Pompeii

Instead of concentrating on the actual eruption and disastrous changes to Pompeiian lives, this book gives you a more day by day description of how peoples lived in Pompeii, including foods, how they got water, politics, houses, etc. Almost like a text book - but one that is very easy, informative, and even fun to read. There are wonderful pictures that aren't very well duplicated in the paperback - so get the biggest book you can, for greatest enjoyment

I am a; almost through reading the book. It has many interesting and some very fascinating ideas..I put "teaching books" on a shelf, at times. and absord what I have read.... it retrains my brain, from my previous beliefs... Them, I pick the book up again and finish it.... I have done this all my life and found it a perfect way to remember everything new that I have learned.... This book should be the bible on Pompeii until they actually finish the excavation, which I do not think will ever happen.... Vesuvius is still there......

GREAT BOOK....my issues are, the print is small, hard to read for me! AND why are the pix NOT IN COLOR????

These two books ("Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town" and "The fires of Vesuvius") are exactly the same book - well ok they have different covers. The book itself is great, the 3 stars are for shoddy marketing of the book.

Bought this after a visit to Pompeii. Beard is an engaging author and I enjoy that I can picture the ruins as I read her narrative. Hard to know if it's best to read before or after visit as the site itself is overwhelming. I can't wait to visit again with knowledge from this book.

As many reviewers have pointed out. This is a very good book about Pompeii. People, religions, building, ... are all introduced. The content may sound academic, but the writing is so good that it is not boring. However, those who want to know what happened during the eruption should look elsewhere, because the eruption is not described.A star is reduced because the color illusts are not linked to their captions in Kindle version so it is very hard to find the illusts that the text refers to,

An erudite description of Pompeii. Mary Beards style of writing is easy but not simplistic. Book is well ordered and the content explained with plausible modern illustrations. Great read!

A beautiful archeological overview of the Roman way of life as discovered in the ruins of the city.

A brilliant history of the town of Pompeii made up of what we know about daily life. Beard excels in explaining what we know, what we can induce and what we need to guess about the ancient Pompeians based on the nature of the information the archaeologists uncovered and what supporting sources were needed. It's interesting, for example, that at least some of the bodies discovered in the city were probably later tomb raiders who dug tunnels into the site rather than people who died in the original destruction of the town, so finding a body in a kitchen with heavy digging tools doesn't automatically tell you about Roman food preparation techniques. None of this is dry information though, it's a highly readable, amusing and entertaining book covering the full range of Pompeian life, from high art to low pleasures.Highly recommended, especially if you've visited, or are about to visit, Pompeii itself.

Mary Beard is always an entertaining and informative historian. The fact that I have read this in just over five days since first opening on my Kindle speaks volumes. Her style is somehow relaxed, as though she is delivering a much loved story to a group of enthralled students, enthralled because she is a consummate raconteur. The detail is impressive but carefully assembled and presented in a readily digestible manner. She rarely forgets that her readers are not always well versed in the history or fluent in Latin.Her annoyance at the readiness of even modern archaeologists to take one fact and make a story shines through, but her debunking is forensic in the true sense of the word. She follows a careful, thoughtful, logical process of testing and setting aside. Nor does she completely replace the hypothesis unless she has solid evidence for so doing.The one annoyance in this book, as in any literature, fact or fiction, is the use of the modern time references of BCE and CE. When does the "era" begin or end ? Oddly enough at the same notional date as BC and AD. Is the reason one of lack of belief or her self proclaimed socialist views ? Or as an attempt not to cause offence ? Mary Beard is not one to worry about that, as her blunt almost joyous use of what the Beeb coyly calls "strong language" clearly demonstrates. I'm not a Christian, nor follower of any belief system, political or religious, but it seems inconsistent to change the time reference that has existed for two millennia for no sound reason.Moan over. This is a damn good read. I have been an avid reader of anything about Rome for over half a century but Mary Beard never fails to bring new nuggets of knowledge for me to enjoy. And she makes it highly enjoyable.

Why do we have to find out all the interesting stuff after we leave education? Thankfully Mary Beard and others fill the knowledge gap in the style and language of understanding rather than entertainment. I like the explained thought processes to illustrate why an interpretation is arrived at, and the context into which it can be placed. A good writer makes for a good read and Mary Beard does this for Pompeii.

Pompeii through the eye of Roman expert, Mary Beard. Heavy on detail, this book isn’t the story of how Pompeii was buried during the eruption of 79AD, but what life in Pompeii like before. Using evidence collected during its excavation, Beard builds a picture of life, work, religion and art with incredible detail and lots of humour.

This is social history at its best. This is not a dreary list of Emperors and their battles [although there are a few riots\ disturbances mentioned], but a story about how the people of Pompeii actually lived. The story goes beyond the drunken debauchery normally associated with the town and shows how the faceless plebians also lived and behaved. The townsfolk's penchant for pithy graffiti is particularly interesting, which implies that literacy was more widely spread than previously assumed.The book is well written and easy to read and covers most aspects of life in the town. The narrative concentrates on what the archaeological finds reveal about various houses scattered across the town from elite villas to artisans workshops. It even suggests there was some form of one way system - nearly two thousand years before they blighted modern life! There is also a discussion about how the roads within the town were constructed to try and stop heavy rainfall from flooding the centre - another modern parallel. The finds also indicate how public life was organised and administered ultimately revealing a complex and thriving community.This is a very interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in how ordinary Romans lived.