Cody Cassidy

With a title like that, how could i refuse this book!? each chapter has been well researched (backed by archaeologists, map makers, scientists, survivalists, and other field experts) and reads like documentary episodes from the history channel (back when they were still doing history). i enjoyed the chapters on the already mentioned Pompeii, Titanic, and T. Rex...but i was surprised at how much i liked the chapters on Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe and Blackbeard and his pirates. although, most of the survival recommendations could be summed up as: run as early as possible, as fast as possible ^_^… (meer)

Read this over the 2023 Christmas break and wasn't entirely impressed. It is an interesting concept but the handling by the author is too off the cuff in his treatment of the topic. I realize that this is meant as a popular title, but each topic is treated at such a distance that after reading the whole book I really couldn't give you an answer to any of the questions. Granted, that is part of the problem with anthropology (and why I am a historian) and while the narrative format may be "entertaining" the actual answers that are alluded to in each chapter are clouded by paraphrasing and generalization. A few fun facts, and interesting propositions, and I may use some of this in my World Civilization courses, but the (albeit slapdash) bibliography is likely to be more valuable to me than the book itself.… (meer)

Compellingly written and brimming with facts, this is a quick and jolly run through some of history's worst places to be. Like Randall Munroe's What If? books, it's less about the answers to the questions posed and more about the fascinating things you learn along the way. It is popular history and I'm sure there'll be a few "um"s "er"s and "actually"s from people who actually know a thing or two about any of the events discussed, but this isn't written for them. There's the vague air of a Horrible Histories for adults, and that's a rather lovely thing to have.… (meer)