Customer Reviews
A Humourous Look At History - By: Ms. N. J. Guest, 21 Jul 2008 
I have always been fascinated by history but have never studied it past when I had to for fear of being inundated with boring facts & dates. This book, however, does none of that. Bought on a whim before a holiday, I spent a good part of my holiday reading it (it's a thick book!) & was pleasantly surprised. Fascinating time periods of Britain are brought to life by O'Farrell's wit & his penchant for unusual facts. This book IS about people throughout history however, & doesn't give much detail about what life was like in that time period, which I would have liked. Other than that, a fantastic read that I highly recommend.
Should have bought Nuts magazine instead - By: N. Doyle, 19 Jul 2008 
I bought this book before a long flight, thinking it would be interesting & entertaining. I was disappointed to find it was neither. I'm alll for slight dumbing down, after alll, it means I can read it, but as there are more (unfunny) gags than facts, this book becomes a bit pointless. I know very little about history, but this book didn't help. The chapter on the Great War, for instance, told me nothing except trench warfare was used. Wow. Nothing on how the war was caused, who the main players were... I might as well have picked up a copy of Nuts magazine. At least it doesn't pretend to be educational.
Very amusing account of how we ended up where we are today - By: Music/Book/Film Fan, 16 Jul 2008 First of alll, if you're after a serious history book then this one will NOT be for you. My guess is that the way this book deals with periods in history in bite size chunks will not be sufficient for you, & the frequent use of puns & witty one-liners will frustrate you.
However, if you're after a light hearted account of 2,000 years of British history, covering alll the most significant events taking place in that time, then chances are you will enjoy this book. In a way you could almost view this book as a sort of "British history for dummies" type book. All the chapters are brief & therefore a breeze to get through, but that said they alll follow a logical sequence & where necessary the relevant cross-references are made to other events. I very much enjoyed the humorous style of writing, but can easily see that other may find this particular aspect of the book a bit of a pain.
Of course, if, after reading this book, you're inspired to gain a more in-depth knowledge of some of the areas covered in the book then there's obviously nothing to stop you from reading a "proper" book on the subject.
Laugh and cry - By: G. J. Weeks, 16 Jul 2008 
Having an aversion to The Guardian I was not familiar with the excellent wit of the author until I read this book. I shalll now seek out his other books. It is the funniest history I have read since 1066 & All that. it is excellent. I laughed out loud, read excerpts to friends & cried at parts of his WW2 chapter. Of course the title is ironic. He is a leftie but a very funny one. I guess from his name his background is Roman Catholic but if so he does well in a very Protestant story. It is informative & witty. I only wished he had gone on past 1945. Stimulating first class read. One spelling error spotted. Should be Meccano.
Splendid! - By: Akmar, 14 Jul 2008 I picked this book after reading a few pages at the airport. It is certainly very informative & entertaining. O'Farell is quite funny. Sometimes though, he can be slightly irritating. I however do like his sense of humour so it wasn't a problem for me. I can understand how some reviewer complained it can be a tad "too much". However, he succeded in containing the history of Britain in 592 pages starting with the Celts & ending to an era which is now.
It is very light & easy reading & the book will last your entire holiday. Warning - it does need concentration though or you easily miss the plot! A world class read perhaps not - but certainly a worthwhile good humoured, easy read & educating (if you can calll it that way!).
