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Ask a Historian

50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know

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Ask a Historian

By: Greg Jenner
Narrated by: Dan Schreiber, Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, Shappi Khorsandi
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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 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)

All stars
Most relevant  
History can cover almost anything but Greg has found a way to limit it and yet still manages to go on so many tangents

The bonus content

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Greg Jenner’s Podcast is excellent. It always gives me a laugh, but the thing I like the most about it is that it’s easily understood content, narrated and performed in an engaging and interested way. Ask a Historian hit the mark! If you like a chuckle and interesting facts about history, you’ll definitely want to listen to this book.

Funny and engaging

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Greg makes complicated history easy, fun and interesting! Im now a massive fan of his and this is the 3rd book I've read and I personally think this is equally brilliant. Learned so much that I think about on a daily basis from these books and wish everyone knew more about where everything comes from. Will continue following his work and podcasts as hes one of the most entertaining historians out there!

Such a fun and entertaining read!

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Witty and frequently surprising. The author is also an engaging narrator - and the bonus content is more than worth sticking around for.

Excellent

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I liked everything, especially the bonus at the end. My passion for history is fed with Greg Jenner, it’s done with a giggle, and pause for thought, too. He’s Brilliant, with a capital ‘B’

Brilliant.

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The initial 2 star review of this book on Audible made me hesitant but now I'm glad I didn't forgo it, instead made me question the review a bit there. It's another interesting and fascinating listening of history, or History, full of interesting titbits and at times philosophical questions and pondering. I wasn't at all interested in history unless it's funny, and was surprise at how captivated I was half an hour into the book, and continued to listen until the end credits and on long 4h morning drives.

The short Qs and answers really break up a topic so you don't linger on one for too long. There were funny stories and heartbreaks from the, dare I say, prehistoric to Tudor ;)

Strongly recommended for adults and children alike.l!

Lovely listening

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As always Greg is a wealth of information and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Entering while being informative and enjoyed the bonus content at the end.

Very interesting

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Ok, some diverse content and it was well read but compared to his other works it was a little too informal, and personally, I found some of the questions were a tad silly which limited the quality and depth of the answers.

interesting, but the bar has been set high...

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Not as interesting as I’d hoped. Tries hard to be clever and funny, rather than interesting. Sneaks in Left wing political viewpoints.

Tries to be too witty

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