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Ask a Historian
- 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know
- Narrated by: Dan Schreiber, Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, Shappi Khorsandi
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
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Ask a Historian
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Summary
Why is Italy called Italy? How old is curry? How fast was the medieval Chinese post system? How do we know how people sounded in the past? Who invented maths?
Responding to fifty genuine questions from the public, Greg Jenner takes you on an entertaining tour through history from the Stone Age to the Swinging Sixties, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts and historical characters from the past. From ancient joke books, African empires and the invention of meringues, to mummies, mirrors and menstrual pads—Ask A Historian is a deliciously amusing and informative smorgasbord of historical curiosities.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Critic reviews
"Jenner uses all the questions you never dared to ask about history as an excellent excuse to rummage around in some funny, fascinating, and downright peculiar corners of the past. Every page contains delights, and you will be illuminated and entertained in equal measure." (Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art)
"If history informs our future, Greg Jenner is one of the best informants out there. He is a natural story-teller, conveying complex ideas and events with pep, verve, and wit. For anyone who regularly asks the question 'Why?', this book is for you." (Susie Dent, author of Word Perfect)
What listeners say about Ask a Historian
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- Ms A Raney
- 04-07-23
Great fun to listen to!
Really enjoyed the layout and organisation of this book. The questions were perfect, Greg is always a good resource for learning about old things in new ways!
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- Sam
- 21-08-23
Will go down in history!
Greg is constantly fascinating and engaging! I can’t wait to read/absorb what he releases next.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Georgina Davis
- 24-11-21
Fantastic-a world of fun and discovery
I absolutely inhaled this. It's full of fascinating questions, and captivating answers. The approachable prose doesn't compromise the assiduité with which the questions have been researched, and the academic rigour doesn't compromise the humour or wonderful narrative element to the answers. It's a great listen /read, through and through. Highly educational, and full of answers to the historical questions which everyone has probably asked themselves within a lifetime, but failed to follow through and look up the answers. Search no more: here they are.
I chose the audiobook rather than the book itself, as it's read by the author himself, whose approachable, funny- yet- forensic, nerdy-yet-enthusiastic style of prose and delivery I find extremely engaging (as per his wonderful podcast You're Dead To Me, or his other fantastic book audios like Dead Famous). He really brings the content to life.
The whole thing is a great ride start to finish.
XI/X would recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Alasdair Satchel
- 02-07-22
A brilliant book
Warm, intimate and a lot of fun.
Jenner’s work is brilliant and this is one of his best.
I cherished all of it. Have bought it as a kindle book after the audiobook so that I can go back to some bits with ease.
Highly recommended.
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- S H Kingdom
- 20-04-23
A Must for You’re Dead To Me fans!
If, like me, you are a fan of Greg’s great podcast “You’re Dead To Me” you’ll love this!
It’s like a really long episode of the podcast!
Covers a huge range of interesting topics with humour and, where needed, tactful explanations and I just love Greg’s humour and occasional pop culture references (I think we must be about the same age!)
If you like the podcast, you’ll really like this audiobook.
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- Lanceloto
- 16-01-22
Brilliant
A real tour around history with diverse subjects delivered in an accessible and charming way. Really great to dip into. It has left me with a list of subjects I want to read more about and Greg gave some great suggestions for further reading throughout.
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- Dimcea Mihail Valentin
- 10-07-23
Amazing bite size fun and history
A very good book to dip in and out of. Fascinating faces of history and brilliant storytelling! Great fun as well!
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- Liv
- 07-06-23
Wonderful!
Absolutely fascinating romp through history, with the author answering niche, and sometimes crude questions posed to him by the general public. His narration style really helps with the wry humour in this book, and I appreciated the editorial asides and disclaimers if something was perhaps too rude or gruesome for the casual reader. Completely recommend!
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- L. Wiblin
- 20-04-22
smorgasbord of historical treats
excellent and diverse romp through various historical questions and conundrums. perfect accompaniment to a long car journey if you're a nerd like me
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ann
- 01-12-21
Absolutely wonderful
I love this audiobook. It's funny, surprising and super fascinating. Laugh-out-loud and jaw-dropping facts abound (omg, hamsters!) Lovely narration. Greg Jenner at his absolute best. Make sure you stick around for the bonus content too!
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