Books Worth Reading

I read a lot, in case you didn't know.

I just finished a book on the Vikings by TimeLife Books.

Seems odd. TimeLife is kind of a bookmill. They print books on so many subjects, but they're actually good quality books, well-researched, interesting.

This one, The Vikings, was particularly thorough and objective. I like objective. You don't find that many books that are objective, particularly concerning history. Usually the white European men are evil, women are oppressed, Muslims are credited with the Renaissance. You know. That kind of thing.

This book gave a good overview of the Viking Age, sharing some of the darker side of the Viking persona without demeaning their astounding and heroic accomplishments, as well as their crucial role in the shaping of world history.

For instance, did you know that the Norman Invasion of England in 1066 was actually a Viking vs. Viking war? The king of England at the time, Harold, was a Viking king whose people had only recently taken possession of all of England. William the Conqueror was the direct-line descendant of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, who was a Viking who had settled himself and a large group of Vikings in the Normandy region of the Frankish territory about 150 years earlier.

Did you know that Erik the Red was actually an outlaw from Iceland? That he settled Greenland not purely for the adventure, but because he couldn't return home for 3 years and decided, what the heck, he'd go look for this empty land that someone had seen a few years earlier. And he didn't go alone. He filled his 50 foot long boat with men and supplies, then when his exile ended, he went back to Iceland and led a whole fleet of ships back, loaded with men, women, children, and animals, to make a go of settling the new land.