Laura Harley

Archaeology offers a different history of Britain

Revisado: 04-27-25

This is a really interesting book. Alice Roberts explains why the most recent archaeology of Britain provides insights that challenge the conventional ideas about the eras of Roman Britain, the withdrawal and collapse after the Romans, and the invasion and rise of Anglo-Saxon Britain. She argues that consistency rather than change is the dominant feature in the archeology record from the Iron Age through the Anglo-Saxon period. However, she documents in fascinating detail those things that change from one era to another and contrasts those things that don't change. You come away with a better sense of how history changes people and their cultures and how, at the same time, people manage to stay the same as they always were.

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Balanced view and informative

Revisado: 04-04-24

I have only read or taken courses about the Civil War from the Union’s point of view. Very interesting to read a book focusing on the South’s view. I had no idea how poorly the southern army was supplied but managed to challenge the Union’s overwhelming superior numbers and even won battles. Robert E Lee is painted as a complex human being and brilliant military general. The author brings in comments from other military historians on Lee’s military genius. Lots of family and personal details to show Lee as something more than a soldier. I am still thinking about all the topics covered and the incompetency of the North. Very good history and biography.

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One of the best in this series

Revisado: 03-21-23

All the Cherringham stories are great. But this one is one of the best. A real body, 20 years dead. Lots of red herrings. Liked this one very much.

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Wonderful

Revisado: 06-14-22

This book is a special gem.

I like memoirs and biographies. They show how others live and the history they live through. This book started out like others, just a good biography. But especially if you are a woman -- or a human being -- and you've suffered divorce, an abusive spouse, or the loss of a child or family member, this book will grab you and inspire you how to overcome adversity to live your best life.

Allene's life is never dull. It reads like a novel.

The author makes the point that Allene was born in the Victorian era, with a set of old-fashioned attitudes that were shaped by the American "can do" positive attitude. She speculates that these attitudes allowed Allene to deal with adversity and formulate a strategy to recover and restore her life at each set back. In modern life we feel we need to talk things out to deal with adversity. The Victorian attitude was to "make do, and get on with it." Allen's life shows that the Victorian ideas might have more merit than we thought.

My only complaint is this -- Not sure if it's the translation or the author's own writing style, but the story is sometimes rambling and details seem out of order. You have to listen very closely at times to follow the story. But this is a small flaw in an otherwise incredibly inspiring book.

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Well written, but disappointing

Revisado: 06-17-21

This book got such high reviews, that I decided I had to read it. The plot was moved forward through dialog and psychological traits exhibited by the main characters, a style of writing that is very hard to achieve, I think. So I agree that the book is very well written. However, I kept having to tell myself to pay more attention and get into the story. I even replayed a chapter or two. But the overwhelming personal details and the side remarks on the quirks of the characters, together with the periodic switch from 1st person to 3rd person, and the side plots of the main characters, made the main murder plots difficult to follow. I found the comments on the e quirks of the main characters made them and their Thursday Murder Club seem trivial and petty, not quirky and lovable. I just didn't really like any of them. No one seemed to have deep motives, a keen sense of logic or observation (alá Miss Marple), or a moral compass of outrage to make pursuing a killer make any sense.

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Inventive mystery story

Revisado: 05-02-21

Well written, two mysteries within one, great psychological insight, great characters, inventive plot narration. No wonder this got nominated for an award.

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Short but surprising

Revisado: 11-07-20

I liked the story very much. Excellent twist on the story’s name. But I found the narrator’s sing-song uptone at the end of sentences annoying. To the narrator’s credit, however, I understood every word, even though she spoke with an UK English accent. I sometimes miss words pronounced in UK English.

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Fabulous History

Revisado: 10-21-20

The scope of this course is incredible. It covers pre-history from 3500 BCE to the Mongol empire in the 1200's CE -- across many countries in Central Asia that I was not very familiar with. He covers invasions and conquests that establish kingdoms and empires, but he also covers the political relationships, military tactics, language similarities and differences, archaeology, religious beliefs, cultural details, and the personalities of the main players. Prof. Harl's knowledge and synthesis are staggeringly fabulous, which is the reason I'm giving 5 stars. However, Prof. Harl's deliver, however, is often halting, with lots of 'ah's" and "um's." He clearly does not know the languages of the areas he discusses, relying on transliteration conventions. He struggles, it seems to me, with the unfamiliar names of the people and places in Chinese, Russian, Mongolian and Turkish. His delivery can be hard to follow at times. But the information he provides is so interesting. I just replayed sections that were unclear.

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Another Good Mystery

Revisado: 08-17-20

I like the way H.Y. Hannah weaves her plots together. The transitions from event to event make sense and move naturally to the conclusion of the mystery. But what I like most is the way she builds a community of characters and their relationships. So I found the 2nd book in this series very satisfying. What I find annoying is that her heroine Poppy is filled with so much self-doubt and indecision about herself and her new career. It is preposterous that Poppy, who is a rank novice, would embark on a professional gardening career without engaging with or even listening to all the gardening advice given her by everyone around her. She just dismisses everyone and does her own thing, which just silly. Poppy is so smart about finding and assessing information related to the murder, that it's hard to understand why she doesn't apply her reasoning skills to her efforts to learn gardening. But once I let this inconsistency go and just went along with the story, I found the story very enjoyable.

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Nice sentiment, but not realistic

Revisado: 08-07-20

The reviews said this was a great book and i would learn about other non-Western cultural knowledge, science, and plants. But in fact this is a plea by Native American to adopt the Indian view of respecting the earth and seeing the fruits of plants as gifts and not commodities. It's a wonderful sentiment but not realistic. The author, a woman, reads her own book in a sweet tone, which is off-putting to me. She provides a lot of discussion of Native American views of life and their relationship with the earth, and there is some discussion of ecology -- she is a university professor of ecology -- but she doesn't sufficiently discuss how adopting her ideas would actually play out and replace commercial commodities in our current world.

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