The book was fascinating, but when I got to ...
922722
The book was fascinating, but when I got to the end, the prayers were in Mayan, which I don't speak and probably could not pronounce correctly, although the author said that is important.
4381791
The topic of WWI and the impact it had on a generation of young men (and women) is a fascinating topic to me.  I did enjoy the first part of the book, which covered the main characters' experience in the war.  The book bogged down for me in the second third of the book with the Everest expedition and planning.

The research on the book is outstanding, but I lost interest amidst all of the details.

I think that my interest is more on WWI, and less on the first Everest ascent - and that's probably the reason the book didn't hold my attention.  If you're interested in those expeditions, you would probably find this book very interesting.
2690112
This is both a very fascinating and a very frustrating book. Its principal protagonist is Rufus Dawes, a young Englishman from a wealthy family, who allows his pride to put him into the terrifying experience of becoming a prisoner condemned to transportation. Along the way he encounters other characters - each with his or her own reasons for being (sometimes literally) in the same boat.

What makes the book fascinating is the abundance of detail about a youthful Australia and the abuses of its terrible prison system. What makes the book frustrating is that Marcus Clarke has written in Rufus Dawes a lead character who is driven almost entirely by his pride, which has the effect of trapping him in situations from which common sense would allow him to escape or at least alleviate. This is probably intended to stand in for his fatal flaw, but it gets a little old, which is one of the two reasons I give it four stars instead of five. The second reason for the lowered rating is because Clarke is BIG on coincidences - huge overwhelmingly unlikely, mind-numbing coincidences. He doesn't use the coincidence device a lot, but when he does, the use is awe-inspiring.

The book was written in the 1870s by an expatriate Englishman who had become an Australian journalist whose job allowed him to research the infamous prison system in great depth. If this makes it sound like it would be dry, don't be deceived. It is a rip-roaring adventure that I highly recommend.
4837048
I learned a lot reading this fascinating book, despite the fact I have often read books about this period.  I had thought of Jesus as a man who was trying to modernize and "soften" Judaism.  It turns out that, if you examine the actual history of the times as well as the language used by the people of the times, Jesus was actually trying to kick the Romans out of Palestine.

At the time, Rome had appointed "Quislings" as Temple priests, and the place was rife with corruption.  Jesus was a fundamentalist who wanted to take his people back to the time when they were a kingdom established by god.  Basically what nearly everyone longed for was another King David.

I was particularly fascinated by the discussion about what happened between Jesus' successor, his brother James, and Saul, who preached that people didn't have to obey the Law in order to follow Jesus.  That chapter alone answered some questions I had had about Paul who always seemed like the Evil Tempter of the story. So many histories leave that part out.

I am giving the book 5 stars although sometimes in the reading I thought of knocking off a star because I am a very chronological person, and the author often loops back before going forward again.  But, the book is so fascinating and well written it held my attention anyway.
757813
Some parts of this book were riveting and I found myself convinced about several of their main ideas, relating to the astronomical uses of the ancient henge formations, the flood/comet theories, early use of writing and even the link between the ancient Jews and the Celts.
The Masonic material was far less convincing, and I noticed when this topic came up the academic footnotes tended to try up - whether or not that's important depends on your point of view on academic rigour.
There are some breathtaking assertions simply stated without any attempt at substantiation or even explanation. Despite this serious flaw, the book as a whole was fascinating and gave me a great new insight into prehistoric times. I enjoyed the deeper understanding it gave me into the structures like Stonehenge.
Definitely worth a read.
2160042
The story is more than interesting, but at times I felt the authors got bogged down in meaningless detail (do readers really have to know every street address of every character?), and the way narratives describing individuals in the book were embedded in stories-within-stories was, at times, confusing.  I frequently lost track of characters.  About half-way through I definitely thought it a three star book. Three things changed my mind: the remarkable (and remarkably written) final paragraph, which sent me a shock of recognition of the implications of the tale, the final pages, which placed the tale in context, and the afterward to the second edition, which describes the art of doing and writing history so well.
760645
Disturbing book in many ways, but fascinating at the same time.  I decided not to finish at one point, but then picked it up again.
3124909
Although the book was mysterious and thrilling, it's full of photographs and handwritten letters that are difficult to read.  After looking at them for a while, I could decipher them, but it was still difficult.
I really did love the book but I wished there had been more character development on some of the other peculiar children that were mentioned in the photographs early on in the book but never seemed to come up again later.
2228870
The book was  wonderful and very interesting, but I didn't find the ending satisfying.  I thought it just fell down in that area.  That's why I gave it 4 stars and not 5.  It was, though, an excellent reading experience.
2374690
I found this book very fascinating and really enjoyed the idea behind the book. It's a very interesting idea and the moral dilemma that arises gave me something to think about throughout the day.
I enjoyed the sites and descriptions that Brown provides but the reason that I didn't give it the glorious five star rating is because of the in-depth descriptions at the wrong times.  I do enjoy a description of where the characters are and all of the fascinating architecture but some descriptions were provided in areas of the book where something really exciting was happening and then there's a page about the architecture/history that almost had me skimming just to find out what happened!

Overall a very good book and interesting premise. I am/would recommend it.
478553
I really puzzled over what rating to give this book.  Im listening to it on Audible, and it certainly is a compelling story.  Imagine Little House on the Prairie if Pa was a raving lunatic, Ma was a mindless Stepford replicant and Mary was a homicidal maniac.  As a novel, it is jaw dropping and fascinating.

However, as a nonfiction memoir, I have some problems with it.

We are asked to believe that, with zero education (except she somehow learned how to read), and on the strength of having read nothing but the Bible and the Book of Mormon and few ACT workbooks, the author somehow gets into BYU with a high enough score to get an enormous scholarship, graduates magna, breezes into Cambridge for her PhD, then floats over to Harvard.  There are thousands, if not millions, of brilliant people who go to the best schools, study hard for a decade and more and cant manage one, much less all, of those achievements.  And yet the author just came down from the junkyard in Nowhere, Idaho and doors were flung open for her.

Thats some kind of luck.  Or angels or something.

The luck seems to extend to her superhero body that recovers from being impaled on scrap metal, a broken back and possibly neck, an arm and wrist repeatedly broken by her brother and numerous other physical catastrophes that would have killed or maimed anyone else.  Yet, two weeks in bed seems to be the cure for everything.

I would recommend this book as a lively and entertaining read, but my spidey sense tells me there is going to be some debunking in the near future and we may be looking at the next James Frey.
3995943
A tremendous wealth of information, complete with references and the authors opinions and views at the end of the book. I enjoyed the book and appreciated the wide variety of scientific data, but I had a hard time with aspects of the book. I did not find the beginning nor the first two hundred pages particularly gripping, intriguing, and captivating. At about the half-way mark the book became more interesting. As far as the characters go, well, I never felt engaged enough to really care what happened to them...and indeed plenty happened to them...perhaps far more than would be reasonably believable. I almost feel guilty leaving a mediocre review of such a great author, but this book just didn't live up to my high hopes and expectations. I must thank the author for enlightening me on a variety of issues and I can honestly say that my opinion regarding global warming has shifted or changed a bit because of this book. I still marvel at the vast amount of scientific data provided in this book. Although this particular story didn't win me over, I continue to hold this author in very high regards.
2544171
I liked the book very much, but felt it was too lengthy in descriptions. I lost interest in the middle of the book, but continued on because I wanted to know how he was rescued.
1918324
The book was a wonderous journey and a challenge to all of us.  I have heard that it was not all true, which if so would disapoint me
2737592
It is a fascinating story, and a lot of interesting stuff happened. Unfortunately, it was a long and difficult book to read. I think you really have to be in the mood for a thing like this in order to give it the attention it deserves. If, like me, you are looking for some light reading to pass the time, look elsewhere.
3900326
Overall, I did like the book. I found it very interesting and hard to put down at certain parts. However, it did have entire chapters that I believe could have been cut out and would not have made an impact on the book. It went into a lot of detail, sometimes to the point of just plain boring stuff. The use of letters and historical documents to detail Mr. Dodd's time in Berlin was very well written. If you enjoy history and have interest in the rise of Hitler, you will find most of this book enjoyable. (You can do like I did, and just skim a lot of pages until you get to the more interesting parts).
2815800
I opened the book to glance through it, then stayed glued to it until I had read the whole thing. It was completely fascinating.