Read in 2019 - 13: Medieval Europe (and something about ebooks)

Medieval Europe
H.W.C. Davis

This was my parallel read to Hannah Hauxwell's Seaons of My Life (see previous post).
 
When I say parallel read, I mean that I usually read two books at once: One "physical" book (of paper) rests on my bedside table and is picked up for maximum half an hour before I sleep; my eyes do not allow for longer reading after a full day at work, looking at computer screens and at papers.
The other one is an ebook on my Kindle. Ever since I was given my Kindle as a birthday present in 2013, it has been my favourite non-human travel companion. No matter whether it is for the 10-minute journey on the local train to work or for the roughly 2 hours it takes to get from my place to O.K.'s, or a visit at a doctor's surgery where I am sure I will have to spend time in the waiting room, my kindle is always with me. It weighs so little and is so slim that it fits into my handbags without a problem. It allows me to carry around a library of dozens of books; there used to be more than 80 on it (and there was still plenty of room for more) before I started deleting the ones I read and was certain not to read again. Compare that to the few books taking up a lot of space (and weighing a ton!) in my suitcase when I had to decide which ones to pack for a holiday!

I've said this before when others have stated (here or on other blogs) that they will NEVER switch to ebooks: For me, electronic books do not replace physical books - they are an addition, and a very welcome one at that. Little beats the pleasure of browsing a large, beautifully made book of the coffee table variety with stunning pictures of landscapes, historic houses or gardens; photos of dishes to accompany recipes, travel guides with maps, information at a glance and photos of places of interest, pictures to illustrate a biography etc. etc. - all this my Kindle can not provide.

But what it can do is allow me to take as much reading material as I want with me without making my bag too bulky or too heavy. It also allows me to adjust the font size - very important for someone with eyes as bad as mine. Plus its grey background (instead of the pure white paper most books are printed on) allows me to read even in the glaring sunshine without having to squint, something I can not do with paper. Also, when I wait for the train on a cold winter morning and wear gloves, I can turn the "pages" of my book by simply pressing the side of my Kindle and do not have to either remove the gloves or risk damaging the delicate paper with clumsy cold fingers or gloved hands.
If you have ever carried around a paperback in your handbag, you'll know that at least after several trips back and forth, the book does not look its best anymore. In contrast, a Kindle can simply be slid into your bag without risking to bend pages or smudge the cover with the remnants of your sandwich.
And don't forget the huge number of free ebooks available for Kindle - all the classics, for instance! If you were to buy them as physical books, not only would the take up many meters of shelf space in your home, they would also cost you quite a lot of money (and probably mostly be collecting dust anyway).

See what I mean? For me, the Kindle has become standard equipment for any trip, short or long, to work or elsewhere. I still have shelves and a book case full of physical books, and still buy them or wish for them as a birthday or Christmas present when one captures my interest. But these are meant to last, whereas many of the ones I have downloaded to my Kindle are deleted as soon as they have been read and reviewed.


Phew - this has turned out to be much longer than I thought! But I hope I have made those of you who are so firmly set against ebooks think about your opinion and consider my points, just for a change :-)


Now for the actual review:

This history of Medieval Europe was first published in 1911, shortly before WWI changed the setup of our nations and their societies forever. Throughout the book, the optimism and near smugness of the author can be detected: To him, his is the best time to live in; what he observes in all areas makes him believe the solution of humanity's oldest and most deeply ingrained problems is at hand; progress in all areas of science is tangible and improving everybody's lives. Sadly, we know that although some of it came (almost) true, our biggest problems remain as unsolved as they were hundreds, even thousands of years ago.

The book gives a good and rather detailed (but not overly so) account of the thousand years spanning what we consider Medieval Times or the Middle Ages, the period between the 5th and 15th centuries. We learn about the transition from the classic Roman Empire to what was to become the new Roman Empire, how states and nations formed, were conquered or split up otherwise, reformed and split up again. How the very idea of what a state is all about changed in the minds of the people of Europe is also explained. Last but not least, the changing roles between clerical and secular rulers, between church and state, between rulers and ruled, between military and civil components of society, are looked at closely and provide some very interesting thoughts.

I enjoyed this book and found it very timely in parts; it fitted some of my activities at the time, such as visiting the ruin of a medieval castle a few Sundays ago. The writing style was not overly complicated; I had no trouble understanding every sentence in spite of English not being my native tongue and the book being relatively old.

Needless to say, this was a free ebook from Amazon's Kindle store.


The author, Henry William Carless Davis, lived from 1874 to 1928. According to wikipedia, he was was a British historian, editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, and Oxford Regius Professor of Modern History.