Miranda Green

I picked this book up on a whim at my local library, and soon discovered it was already on my to-read listing. Clearly, this was a fortuitous sighting.

This book was incredibly fascinating. Others have complained about the surfeit of speculation within it, and I will agree that there is a lot of speculation, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you pick it up as a relative newcomer to the Bog Body phenomenon, I feel this book has a lot to offer and a lot of fascinating insight into the show more not all that distant past. The photographs, at the very least, are worth quickly thumbing through the book to see. They're truly breathtaking.

Ultimately, I think my favorite part of the book was the utter respect with which the author treated the subject. At no point do the Bog Bodies become some freakish display, they are always human. It's important that we respect the past, and the bits of life that were managed to be reconstructed with startling things.

We may never know why the bodies were put into the bogs, why the ritual sacrifice (if it was such) occurred. But we can wonder, and we can do our best not to forget those we find, and what their last moments must have been like as they sunk beneath the surface, trapped forever somewhere between life and death. show less

Very well written and engaging argument, laying down all the possible interpretations of how and why iron-age people met violent ends in bogs. Fascinating and very thorough exploration of all the facets of what is know about these remains, without losing sight of the humanity of the subjects.

Natural bogs having preservative properties makes for some pretty fascinating and shocking modern-day discoveries while harvesting peat. Who are these ancient individuals, and why where they intentionally interred in a bog? The bog bodies herein are captivating and mysterious, and modern science allows researchers to perform impressive forensic feats toward discovering their histories. And, come on, who doesn't love bog bodies?

This book contains oodles of great information, excellent show more illustrations and color photos, and lots of compelling food for thought. Unfortunately, it also suffers from poor editing. Although each chapter was purportedly focused on a discrete topic, they were more or less indistinct from one another due to boundless repetition. The author also could not resist wandering frequently into the realm of conjecture which, to a reader accustomed to good scientific writing, was distracting and grating. Recommended for fans of history, archaeology and forensics, as long as you can look past misuses of "beg the question" without shuddering. show less

This book is a great introduction to the rich world of Celtic art! I thought that it would be very general, but it present the subject with just enough detail to feel like nothing is neglected. Green focuses on the physical nature of the artwork produced by the Celtic peoples and makes it very clear that while they were rich in imagination, artistic expression was often of a very practical nature. From kitchen supplies to warrior gear, the Celts seem to have decorated everything with show more intricate metal-, wood-, and leather-work - proving that beauty was an intrinsic cultural value. show less