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rainbow1218's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Incredibly researched and organizational structure given the subject occurred 2000 years ago, yet dull. No life to this biography, flat words on a page.
samtast1cal's review against another edition
4.0
The beginning surprised me with its information and engaging nature. I took a couple classes on Roman history and expected to be merely reminded of what I learned, but instead I learned a lot. Unsurprisingly, much of what I learned were specific details my professors glossed over to cover more general concepts. For example, I never knew Caesar had epilepsy or that he had a long-standing affair with Brutus' mother. Battle formations were covered in detail with illustrations to match. At first I was surprised at how quickly I was getting through the book, but towards the end, when I was more familiar with the events, I just wanted to be finished.
durmius's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
Incredibly detailed and fascinating look at Caesar and the fall of the Roman Republic. Provides an analysis of the events that caused Caesar to become the man he was, and the changing of the times that lead to the creation of the Roman Empire.
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
4.0
Really good history for a "general" audience. Goldsworthy is careful to state what isn't fully known, and comments quite a bit on the reliability of various sources. It can get a bit dry at times, especially in the middle when he's basically paraphrasing Caesar's own Commentaries on the campaigns in Gaul, but overall it's interesting and informative.
Since I first heard about this book on Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series about the fall of the Roman Republic, I recommend listening to that first: less scholarly, but more exciting, so the more scholarly elements in Goldsworthy's treatment will stand out.
Since I first heard about this book on Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series about the fall of the Roman Republic, I recommend listening to that first: less scholarly, but more exciting, so the more scholarly elements in Goldsworthy's treatment will stand out.
embevens's review against another edition
5.0
Probably my favorite historical era, and Goldsworthy gives pretty much the definitive biography of perhaps the biggest character of them all. The best thing about this biography is that, as much as possible, he is writing it without the use of hindsight. Every event is discussed in the context of its own moment, not in the context of who Caesar later became or what he later did, so we get a better picture of what was happening as Caesar and his contemporaries would have seen it at the time. The writing style manages to be both detailed and clear, with the only flaw to me being a tendency to repeat minor details in multiple chapters (as if Goldsworthy expects readers to jump around and not read every chapter, making it necessary for him to restate some things in case a reader missed it the first, or second, or third time around. When you actually do read it straight through, it seems very unnecessary to tell me why centurions had high casualty rates in every battle chapter). I think that's the definition of quibbling.
Really, really good stuff.
Really, really good stuff.