The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings (Hist Atlas)

I own many historical books, but most of them brought from Denmark to Thailand, and thereby mostly written in Danish, and by now living in Thailand I at least ought to own a book written in English, and telling about the Vikings. And when I out here have telling about all of the places to where the Vikings were sailing, I especially are getting into problem when taking about the Faeroes, which nobody knows anything about, and as it is so small it is nearly impossible to shown I on my Globe.So I at last started searching after an easy and good book telling about the Vikings, a book with pictures and cards. And the first time I in Amazon discovered “The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings”, and then was looking inside the book, I immediately ordered one copy. And after now having received and read it, I must say that it’s a very good book about the Vikings, probably the one which I would choose if I only was allowed to own a single book about the Vikings.The book is extremely detailed concerning all of the places to where respectively the Danish, Norwegians, or Swedish Vikings were travelling, and with the marks for at which year. So most of the book is containing Atlases with the accompanying text pages, but we also are getting many sides with pictures and drawings concerning their daily life, small towns, round forts, churches, warrior weapons, ships, their gods the Thor, with 8 legged horse Sleipnir, and the Odin and so on, and we learn how they by their settling all over Europe resulted in the starts of some of the later big cities.But as a remark, on the side 40 we are reading that it’s not known how the Vikings found around on the ocean, as the compass not yet was invented. But during some years most historians now believes that the Vikings were using the Sunstone, the stone which nearly looks like a part of a crystal, and comes from Iceland, and by which they through the clouds can locate the Sun. Such one was found in a ship which sank around 500 years ago, and after the discovering of this one it now is believed that the Viking used Sunstones and that these followed the owners into the graves and there deformed during the years.And as one more remark concerning if the Vikings totally left America. I still remember that I around 25 years ago was reading that it then was discovered that some of the Vikings had settled in North America. Because it was found that a tripe of mostly white haired Indians all died by an sickness which was brought with the immigrants back around the year 1880, and now by DNA was found to be connected to the Scandinavians. Of course, during the past year new research has proved that the Indian came from Japan and Scandinavia thousands of years before the Vikings discovered North America. .In the book we by historical writing are getting a touch of the Sagas, and we especially read about the Icelandic Sagas, and learn about how good writings they contain. For persons that want to learn more about the Vikings especially the Icelandic Sagas, like Njal’s Saga, are telling good stories. But I cannot recommend a special book, because all of my Saga books are written in Danish, so I don’t know which of these translated into English either is good or bad translated.But especially concerning the Icelandic Sagas they just this year have been finished in a totally new translating into 5 books in Danish, and in these books we now are getting more juicy telling, precisely as they were written, by not earlier allowed to be told to us. So thereby when looking after a book with a Saga then think about looking on at which year it was translated, and probably these new Danish will come in English, and in case so I’ll have them, even though I have the older one.But finally, and again, it’s an excellent book with the many Atlas showing to where the Viking went. First by this book I for example discovered that the Vikings in 844 went into Seville, I never thought that they went inside Spain.

Very easy to follow. Broken down into segments that allow for looking up individual subjects. Follows a chronologically logical order. The book includes Info and lots of maps on Pre-Viking Scandanavia, Viking Age Scandinavia, the Vikings themselves, and where they went and some possible whys. If one were to take a segment and put it into outline form, one would have an excellent outline for more indepth study. I probably will be one to do so eventually. This book gives a very good overall overlook on the subject.

Helped me see where the Vikings went -- much farther than anticipated.

This was a fun, clear, concise illustration of who, when, and where the Vikings were.It is a series of maps and diagrams, full-color that page-by-page show Viking settlements, raids, and movements over time and in various locations.The accompanying text, often just 1 page per chapter (1-4p) was simple and easy to read, tho dry and text-book like. I am sure it misses a lot of the story, maybe even some important points, as it is so short and simple. But that's what it is. An introduction to the subject, and in-depth just with the maps. Each chapter is a really stand alone description of a location, era, or facet of viking life, and the chapters do not flow into each other. This means it is easy to put down for a long time, read just one chapter or skip back and forth. Any pertinent info to the story at hand is repeated in that particular chapter. They don't rely on you having just completed the previous chapter. A useful reference.THE MAPS. Were very interesting and detailed, obviously had a lot of work put into them. Thus it was so disappointing that often the maps did not include a town or other place name that was in the accompanying short chapter, SOMETIMES EVEN IN THE caption of the map itself! Several times I would go combing through the previous pages' maps, or subsequent pages' maps in order to find where the missing location was. This was highly annoying. I am not talking about locations that were tangential somehow to the particular chapter's story. Sometimes a main-event location. I debated whether to give this book 3 stars for this fact, but overall it was interesting and useful for me, and the shear number and clarity of the maps made up for it. I hope it will be improved and re-edited in a future edition.I read Beowolf a few years ago and recently the Volsung saga, and have gotten interested in Old English, English language history, and somewhat in the history of England. As relates to these topics, this book was a useful and background-enlightening reference. If you are interested in any of those subjects like me, you are likely to be satisfied with this book. There is something about maps that can really make things come alive.

Our friend is a gamer with an interest in Viking figures. He loved this.

The text of this book is pretty good - not a long and detailed study, but it's primarily an atlas, so lots of maps. And the maps are of good quality (for what is known about the Vikings). Right now I'm reading a more detailed book of Viking history, but it has very few maps and pretty sparse. To me, geography is a very important part of history - where things happened.

This book is an excellent guide to the many places the Scandinavian tribes set out to explore, and when. The maps give an idea of where Viking marauders battled for items of value and where they colonized for farmland which had grown scarce in their home.The travels of the Vikings over time and the results of their raids and colonizations, not to mention their impact on the civilizations they touched are documented in this atlas. Haywood uses timelines, maps, and photographic evidence of Scandinavian items found worldwide and items from other regions found in Scandanavia all of which tell the story of Viking travels farther than most might ever imagine. This atlas is a perfect companion to any study of the Viking culture and history.

I bought this book to read for fun/ schoolwork.Graphics, timeline pages and keyed maps are fantastic. The keyed maps are not ideal if you have trouble with small or fine print. Really great if you need lots of colour and bigger print to study.

Informative and easy to read

Muy contento con este libro. Amazon super rapido

Easy to understand, very tight and well-summarised, you will find all the info you need about Viking times at a glance in this book. I use it every day for my writing, it helped me to understand and LEARN many details that often are hard to visualise in normal books about the times. Highly recommended to Viking lovers, - writers, - readers etc.!

Very easy to followTheme-based and plain languageGreat illustrations and solid historical knowledge