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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 Funny Witty Thought-Provoking Italy Ancient History

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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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Really enjoyed the layout and organisation of this book. The questions were perfect, Greg is always a good resource for learning about old things in new ways!

Great fun to listen to!

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Greg is constantly fascinating and engaging! I can’t wait to read/absorb what he releases next.

Will go down in history!

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I absolutely inhaled this. It's full of fascinating questions, and captivating answers. The approachable prose doesn't compromise the assiduité with which the questions have been researched, and the academic rigour doesn't compromise the humour or wonderful narrative element to the answers. It's a great listen /read, through and through. Highly educational, and full of answers to the historical questions which everyone has probably asked themselves within a lifetime, but failed to follow through and look up the answers. Search no more: here they are.

I chose the audiobook rather than the book itself, as it's read by the author himself, whose approachable, funny- yet- forensic, nerdy-yet-enthusiastic style of prose and delivery I find extremely engaging (as per his wonderful podcast You're Dead To Me, or his other fantastic book audios like Dead Famous). He really brings the content to life.

The whole thing is a great ride start to finish.
XI/X would recommend.

Fantastic-a world of fun and discovery

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Warm, intimate and a lot of fun.
Jenner’s work is brilliant and this is one of his best.
I cherished all of it. Have bought it as a kindle book after the audiobook so that I can go back to some bits with ease.
Highly recommended.

A brilliant book

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If, like me, you are a fan of Greg’s great podcast “You’re Dead To Me” you’ll love this!
It’s like a really long episode of the podcast!
Covers a huge range of interesting topics with humour and, where needed, tactful explanations and I just love Greg’s humour and occasional pop culture references (I think we must be about the same age!)
If you like the podcast, you’ll really like this audiobook.

A Must for You’re Dead To Me fans!

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excellent and diverse romp through various historical questions and conundrums. perfect accompaniment to a long car journey if you're a nerd like me

smorgasbord of historical treats

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I love this audiobook. It's funny, surprising and super fascinating. Laugh-out-loud and jaw-dropping facts abound (omg, hamsters!) Lovely narration. Greg Jenner at his absolute best. Make sure you stick around for the bonus content too!

Absolutely wonderful

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Really fun audiobook that is also rigorous and informative. The answers to the historical questions are very well elaborated. Greg Jenner’s performance is great and makes for an easy and fun listen. This book really works as audiobook and is guaranteed to make you learn, laugh and even feel emotional. Very enjoyable!

An informative and fun book that really works in audio.

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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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I really enjoyed this book. The many obscure facts and stories are related with great humour and warmth. I have listened to this audiobook many times over. It’s great just to dip into when a few moments allow and would be an excellent listen on a journey.

Interesting collection of facts told with humour

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