arlen jones

Brilliant

Revisado: 02-26-21

Everyone who lives on earth, under capitalism, in a society, with a human heart should read this amazing book. So many ideas, so much insight.

About SO MUCH more than “ just” mushrooms.

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Not Worth It

Revisado: 12-12-19

It’s the equivalent of having someone summarize the key points of a sixth grade English history textbook with a few droll witticisms to make the whole experience feel “more english.”

It’s hardly irreverent, as it goes to great pains to describe most historical figures and eras in the most obvious, middle of the road, and clichéd terms.

The punchlines, when they come, dont make up for the lack of substance or meaningful narrative. This is mostly the case during the discussion of the late 19th C., 20th C., and early naughts.

The very beginning, talking about the Celts, Normans, and Anglo-Saxons is interesting and the detached, highly generalized retelling of events matches the dry, light tone of the humor.

Unfortunately the middle seven hours strains this formula and it feels more like listening to a cliffs notes punctuated by the occasional throwaway joke.

By the 20th century, You can tell the author has run out of material and is just stringing together Key events to fill space. Which makes it feel even more like a lazy middle school textbook.

The last two chapters detailing the pornographically violent lives of the royal house are funny in their dry, list-like delivery and feel tonally different from the rest of the book.

I can only imagine this book’s target audience is English people who want their English history read back to them with the depth and creativity of a toothpaste commercial.

If you dont already have a basic degree of understanding or familiarity with English (as in you are not English or familiar with English history) you will be lost in a blizzard of name-dropped French geopolitics, civil wars, Henry’s, Richards, etc. On the other hand, if you already have some familiarity with this material, then you are likely learning nothing new, and are just waiting for a petty punchline about some kings mistresses or Henry the eighth‘s wives.

I listened to this on a long road trip and mostly enjoyed it until I realized that I was just having my vague and one dimensional familiarity with British history (American public school plus some movies, TV, and Grant Morrison comics) just fed back to me.

The problem is it exactly this kind of meh history that leaves out or just mentions but doesnt explain some really enduringly interesting things about England (included but not limited Brexit, Thatcherism, postwar England, Colonial history, the 60s counter culture, the birth of Heavy Metal, post-colonial history and migration, how late Victorian England transformed during the second industrial revolution)

And if you’re interested at all in England as a European country and its relationship with the EU and its identity as either a country or a union of British isles, All you will learn here is that England doesn’t like Europe and thinks that Scotland, Wales, and Ireland are British. Scotland, Wales and Ireland don’t necessarily agree. Europe neither.


Finally, If you have the slightest awareness of British involvement in China, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, etc. you may find offensive, even racist, the light touch (or overt omission) given to mass starvations, dirty wars, opium wars, the slave trade, and immigration history. Its similar but less so for Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

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