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Ask a Historian

50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know

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About this listen

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.

©2021 Greg Jenner (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group World Funny Witty Thought-Provoking Middle Ages Italy Ancient History

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)

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This is an excellent informative, well written and researched book. I love Greg’s history podcast and regularly listen on long dog walks. I thought this would be ideal to continue my tradition, but it was so entertaining that I ended up listening to it all day. I prefer books read by the author on the whole, and his enthusiasm for the subject shines through the narration. Please don’t be put off by the review regarding bad language, there’s not much and it is in context. Recommend 100%.

Really entertaining

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I absolutely love this book. It's really carefully researched and I've learnt so much but it's also written in a very accessible and engaging way. Beautifully done, thank you Greg, please keep writing (and reading out) your books!

Beautifully written, meticulously researched

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Took me months to get through this book, as it's great to quickly listen to a question on a short commute or when you've got a spare 10 minutes. So I spread the 50 questions out over a period of time.

But the questions the author has harvested from his twitter following were great and the answers were invariably interesting, well-researched and often went in a direction that was unexpected.

A great idea, and would buy a Vol 2!

Great fun

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interesting and funny, this was a thoroughly enjoyable listen. I would highly recommend to all.

Loved it

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this book is fun,engaging and most if not all of the questions asked are brilliant and also answered directly going off into fantastic tangents gleening more information

really recommend this book

OK not much story but the if you enjoy history A+

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