"I enjoy reading epic stories from ancient history and in recent years have been reading abridged versions aloud to my kids. This epic poem was found on a series of ancient tablets from Mesopotamia written down over 4,000 years ago, and involves the central character Gilgamesh, an excessive and oppressive leader, and his arduous journey in pursuit of the secrets of immortality. His character evolves through his personal voyage towards accepting death, and you encounter so many tales that you recognize from history."

"I love history, I’ve read a number of books on the subject. I recently read Lustrum (by Robert Harris), a book set in ancient Rome. It’s a fictional historical account of what happened in 55BC or thereabouts, and Caesar."

"This was one of the first poems I read that gave me the shock of recognition that great poets offer. “Withered stumps of time,” “I will show you fear in a handful of dust,” “these fragments I have shored against my ruins.” I even like the obscurity of parts of the poem that have unraveled throughout my life when reading other books and ancient myths. It’s a modern epic from ancient history."

"Birth defects, ancient Chinese terra cotta figures, the history of clouds, burning questions about suffering, numbers, evil, and time — this strange gem of a book has it all. Each category of thought is a portal, and its structure is a thing of unfolding beauty."

"This is the best book for understanding the early history of society, literature and politics of Northern Europe. Without Saxo’s research and extensive work in compiling ancient texts and oral stories, our knowledge of early Nordic, Germanic, Celtic and English cultures and nation-building would be far poorer than it is."

"In 1417, Poggio Bracciolini discovers Lucretius’ ancient poem, “On the Nature of Things.” This poem had been lost for more than a thousand years and its ideas threatened contemporary views of science and human contentment. Its return to circulation altered the entire course of history, and Greenblatt writes about this shift in an accessible, meaningful way."