used in daily basis and the retirement plan provided by the government was amazing, It’s always good to read this books series to gain insight of a topic.
May 29, 2024
✨Stop the violence ✨
December 3, 2021
As good as ever
June 6, 2022
Oooh, we’re flying through these HH books now! Soon we’ll not have any left to get though!
This one focuses on another period of history that we don’t focus on a lot in schools and on the National Curriculum too much and that is the Inca civilisations. I remember always being fascinated by the Incas and how they lived, but reading this again I was so surprised at how recently they existed.
For some reason I expected them to be a lot more ancient than they actually were but they were not. And this is why there needs to be a comprehensive run through of world history for every student before they start to focus on specific periods or events.
This one focuses on another period of history that we don’t focus on a lot in schools and on the National Curriculum too much and that is the Inca civilisations. I remember always being fascinated by the Incas and how they lived, but reading this again I was so surprised at how recently they existed.
For some reason I expected them to be a lot more ancient than they actually were but they were not. And this is why there needs to be a comprehensive run through of world history for every student before they start to focus on specific periods or events.
May 22, 2021
Honestly, these books have taught me more than 15 years of schooling.
February 18, 2020
Incredible Incas is a Non- Fiction book that explained how the Incas lived. The book explains the customes and enemys that the Incas have. The Incas were a very powerful civilization, they mostly ruled in a cruel way. Incan civilization had many crazy beliefs that killed and hurt many innocent people. Many people were smart enough to take advantage of people and tell the people they were sent from the gods in order for them to have power. This book gave many gross and crazy facts of the crazy things Incas would do. The facts explained how the Incas would cure sickness and abduct enemys, also punish the rule breakers.
Incredble Incas was a good book overall, it was a nice change from the normal books I read. What i liked about this book was it gave you useful information but at the same time it makes you laugh and cringe. I would recommend this book to a kid from the age 11-13. Also if the person is interested in history and comedy. Overall this book has gave me more knowledge on Incan civilization. I would say a lesson from this book is we should be very thankful for all the progress our society has made since the Incan time.
Incredble Incas was a good book overall, it was a nice change from the normal books I read. What i liked about this book was it gave you useful information but at the same time it makes you laugh and cringe. I would recommend this book to a kid from the age 11-13. Also if the person is interested in history and comedy. Overall this book has gave me more knowledge on Incan civilization. I would say a lesson from this book is we should be very thankful for all the progress our society has made since the Incan time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2019
Terry Deary's The Incredible Incas really lived up to what all Horrible Histories is "History with the nasty bits left in" it was a fantastic book about what Incan society might have been if we were actually there.
I found the parts where They talked about medicinal treatment quite fascinating because it is really different compared to the modern day. I also found quite interesting the parts where it described all the lords reason being is that some of us (Including myself) may have not known they had existed.
Although there were a few confusing parts like how teeth cleaning worked. E.g dig you hav to use a pepper tree branch? or did it have to be smoked on both ends? and another confusing part was richness in the eyes of the Incans. E.g Why did they think that in the first place? or How dos it differ from our definition of richness today?
Overall this edition of Horrible Histories was a very insightful one because it was about a society we have herd of but may not know about.
I found the parts where They talked about medicinal treatment quite fascinating because it is really different compared to the modern day. I also found quite interesting the parts where it described all the lords reason being is that some of us (Including myself) may have not known they had existed.
Although there were a few confusing parts like how teeth cleaning worked. E.g dig you hav to use a pepper tree branch? or did it have to be smoked on both ends? and another confusing part was richness in the eyes of the Incans. E.g Why did they think that in the first place? or How dos it differ from our definition of richness today?
Overall this edition of Horrible Histories was a very insightful one because it was about a society we have herd of but may not know about.
February 15, 2021
Acabei de ler esse livro de Terry Deary, ilustrado por Philip Reeve, sobre os incas. É infanto-juvenil, bem zoeira. Estava me divertindo, até ver informações duvidosas e muito relativismo. Um dos trechos que fotografei diz que o imperador inca tinha um tigre e um leão, o que não tem lógica: são animais do Velho Mundo. Daí em diante li com suspeição. E o autor reforça o tempo todo que os incas eram tão cruéis quanto os conquistadores espanhóis. Bem, quem promoveu um genocídio irreparável foram estes últimos. Como é um livro inglês, fica muito uma sensação de olhar colonizador passador de pano quando se tenta demolir ao longo de toda a narrativa o mito do bom selvagem; ora, só os fatos horríveis, que são o foco da série a que a obra pertence, deveriam bastar. O que salva é o epílogo, que diz que os incas sofreram mais ainda com os conquistadores espanhóis do que com seus imperadores sanguinários. No fim, a leitura não foi tão divertida, mas serviu para eu aprender um pouco sobre figuras históricas sobre as quais pouco sabia, que são os casos de Atahualpa Yupanqui e Tupac Amaru.
January 17, 2020
The Incas were a powerful civilization that came in and bullied Peru until they handed over their wealth. The Incas also had a lot of crazy beliefs. Like for instance, their thought on where people came from. The Incas said that the first people, Manco Capac, and his three brothers and four sisters, lived in a cave until they saw the light from outside. Ten groups of people came out of two other caves, but the Incas were naturally the leaders. They all went out on a great journey, where Manco Capac sealed one of his brothers in a cave, and turned two to stone, then married one of his sisters because he couldn't marry a common person, had kids, and settled in Cuzco. In this book you also get gross facts like how the Incas took their captured Chanca leaders, stuffed their skins with straw and ashes, put in a graveyard, sitting up, making their arms bent so when the wind blew the dead fingers beat the skin on the bellies and played them like drums.
This book was really entertaining and fun. It has fun to know historical facts and is great for learning about history. If you want a fun but nonfiction book, or like gruesome details I recommend this book to you.
This book was really entertaining and fun. It has fun to know historical facts and is great for learning about history. If you want a fun but nonfiction book, or like gruesome details I recommend this book to you.
December 17, 2023
I have a soft spot for Horrible Histories since I learned a lot of history through them. They succeed the best at capturing the odd details and daily lives of people in history, while being pretty funny. This book is about the Incas, rather than some part of British history like a lot of other Horrible Histories. I read this at an older age than I read some other Horrible Histories, but this is just as good.
This book is brave enough to call the Incas Tawantinsuyu and to acknowledge how short lived it actually was. It mentions lots of cool and disturbing stuff about the Incas, like their misogyny, human sacrifice, and arguable proto-socialism. Some of it made me wish that The Emperor’s New Groove, a movie that only uses the Incas as a backdrop, was more historically accurate. This book was another great one by Horrible Histories.
This book is brave enough to call the Incas Tawantinsuyu and to acknowledge how short lived it actually was. It mentions lots of cool and disturbing stuff about the Incas, like their misogyny, human sacrifice, and arguable proto-socialism. Some of it made me wish that The Emperor’s New Groove, a movie that only uses the Incas as a backdrop, was more historically accurate. This book was another great one by Horrible Histories.
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November 19, 2019The Incas believed that the first people were made from a hole in the ground. The Incas built South Americas greatest civilization but they were nasty. They ate off cloths on the floor, some of them had to wear earrings that stretched pierced ears, and they thought a bucket of stewed pee made you beautiful. The Inca Empire ruled over 12 million people, but were conquered by Spanish invaders. In addition too, a terrible plague swept through the Inca homeland (probably a disease like measles or smallpox brought from Europe.)
This book is about history. So if you like to read about history this would be a good book to read. It also is funny because of the thinks the Incas did. In my opinion the book wasn't that great. Yet I don't really like history that much.
This book is about history. So if you like to read about history this would be a good book to read. It also is funny because of the thinks the Incas did. In my opinion the book wasn't that great. Yet I don't really like history that much.
November 10, 2018
My journey through the Horrible Histories box set continues. The Incas were a fascinating civilisation and there’s plenty to learn here. In fact, even as an adult, I came out with way more knowledge about the Incas than I had going in, although I’m not sure whether any of it is going to stick with me in the long-term.
Still, if you’re curious to know more about the Incas then this is a pretty good place to start, especially because it includes some quizzes at the end so that you can test your knowledge. Sure, it’s not the best book in the series, but it’s good enough. I just wish that I’d owned this as a kid instead of waiting until I was an adult.
Still, if you’re curious to know more about the Incas then this is a pretty good place to start, especially because it includes some quizzes at the end so that you can test your knowledge. Sure, it’s not the best book in the series, but it’s good enough. I just wish that I’d owned this as a kid instead of waiting until I was an adult.
April 28, 2020
Citita in timpul auto-izolarii de COVID19. O combinatie de mini-istorioare extrem de amuzante si ilustratii foarte-foarte faine. Duce spre un fel de comic book. Gandita pentru scolari/adolescenti ca sa aiba o alta perspectiva a istoriei, insa perfecta pentru cei care vor o lectura usoara, accesibila si plina de lucruri iesite din comun despre cultura Inca. Dau si un pont despre cum se facea berea Inca: mai multe femei mesteca boabe de porumb pe care le scuipa intr-un ceaun cu apa, se pune la Soare ceaunul timp de cateva saptamani pentru a fermenta si se degusta minunata bere Incasa alaturi de binecuvantarea Zeului Soare. :)
May 17, 2020
These little horrible histories books are so great! Informative, short, and utterly hilarious. I learnt a lot about the Incas that I didn't know, and how it was that Spanish managed to conquer them. It was also a nice introduction to a culture you don't normally learn about in school, and now I feel more like going to Peru to see what was left behind in person. Clearly there's not much left, but what is must truly be astonishing.
March 22, 2021
I'm thoroughly enjoying rereading these Horrible Histories books that I haven’t read in over a decade! There is plenty of information included that you might not find in more 'traditional' history books.
The cartoons are brilliant and still make me giggle even after all these years and Terry Deary's writing is still as engaging as it was all those years ago.
Even if you're an adult historian you will still enjoy reading these, whether reading them for the first time or rediscovering them!
The cartoons are brilliant and still make me giggle even after all these years and Terry Deary's writing is still as engaging as it was all those years ago.
Even if you're an adult historian you will still enjoy reading these, whether reading them for the first time or rediscovering them!
August 1, 2024
This book is great for those who want to dip their toe into the history of the Incas but struggle to read a typical history textbook.
With fun facts and quizzes, written and laid out in both small, 'easily-digestible' sections of information and a comic-book style layout, this book is suitable for both children and adults to enjoy.
I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
With fun facts and quizzes, written and laid out in both small, 'easily-digestible' sections of information and a comic-book style layout, this book is suitable for both children and adults to enjoy.
I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
June 5, 2018
Loved this book, good, interesting book about this civilization and give you a very informed view of why they were so easily defeated by the Spanish. I have read some books on this civilization before, but this was a much more comprehensive and organized over view of how this civilization worked and its inter workings. I am looking forward to reading his other civilization histories.
November 30, 2022
To była ciekawa, ale niedogłębnie rozwijająca liczne kwestie książka. Bardzo chaotyczna, przez co trudno się było na niej skupić, ale czyta się ją wyjątkowo szybko. Jest interesująca, porusza wiele kwestii, niestety raczej niedogłębnie. Pomysł był ciekawy i szkoda, że wyszło średnio, ale to mimo wszystko w porządku książka.
May 25, 2024
My morning reading time was nice (The Borrowers) but I was not getting through my Horrible Histories fast enough so I decided that would be a good replacement for that time slot.
As usual this is a very fun read.
Another fascinating book about little known, horrible people and the even more horrible people that killed them!
5 stars and a keeper.
As usual this is a very fun read.
Another fascinating book about little known, horrible people and the even more horrible people that killed them!
5 stars and a keeper.
February 6, 2023
Seemed a bit more one note than some of the other books in the series, like they’d committed to a book on a topic, and had written it perfunctorily rather than with the passion evident in some of the other works.
My son still enjoyed it though.
My son still enjoyed it though.
January 14, 2018
Very funny book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews