Nosemonkey > Recent Status Updates

This is hard work in places, but good stuff. Thought provoking.

Trust Meades to go out of his way to (eloquently) try to shock and surprise - first chapter: "Abuse, sexual", third chapter: "Anal penetration".

Despite this being an autobiography of sorts, Meades has apparently experienced neither of these himself, but both topics provide starting points for surprisingly entertaining digressive essays.

This is very good so far. Better than the Andrew Roberts biography, I'd say - gives a much better idea of Napoleon the man, rather than the myth.

This is excellent. Wonderfully, unpredictably opinionated - and rammed full of interesting phrasing.

This is pretty decent so far. I like the idea of money as a technology. Hadn't considered it that way before, but makes a lot of sense.

Restarted this one having stopped for no apparent reason a couple of years back. Re-reading the intro and first chapter makes me wonder why I left it unfinished, as it's exactly my kind of thing - and has far more emphasis on ancient India than most general histories.

This continues to be amazing in its sheer whimsy, but it's not a book that encourages rushing through.

This is pretty decent so far - has been blitzing through the early centuries at quite a pace, but now Poland and Lithuania have teamed up it's all going to get more complicated (aka better documented...)

This'll be far, far too chatty for many, and the style / jokes (yes, jokes) will date badly - but I think it kinda works.