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.
In Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way, Roma Agrawal argues that the humble nail, wheel, spring, magnet, pump, lens, and string are fundamental engineering inventions upon which most of our modern technology depends. I found it fascinating to explore with her the various applications of these inventions throughout history and see how widely they are used today — often in unexpected ways.
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
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 »
In A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage explores the history of six influential beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola (and by extension, Pepsi and other colas.) He examines each drink meticulously, exploring how it was discovered and rose to popularity, and how it influenced… Read more »
