pickI struggled at times to pay attention to this history of the Vikings, but then that‘s me with history books. When I was tuned in, I found the info fascinating and accessible. Plus, there‘s a name in my family I‘ve always found a little odd (Rollo; at least 2 family members have had this name) and I learned it‘s from the Old Norse! Cool!
pickI really enjoyed this book. It is refreshing to read serious history written by someone who actually cares about how accessible his writing is. This book is very well-written. I knew very little about the Vikings when I started this book and I learned a lot. Of course, much of what I learned is that scholars aren't sure about and are still debating a lot of basic facts about how Vikings lived and thought.
I am loving this book; it is absolutely fascinating and full of great images and details about Viking life -- but the description of a Viking ship burial is not for the faint of heart.
My favourite Viking-Age archaeological find from Iceland is a small pair of children‘s mittens in heavy wool, still attached to one another by a long string that would have run across the back and down inside the sleeves of a jacket. They would fit a two- or three-year-old, and one can picture some Viking-Age girl or boy playing in the cold and swinging their gloves around. At least they didn‘t lose them. #SundaySentence
In the modern Nordic languages, vikingar or vikinger is still used only in the exact sense of seaborne raiders, while in English and other tongues it has come to serve for anyone who had, as one Cambridge scholar resignedly put it, “a nodding acquaintance with Scandinavia ‘in those days'.“ . . .
pickNew episode just “dropped.“ We talk a little Lance Armstrong, doping, Vikings, Wodehouse, DeLillo, and Wild Cherry Pepsi. It's eclectic but in a good way.
https://anchor.fm/peter-murphy8/episodes/Episode-60-Killing-Time-at-the-Info-Des...
“...the Scandinavians were situated at the centre of many realms of existence-far beyond the familiar binaries of ‘good‘ and ‘bad‘ afterlives found in many religions. In the Viking mind, these worlds were all other places for other inhabitants, but ordered and connected in a manner that made them accessible if you knew the right paths to take.” I know I‘m going to love this substantial book!
Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings | 
