Civ and History Books

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a4phantom

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So my sister's borrow my computer for the next few months and I won't be playing Civ. Anyone care to recommend any good history books?

I recommend
Personal Witness: Israel through My Eyes by Abba Eban
and Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy (Civ Fanatics will love this one, it made playing as J.C. more fun for me anyway).

Anyone know of any good books on Persia or Cyrus? Mali?
 
Hi,

some good books i've been reading lately (and some that are waiting it the queue):

Fernand Braudel: The Mediterranean on Ancient World

Fernand Braudel: Civilizations & Capitalism 15th - 18th century

^- I'm just reading first part but its excellent. Braudel's writing is just wonderful.

Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs and Steel

Guns, Germs and Steel is also made as 3-part miniseries by PBS

This is waiting for me at library, so i cannot comment yet if its any good

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Tom Holland: Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic

Excellent book about Roman Republic and it's people.

This i haven't read yet, but if it's anything like Rubicon it should be good (and its about Persia)

Tom Holland: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

David Anthony Durham: Hannibal - pride of Carthage

Semi-history fiction about Hannibal, but also good so far (I read quite a few books at the time..)

And something bit different:

Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything

Very entertaining book to read, even if it does have some errors (not that i found those, but some reviewers did). It also has very funny stories about scientists, their egos & bitter fights between them :D
 
Thanks guys. I'll start with Persian Fire, so I'll be primed when 300 comes out.
 
Julian Delphiki said:
Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs and Steel

Guns, Germs and Steel is also made as 3-part miniseries by PBS

This is waiting for me at library, so i cannot comment yet if its any good

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Click to expand...

Guns, Germs and Steel was absolutely incredible. I can't recommend it enough - I've given it as a gift to five different people, all of whom enjoyed it. I'm about halfway through Collapse at the moment, and though not as knock-you-on-your-ass, it's also quite good (Diamond has done better, such as The Third Chimpanzee). GG&S is excellent because it explains a lot of the why of history that is frequently missing. For example, we take it for granted that Europe "beat" the places it colonized, Diamond examines (among other things) why it couldn't've been the other way around. Especially for somebody that plays Civ, and thus plays around with alternative history stories, it's a great book to put all our stories about our past into a coherent framework that actually relates them rather than just listing them. I was never interested in history before I read GG&S.

</end fangirl rant ;)>
 
LucyDuke said:
Guns, Germs and Steel was absolutely incredible. I can't recommend it enough - I've given it as a gift to five different people, all of whom enjoyed it. I'm about halfway through Collapse at the moment, and though not as knock-you-on-your-ass, it's also quite good (Diamond has done better, such as The Third Chimpanzee). GG&S is excellent because it explains a lot of the why of history that is frequently missing. For example, we take it for granted that Europe "beat" the places it colonized, Diamond examines (among other things) why it couldn't've been the other way around. Especially for somebody that plays Civ, and thus plays around with alternative history stories, it's a great book to put all our stories about our past into a coherent framework that actually relates them rather than just listing them. I was never interested in history before I read GG&S.

</end fangirl rant ;)>
Click to expand...


Thanks lady. I've heard great things about GG&S, and I'm on the library's wait list.
 
good book I am reading right now is called:

The Middle East and Islamic World Reader, Edited by Marvin E. Gettleman and Stuart Schaar.
 
I have read Guns,Germs, and Steel 2 times now and considering giving it another go. It is really informative and interesting at the same time. Plus it will even let you know why your keyboard is laid out the way it is.
 
Kenneth Pomeranz: The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.

Challenges most conceptions of why industrialization kicked off in Europe and not in China.
 
Another recommendation for Guns, Germs, and Steel. In civ terms the main premise is that your starting position counts for more than your traits or UU.

Another book that I really enjoyed is:
Barbara W Tuchman: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

It closely looks at the life of Enguerrand de Coucy (1340-1397), a French nobleman. You get a good feel for what the times were like but the way that it is done it doesn't read like a school text book. I read it quite a while ago, and when I started playing Civ III I really understood why nationalism was something that was invented, because the whole concept of England and France in the book are not that close to what we think of a nation today.
 
If you've got a hell of a lot of time and patience, then check out Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, the first and greatest of all 'factual' history books. (There are numerous translations, but if you can lay your hands on the 'Landmark' edition it's well worth it for the superb footnotes and maps).

If you're after something a little less heavy, then Peter Mansfield's A History of the Middle East is a modern classic; very readable, and of great interest given the current crises in the region.

May and Zelikow's The Kennedy tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis is also worth a look, if you want to get a close up view of how strategic decision-making works when the pressure is really on. (It's all the better if you've seen Dr. Strangelove; the war-crazed general in Kubrick's masterpiece was based on the Air Force Chief of Staff, Curtis LeMay.)

Oh, and Peter Heather's Fall of the Roman Empire is indeed a very good book, although it drags a little towards the end, imo.
 
Can only add my praise to "Guns, Germs and Steel" - truly an eye opening book, and very readable.

Civ fans should also not miss "The Complete History of the World", an oversize historical Atlas published by "The Times". It's quite expensive, but it does the title justice, with over 400 pages of beautiful, rich maps. Been poring over this for weeks now.
 
I recommend the Book Carnage and Culture from Victor Davis Hanson. The Author tries to explain in this books which cultural aspects made from the western the greatest military power through History.

Another good one is the skeptical enviromentalist from Bj&#248;rn Lomborg. This books uses statistics to review some of the afirmations that are been heard everywhere about the degrading enviroment and that the poor are going poorer.

I have never read Germs, Guns and Steel but are really interested in it.
 
I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but a man by the name of Steven Saylor has written a series of novels set in Ancient Rome. Overall, I find them to be pretty enthralling.
 
Welnic said:
Another recommendation for Guns, Germs, and Steel. In civ terms the main premise is that your starting position counts for more than your traits or UU.
Click to expand...

I just finished Persian Fire and started Guns, Germs and Steel. One of the weaknesses of Civ is that your traits and UU are set and don't develop based on your geography (Mongols could be in plains, the British can't have a ship UU anymore because they might be landlocked).

Thanks guys!
 
The next few months???

Tell her to get her own. Or just dont let her.

Thats very inconsiderate if its going to be borrowed that long.
 
She needs it for her nursing class, and I'm at mom and dad's recovering from surgery and able to use dad's desktop. If circumstances arise where I need it, I'll take it back.

And Ted Stevens might be a little narrow, but he can't be all brainless, aside from Sen Byrd he brings home the bacon like no other.
 
How about the Penguin History of the World? Talk about complete. It starts with the Stone Age and ends in the late 20th century. Quite readable and in handy (but slightly hefty) paperback form.
 
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