I love history, especially British and European history, but the Vikings and their era have never been one of my main areas of interest. I knew comparatively little of the history of Viking Norway, Denmark, Greenland, and (most importantly for this book) Iceland. But Nancy Marie Brown’s Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them held my interest from start to finish.
I loved Sally Coulthard’s A Short History of the World According to Sheep! As a fiber crafter and life-long history buff, I found the book fascinating, well-researched, and entertaining. Coulthard explores the ways in which sheep have both shaped and been shaped by human civilization, from our first domestication of the animals to today.
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I found Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World both very informative and highly entertaining.
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race on Sept. 6, 2016 Purchase: Amazon Add to Goodreads The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in… June 9, 2017 Lark_Bookwyrm Book Reviews 8 ★★★★★
Made in America Add to Goodreads In Made in America, Bill Bryson de–mythologizes his native land—explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn’t won, why Americans say “lootenant” and “Toosday,” how Americans were eating junk food long before the word… April 19, 2017 Lark_Bookwyrm Book Reviews 2 ★★★★½
Great World Religions: Christianity Series: Great World Religions Also in this series: Great World Religions: Judaism As the world’s largest religion, with more than two billion members, Christianity is “one of religion’s great success stories,” notes Professor Luke Timothy Johnson, himself a former Benedictine monk. But Christianity is more than… Read more »
Great World Religions: Judaism Series: Great World Religions Add to Goodreads Also in this series: Great World Religions: Christianity What is the essence of Judaism? Is it the Ten Commandments, given by God to Israel at Mount Sinai? Or is it the totality of teachings in the Hebrew Bible? Or… Read more »
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson Narrator: Bill Bryson Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on 2013-10-01 Genres: History Pages: 528 Format: Audiobook Source: the library Add to Goodreads Also by this author: Made in America The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the… Read more »
