A Brief Review of the Book

So this book is good just very short. It tells you in the title (and the hour count) that it's gonna be short but I wish it were longer. The information in this book if they really dug deep into the history could be a 20+ hour long book. I've taken Japanese history classes and this book went over everything I've learned in the classes with just a few tidbits I didn't know beforehand. So if all you're wanting is a 'Brief History' then this book is perfect for you. If you want to learn more afterward there's a youtube channel called Linfamy that has a many episodes long history of Japan series that goes into much greater detail.

19 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Entertaining but often over-simplified.

The author presents no false pretense in regards to the academic merit of this work, as it was written to generally inform and entertain. Within this context, this is an interesting book that presents a colorful array of Japanese history and culture. Despite this, the author often presents over-simplifications for the sake of brevity that threaten to fundamentally weaken key components of the narrative. Some incidents, such as horrific systematic war crimes are simply too important to vaguely allude to in passing.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

An excellent introduction to the subject.

Well written, and well read, this book serves as an excellent introduction to the subject of Japanese history and culture. I recommend it if you are in a hurry to get some knowledge under your belt, and then begin to dig deeper.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Well written, well read overview

As usual Johnathan Clemons brings his own personal brand of humor to a subject that could get bogged down in difficult to follow facts and dates. The narrator does a great job of never letting the narrative get too boring to follow.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Just what I needed for my trip to Japan

Very informative with history and customs, and has made my trip to Japan more comprehensive and enjoyable.

Comprehensive and Great

It is extensive. A bit much for eras in which westerners have little to no frame of reference but highly rewarding when you do.

Engaging, informative, humorous overview

This provided an excellent overview of Japanese history with a narrator striking the perfect tone to match. It strikes an even balance between detail and coverage of events. Each chapter's content leads well into the next, sketching out the general trends of the different periods of Japanese history without getting too bogged down in the details of any one period.

You will of course need to look to other books to go further in-depth on specific periods, but after this you will be able to jump in anywhere in the history of Japan without being lost.

Good

Audible is making me write a review of at least 15 words to save my rating.

Informative, entertaining and nicely narratated

Informative and entertaining, the author has a nice turn of phrase and the narrator is easy to listen to. Perfect listening for a bullet train journey across Japan, so you can soak in the scenery and the history of an amazing country. It’s fairly balanced, and though short, spans everything from ancient times to 2011 Earthquake & Tsunami.

Brief but absolutely amazing

The narration is perfect for the prose, and said prose is just incredible. An excellent way of delivering history. It's engaging and at times, very funny.