Help me with a present! I’m looking for something entertaining about history that tells stories focussed on the social side of things, but with a good dose of fascinating or weird facts. She likes learning about technical things and groups of people/sociology stuff rather than single biographies. Nothing too jargon-y, and she wouldn’t like stuff about war, economics or singular personalities (like Genghis Khan or some old king, or whatever). She’s read ‘Girt’ by David Hunt and liked it, plus some Bill Bryson. So that kinda vibe. Something about medical history would be a bonus. Thank you! 🙂
by Rainbird2003
2 Comments
Franz Kafka: “A Country Doctor” collection of short stories.
Weird, social, medical.
*The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England*, by Ian Mortimer (he’s also done other books for different periods iirc.. kinda light on weirdness, but written entertainingly)
*Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations*, by Dr Arnold van de Laar (tells tales of various “firsts” in terms of operations.. kinda jumps around history a bit, and is not for the squeamish, but it was interesting, to me at least)