4 ms·

Bret Devereaux's https://acoup.blog/ https://acoup.blog/ is a fantastic weekly read. I was drawn in by some of the comparisons between Lord of the Rings and hi

Bret Devereaux's https://acoup.blog/ https://acoup.blog/ is a fantastic weekly read. I was drawn in by some of the comparisons between Lord of the Rings and historical battle practices [0][1]. Right now, he's in the middle of a series on how Paradox Interactive games portray history, what things are accurate/inaccurate, and how to best connect with students whose interest in history was sparked by Paradox games [2]. [0] https://acoup.blog/category/collections/siege-of-gondor/ https://acoup.blog/category/collections/siege-of-gondor/ [1] https://acoup.blog/category/collections/the-battle-of-helms-deep/ https://acoup.blog/category/collections/the-battle-of-helms-... [2] https://acoup.blog/category/collections/teaching-paradox/ https://acoup.blog/category/collections/teaching-paradox/

D13Fd 5y ago
No joke, I loved his recent series about the history of textile production. Really excellent, like most of the stuff he has written. The Paradox ones are OK but I haven't played the games so I kind of trailed off on those.
- libraryofbabel 5y ago
  The series on iron-working is also superb: https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/ https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-...
littlestymaar 5y ago
I clicked on this thread wondering how high in the comment section would his blog appear. I'm not disappointed.
- alexpetralia 5y ago
  I have wondered why a historian's blog ends up being a regular favorite on Hacker News. I would imagine because it is nearly surgical in its descriptions of technical and mechanical processes. He goes into granular step-by-step detail about how things work, both at a low-level and at a high-level. Not unlike the work of a programmer!
  - jvanderbot 5y ago
    I mean, when discussing archers, he actually brought physics, empirical studies, historical anecdotes, analyzed artwork, and compared to modern video games and TV. The guy thinks and that's fun to watch.
kzrdude 5y ago
Thanks for linking the paradox post, very interesting! Unfortunately, this writer is seriously overusing parentheses and this disrupts the reading flow.
- bigiain 5y ago
  Disrupts the reading flow for you. I find his parentheticals, italics, and bolding, make the structure of the thoughts behind his words more clear to me. I appreciate this style of writing, at least for these sorts of topics. People are different.
gerdesj 5y ago
Thank you for this heads up. I've just dived into a discussion/state of play/essay of medieval medicine by an expert in the field. I'm now in the middle of a personal paradigm shift, if that's not too ridiculous! This is part of a longer paragraph with some more context but it is indicative of the treasures to be found: "So, we have a doubly difficult time understanding what medieval medicine was, because the people who practiced didn’t write about it, and the people who wrote about medicine thought practice was beneath them."

D13Fd 5y ago

No joke, I loved his recent series about the history of textile production. Really excellent, like most of the stuff he has written. The Paradox ones are OK but I haven't played the games so I kind of trailed off on those.

libraryofbabel 5y ago
The series on iron-working is also superb: https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/ https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-...

littlestymaar 5y ago

I clicked on this thread wondering how high in the comment section would his blog appear. I'm not disappointed.

alexpetralia 5y ago
I have wondered why a historian's blog ends up being a regular favorite on Hacker News. I would imagine because it is nearly surgical in its descriptions of technical and mechanical processes. He goes into granular step-by-step detail about how things work, both at a low-level and at a high-level. Not unlike the work of a programmer!
- jvanderbot 5y ago
  I mean, when discussing archers, he actually brought physics, empirical studies, historical anecdotes, analyzed artwork, and compared to modern video games and TV. The guy thinks and that's fun to watch.

kzrdude 5y ago

Thanks for linking the paradox post, very interesting! Unfortunately, this writer is seriously overusing parentheses and this disrupts the reading flow.

bigiain 5y ago
Disrupts the reading flow for you. I find his parentheticals, italics, and bolding, make the structure of the thoughts behind his words more clear to me. I appreciate this style of writing, at least for these sorts of topics. People are different.

gerdesj 5y ago

Thank you for this heads up. I've just dived into a discussion/state of play/essay of medieval medicine by an expert in the field. I'm now in the middle of a personal paradigm shift, if that's not too ridiculous! This is part of a longer paragraph with some more context but it is indicative of the treasures to be found: "So, we have a doubly difficult time understanding what medieval medicine was, because the people who practiced didn’t write about it, and the people who wrote about medicine thought practice was beneath them."