The Viking World

In general, you can find roughly three categories of books on various peoples of ancient and medieval Europe. There are simple introductions, lengthy textbooks, and popular picture books. This book is in the third category. Most books in this category attempt to summarize academic consensus and and explain the vision the authors have of the subject matter to a non-academic audience. Unfortunately the format makes this very difficult and few books live up to that vision. Not only does this book live up to that vision but it does so going into detail in many areas where it's very helpful. For example the discussion of hull forms and speeds of Norse boats and ships in this book was something I found quite interesting. For example, the idea that a 21-foot long rowboat was capable of sustained 7-kt speeds was surprising to me (the normal maximum speed of a non-plaining hull is 1.3 * the square root of the length (in feet) to give you the max. in knots. However in this case, a boat is going about 20% above that, which speaks very well of Norse ship designs. The author suggests that the hull might assume some semi-planing behavior but if so, this would make it remarkable in that it would be a displacement hull at slow speeds and semi-planing at higher speeds. Quite remarkable a theory. The rest of the book includes similar details which should whet the apatite of folks for more answers and lead them onward. It's really the best book in its class. Anyone interested in the Viking Age should read it.

You can spend five minutes or five hours at a sitting with this gem. Even a casual browse through a few pages will teach you something you didn't know about Vikings. A must for anybody studying Norse culture, and a valuable addition to their collections.

I love this book. It has lots of maps and illustrations. Best of all it covers the entire gamut of the Viking universe. It is a wonderful resource for getting your head around the big picture of the Viking age. I have researched Viking Age history for years now and this is one of the BEST books I have ever found