Hardcore History

I wanted to like this book, but somewhere between the not-very-connected chapters and the overexaggerated title the book failed to deliver. The chapters are very thorough in what they cover, but there's very little linking one to the next, and I honestly felt a few of them were extremely dry. I liked the section on the Bronze Age in the beginning and the sections about nuclear war at the end, but the middle sort of dragged on. It also seemed to tackle topics a mile wide but only an inch deep in terms of content, which left me with more questions that went unanswered.

In short, kind of underwhelming.

If you're not a Dan Carlin's Hard Core History podcast listener, note that this is actually the short version.

A good place to get a taste for his style of history telling and perhaps move on to the 15 hour version of his deep dives.

Look, I'll be honest, there is no way I can give this book an objective review since I am extremely, unbelievably biased. Hardcore History is the greatest podcast in the world bar none.

This book is a quick look at a few major apocalyptic scenarios throughout history, while it lacks depth (which is not the case in his podcasts) the fact that things are kept so tight means it's easy to learn about the general scenario and then, if interested, you can do a deep dive on the areas you want to learn more about. Is my bias making me look at things in a positive light? Possibly, doesn't mean it's not true.

Worth buying for the prescience of the pandemic chapter alone, you will definitely be mentioning it to people in conversation during these times. Which is always a good sign for a book.

Relatively light but interesting reading.

Gillar man Hardcore History kommer man gilla denna bok. Den är ”pratig”, vilket gör den tillgänglig på sätt och vis.