I Love History..Do You?

History is one of my favorite subjects to read and learn about, especially ancient, medieval and military history. I've been reading a lot of books recently and also posted a previous thread about a book club that I joined. My next book, Thermopylae, is due to ship in a few days and I added a few more to my list tonight. There are a couple of questions at the end of the thread.

Ivans War- Life And Death In The Red Army from 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale. I know quite a bit about the US military in WWII and thought it would interesting to read something about the Eastern Front.

The Utility Of Force- The Art Of War In The Modern Era by General Rupert Smith. Based on my background this isn't something that is going to be new or earth-shattering to me but it should make for an interesting read.

Soldiers & Ghosts- A History of Battle In Classical Antiquity by J.E. Lendon. This book details ancient warfare, battles, tactics and equipment used by the Greeks, Romans and other ancient civilizations during their clashes.

Rome's Greatest Defeat- Massacre In The Teutoburg Forest by Adrian Murdoch. This book details the utter defeat of three Roman Legions under the command of General Varus at the hands of an alliance of Germanic Tribes. The book talks about what led up to the massacre as well as the political fallout in Rome afterwards.

The last book that I placed on order tonight is a science book.

The Cosmic Landscape- String Theory And The Illusion of Intelligent Design by Leonard Susskind. I have a feeling that this one is going be way over my head. I never took physics and stink at math. How am I supposed to understand how the theory of String Theory works? No idea, but I'm going to try anyway.

Does anyone else here like to read and learn about history? If not, what fascinates you and makes you want to learn more about it?

hmm Well i am sure you already know, I do.
however i dont think i have looked over any of those books, that you listed.
however Soldiers & Ghosts does sound like i may want to look it up. I have read alot on rome, but i much perfer reading chinese & japanese history.
Along with ww2 &ww1, Of course i read alot of flying history stuff.

i have several book on astronmy and asto phycis, hawking stuff.

right now i just got these in the mail today

http://www.amazon.com/Two-Faces-Isla...178314-3996642

http://www.amazon.com/Wahhabism-Crit...178314-3996642
oh yea, does reading stuff on elves, dwarfs, hobbits count?

I've never gotten too much into history, except I've always loved biographies. When I was in Jr. High I read every biography in the school library! I like how so many people had rough starts yet did something good with their lives.

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

I've never gotten too much into history, except I've always loved biographies. When I was in Jr. High I read every biography in the school library! I like how so many people had rough starts yet did something good with their lives.

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lol yea i did alot of that also

I love history, to be honest for school when ever i was there each year it would be like world cultrures then civics the next year...so I really got into history 2 years ago when I had U.S History (I would have liked world cutlures i bet, but the teacher was always absent so we really never had work to do and he just passed almost everyone) But I am mostly fascinated with the history of Gettysburg I went there for 2 days, and man do I wish I could have spent more time there..I really would love to go back there and see more and learn more

But I really like history on all sorts of things, I have a book about mythology and everything but I do love the wars...and of course the hauntings but I just love the stories behind it all I really like learning about how different things were back then then they are now and how much people really did and everything !

Heres something funny when I started Acing history no one believed me when I said I really loved that class Another thing that I learned alot about history was for my travel class and everything..we always looked up information on places and so I would take the extra time and go and look up the history on the places and everything

Also that book "soldiers and ghosts" sounds like it will be a good one hmm...

I hated history at school, but now i love it!.

I love love LOVE history!!!!

The history channel is something I watch frequently and therefore possess many trivial facts about things that people are like "huh, how do you know that?".....




I have to really appreciate the subject to get thoroughly into a history book, however. Short attention span and all.

My TV is usually on the History Channel.

I've studied the history of the US Southwest extensively and am VERY well-versed in Arizona history (living in Tombstone and working as a tour guide made this necessary).

Oh I do too!!! I love the History/Discovery channels!!!! I'm very lucky to have family that lives out in Washington DC, I've been there five times to visit all the historical places there, Virgina, and North Carolina. I just love it! I haven't even seen everything I want to yet!!!!

I am intrigued by history,, but I can't say I love love it...

It literally depends on my mood.. I'm no history buff by anymeans.

Whenever I travel, I try to visit historical sites and the local Historical Society museum.

I try to hit Tucson's Historical Society, whenever they have a new exhibition.

My father is a walking history of WWII in the Pacific (by personal experience), and of the American Indians (as they were then known) and the Civil War, so I've been steeped in those all my life. We have an amazing library of books on those subjects, too -- something on the order of 400 volumes. (Next year, we'll add to that collection my father's own book on his experience as an aviator in WWII, "Above The Thunder," which is being published by Kent State University in Ohio!)

Even when I read fiction, I especially love fiction that draws upon history, like most of the books of Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. And all of us in my family still get all dreamy when we talk about that old TV show from the '60s, "Time Tunnel." Anyone else remember that? It certainly wasn't a paragon of historical accuracy or anything, but it showed kids how exciting history could be, and it got your imagination all wound up... we still fantasize about being able to travel back in time.

I've read Hawking too, and yes, it's difficult stuff. It's not easy to let go of the expectations we develop based on the physics we've observed all our lives and embrace ideas that seem to oppose all logic. And speaking of TV shows: "Quantum Leap" introduced a lot of people to rudimentary string theory, and the string image makes it easier to grasp, but still... what could be more fundamentally unnerving than nonlinear time?

Has anyone else read about the Philadelphia experiment?

I love learning about history. I heard a quote once along the lines of ""Those who forget history are doomed to repeat It". This has proven to be true. Another is "If we don't know where we've been, we don't know where we're going."

I urge people to learn all they can, especially the things that are not taught in school curriculum. Many truths that make the US look less than stellar never make it to history books.

Personally, I am drawn to books by/about the common people: slave narratives, stories and accounts by Native American Elders, women's stories about their everyday lives and many more. I also like the History Channel

Quantum Leap rocked

I love history too. I have around 60 or so history books in my library. That's with the rest of my books, which comes to around 200 total. I prefer reading primary documents more than anything else really. For instance, I would rather read The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides than a book with the same title by Donald Kagan (I own both of them though). My main interests are medieval, ancient and military history.

I don't watch the history channel too much because we don't have satellite or cable tv.

Well, in school I hated it, but as an adult I just can't get enough of it..My son and I watch the history channel all of the time...he loves history and can put my knowledge to shame.

I like history, it was my fave subject in school, but i must admit that my reading list doesn't stray far from Nora Roberts I've never been a big reader of non-fiction, but maybe I should start! Now where is the library in my town???

Also, I've never really liked American history, European is more my thing, and thses aren't really "history" books, but the novels about the Civil War by Michael and Jeff Schaara such as The Killer Angels, those were excellent

In school I hated history. Not really the history part, but more the having to memorize dates that things happened. It wasn't enough that you knew some ancient battle happened and who won but you had to know the actual dates!!!

I find now that I'm older and it's "voluntary", that I love to read about historic events and love to watch the History Channel. What I like even more is that I can learn about things without having to remember the blinking dates that things happened

I particularly love things about Egypt and Greece. Plus lots of other things. Not much into WWI and WWII or Vietnam type stuff.

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

Also, I've never really liked American history, European is more my thing, and thses aren't really "history" books, but the novels about the Civil War by Michael and Jeff Schaara such as The Killer Angels, those were excellent

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The Killer Angels was a very good book. The epic movie Gettysburg was based on that book. Schaara also has a historical fiction series based on the Revolutionary War that I've been wanting to get.

As far as American History goes I don't read it all that much. Undaunted Courage[i/i] by Stephen E. Ambrose was good book about the Lewis and Clark expedition. What I didn't know was that the French mapped and cataloged many of the things that Lewis and Clark did but did it many years before. I have more on interest in learning more about the history of the Ohio valley and the area where I live. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Originally Posted by Dori

For instance, I would rather read The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides than a book with the same title by Donald Kagan (I own both of them though). My main interests are medieval, ancient and military history.

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How easy are the older historical books to read? I've been thinking about getting the works of Livy, Polybius, Plutarch, etc. Have you read any of them?

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Has anyone else read about the Philadelphia experiment?

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I haven't read about it but isn't that the project where the U.S. Navy was trying make a ship become invisible?

I find history boring, but I do like learning about different religions

Originally Posted by Essayons89

The Killer Angels was a very good book. The epic movie Gettysburg was based on that book. Schaara also has a historical fiction series based on the Revolutionary War that I've been wanting to get.

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did you read any of the other books in the series that his son Jeff picked up with? Of Gods and Generals was one, they also made a movie on it too I believe. The father, Michael, passed away, but they have similar writing styles. I do remember that there was Revo war series, I might have to check it out myself!