atippmann's review
5.0
I loved this book! An absolutely fascinating topic to me. I love history and have a special spot in my heart for London and all the history it’s been through. Now I’m addicted to watching mudlarking YouTube videos! I’m hooked!!
emilybh's review against another edition
4.0
I loved Lara Maiklem’s account of mudlarking on the Thames, its tides and the history of different stretches of foreshore. It’s so fascinating to read about what she has found by the river, from lead printer’s type to 14th century tiles, medieval pottery shards to prehistoric hazelnuts.
c_sch's review
5.0
This book is not for everyone. But if you’re like me, entranced by the stories and people of the past, and were always intrigued by the work of archeologists, this book is for you. I hadn’t heard of a mudlarker until I read the novel The Lost Apothecary, and then I became my obsessed.
I started dreaming of a taking a trip to London to comb through the mud to find artifacts from centuries past. This book is a great starting point for such a journey.
The author is extremely thorough as she takes you along on her mudlarking adventures on different sections of the Thames River. Once there, she discusses the history of the area and the significance of the treasures she finds. Sometimes this is a bit overwhelming, but she is very complete, and supports her information with much research.
The idea that Victorian buttons and clay pipes and Roman coins are all embedded in the mud of the Thames just waiting to be discovered at low tide is really amazing, and I loved vicariously mudlarking with the author as I read this book.
I started dreaming of a taking a trip to London to comb through the mud to find artifacts from centuries past. This book is a great starting point for such a journey.
The author is extremely thorough as she takes you along on her mudlarking adventures on different sections of the Thames River. Once there, she discusses the history of the area and the significance of the treasures she finds. Sometimes this is a bit overwhelming, but she is very complete, and supports her information with much research.
The idea that Victorian buttons and clay pipes and Roman coins are all embedded in the mud of the Thames just waiting to be discovered at low tide is really amazing, and I loved vicariously mudlarking with the author as I read this book.
kalkie's review against another edition
3.0
A really interesting read about mudlarking along the Thames. It’s amazing what can be found on the shore and how Lara brings the stories to life.
I gave it 3 stars rather than 4 as it did start to get a bit “samey” after a while. But overall an interesting book about the history of London and the pivotal role the Thames plays in it.
I gave it 3 stars rather than 4 as it did start to get a bit “samey” after a while. But overall an interesting book about the history of London and the pivotal role the Thames plays in it.
knarr's review against another edition
3.0
I find this book's subject inherently interesting. I appreciate the effort and attention that goes into trying to account for the broad range of facts, findings and opinions and feelings the author tried to fit into her narrative. The main issues I had with the book are 1) that it only gradually became clear to me how it was "organized" (geographically, west to east), and 2) the constant romanticized ruminations on the origins and backstory for every single found object became repetitive. About 1/3 of the way through, I began to skip to the next paragraph whenever I saw the word "Perhaps..."
...Perhaps the thing fell there, was thrown there, was washed up there. Perhaps it was beloved, treasured, hated by its owner. Perhaps it is unique, common, rare, ubiquitous, valuable, worthless. Perhaps perhaps perhaps...
The parts of the narrative I found most interesting and enjoyable were the factual descriptions and explanations of the materials and the geography of the Thames, along with the historical tidbits. My guess is that the author would have been happy to write a factual, descriptive text, as she seems at heart to be a no-nonsense, straightforward individual. PERHAPS the editor wanted to make the book a little sentimental and romantic to make it more popularly appealing. I get that, totally, it's just not a style of writing that appeals to me in non-fiction.
The only other thing I felt might have been done more effectively was the maps. There are two cursory sort of map illustrations at the start, and while I know a little about London and the Thames, some of the specific references to locations and directions that crop up on almost every page were a mystery to me.
All in all, enjoyable (despite my criticism above) and a fascinating subject.
...Perhaps the thing fell there, was thrown there, was washed up there. Perhaps it was beloved, treasured, hated by its owner. Perhaps it is unique, common, rare, ubiquitous, valuable, worthless. Perhaps perhaps perhaps...
The parts of the narrative I found most interesting and enjoyable were the factual descriptions and explanations of the materials and the geography of the Thames, along with the historical tidbits. My guess is that the author would have been happy to write a factual, descriptive text, as she seems at heart to be a no-nonsense, straightforward individual. PERHAPS the editor wanted to make the book a little sentimental and romantic to make it more popularly appealing. I get that, totally, it's just not a style of writing that appeals to me in non-fiction.
The only other thing I felt might have been done more effectively was the maps. There are two cursory sort of map illustrations at the start, and while I know a little about London and the Thames, some of the specific references to locations and directions that crop up on almost every page were a mystery to me.
All in all, enjoyable (despite my criticism above) and a fascinating subject.
jaibee's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable - lots of insight into mudlarking and the nature of amateur archeology mixed with lots of little nuggets of London history - lots of which was new to me, which is always exciting.
The history jumped around a lot as the chapters are sorted by geographical location, but I liked the approach as it became the specific history of different parts of the city - obviously the history and finds around the site of former royal residences vs historical docks vs the sites of former slums are very different.
I did feel like it took a very long time to read but that’s on me/i read it in January, the longest month.
The history jumped around a lot as the chapters are sorted by geographical location, but I liked the approach as it became the specific history of different parts of the city - obviously the history and finds around the site of former royal residences vs historical docks vs the sites of former slums are very different.
I did feel like it took a very long time to read but that’s on me/i read it in January, the longest month.
cdemi12's review
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
I went into this book hoping it wouldn’t be slow or boring, and it wasn’t! As an Anglophile and lover of English history, I found the artifacts and stories about mudlarking to be a fascinating lens with which to view English history. I learned so much and wrote a lot down in my reading journal. It’s well-written and really descriptive, and I frequently had my phone open next to me to look up images of what she described and to orient myself along the Thames. It’s a surprisingly great read, even if you know nothing about mudlarking going in as I did.