Geert Mak – Wisselwachter (in Dutch)
The author is skilled in blending the arc of history with the personal narrative of the actors shaping it, but could have been a bit more strict in curating the stories he included.
The story of J.P. Coen terrorizing the Banda Islands serve well to illustrate the major social and environmental injustices of our time.
Amitav Gosh – The nutmeg’s curse
What starts as a well written exploration of a well-chosen historical event derails into a all-encompassing indictment of the Western, capitalist world order, but leaves the reader wanting to learn more about nutmeg.
In a region where Russia may want to regain influence over lost territory, the need for good old, Cold War-style, deterrence is raising for small countries that want to keep their independence and a NATO alliance that wants to be taken seriously.
Oliver Moody – Baltic, the future of Europe
The conscientious exploration of different viewpoints sometimes makes for slow reading, but leads to a comprehensive and surprisingly nuanced book.
Piet van Eeghen was a leading force behind major private initiatives in 19th century Amsterdam, resulting in the creation of a.o. the Prinsengrachtziekenhuis, the Vondelpark, and the Rijksmuseum.
Laura van Hasselt – Geld, geloof, en goede vrienden (in Dutch)
An in-depth economic analysis of the business dealings and charitable causes of Van Eeghen and the way they were intertwined would have created a more complete picture.
Shipwrecks are time capsules that provide a fascinating and dramatic window on the past that makes maritime archeology unique
David Gibbins – A history of the world in twelve shipwrecks
In particular, the retracing connections and trade routes in prehistoric times through chemical analysis is impressive.
The combined innovations in politics, warfare, religion, and finance around the turn of the 16th century laid the foundation for developments that would shape Europe for centuries to come.
The personal stories of individual actors are a bit over-done, but fascinating references to original sources ensure the whole is sufficiently balanced.
The failure to recognize the implicit philosophical hypotheses underlying a naive scientific triumphalism can be harmful for humanity and the planet
Adam Frank – The blind spot
Delightfully broad perspective, although with a far too anthropocentric perspective on intelligence and consciousness.
The coupling of personal and economic freedom increasingly appears to be a thing of the past
Martin Wolf – The crisis of Democratic Capitalism
After a slow start, the book provides interesting analyses, which after the 2024 US elections is more relevant than ever.
Once upon a time there was a mysterious country that tried to be unique in everything and to large extent succeeded
Jonathan Clement – A brief history of Japan
The broad strokes and accessible style help to create a basic understanding of Japan – although necessarily with major simplifications.
A prince needs to carefully balance show of force and political scheming
Niccolo Machiavelli – The prince
In theory Machiavelli had it all figured out,
Throughout history, Italians went to extraordinary lengths to grow the most perfect and/or exuberant citrus fruit
Helena Attlee – The land where the lemons grow
A juicy tale of culture and food in Itlay.
The ideas that were seriously considered in covert operations and military plots shew a new light on the term ‘Intelligence’
Vince Houghton – Nuking the moon
The overly jolly style of writing can be a bit tiresome, but one cannot help to be fascinated by the outlandish stories..
It requires a risky mix of naive optimism, grotesque bluff, and boneheaded persistence to get a scoop on a yakuza boss
The story is, appears heavily romanticized, but provides a nice insider perspective on many quirks of Japanese culture.
A solid system of taxation is one of the major indicators for the success of power structures
Chris Wickham – Medieval Europe
Rich and fascinating deep-dive into an under-estimated millennium.
We tend to underestimate the capabilities of our neolithic ancestors in the domains of engineering and social organization
Mike Pitts – How to build Stonehenge
The book reads as a detective, exploring what we know and what we can reasonably conjecture about the creation of Stonehenge based on the archeological record and examples from indigenous civilizations.
Gothic architecture brought major innovations in the construction of cathedrals, using the frame (rather than the walls) to support the weight
Malcolm Hislop – How to build a cathedral
Fascinating in the thorough treatment of technical details of architecture and construction.
Normandy is the place to be for any painter with a fascination for light
Claire Maingon and Hélène Rochette – Le grand guide de la Normandie (in French)
Charming take on a tourist guide, revisiting the favorite spots of impressionist painters to recreate their magic.
Phrenology started out as an honest attempt to study the brain scientifically, but evolved away from the scientific method and was put to despicable uses
Theo Mulder – De hersenverzamelaar (The brain collector, read in Dutch)
The book is mostly written from the historical perspective free from contemporary judgements, which allows the writer to tell a nuanced story on a sensitive topic.
The histories of science and religion are intricately entangled and the conflict between the two is over-emphasized
The author underplays the role of religious power structures in suppressing novel scientific ideas that go against traditionalist dogmas, which makes the book read more like a christian apology than a balanced historical narrative.
The Mediterranean has been the pivotal connection between great European, North African, and Asian cultures and economies
David Abulafia – The great sea
The best parts are the details (e.g. on laws governing responsibilities at sea in medieval times), but these facts buried in a thorough, impressively complete historical overview.