Computer reboot

Twitter users recently offered their suggestions for history books to appeal to Britain’s prisoners – with pleasingly diverse results. ANNA WHITELOCK kept a keen eye on proceedings

This 3D rendering depicts a 2,000-yearold device, complete with an intricate gear system, which is thought to be the world’s oldest analogue “computer”. The Antikythera Mechanism was first unearthed in a shipwreck in 1901 and is named after the Greek island off whose coast it was found. It has long been known that the device was used to predict eclipses and the paths of astral bodies, but the new virtual reconstruction has offered fresh insights into how it worked.

Experts at University College London studied the work of previous scholars and inscriptions on the 34cm-high “computer” to piece together more than 80 separate fragments of the device. Although previous attempts to recreate the artefact have failed, partly due to the fact that around two-thirds of its mechanism is missing, researchers hope the modelling will allow them to create a full-scale replica for the first time.

Historian and TV presenter Dan Snow (@the historyguy) recently turned to Twitter with a request. “I have been asked to recommend history books for prisoners in the UK,” he wrote. “Can you recommend please?” The resulting conversation yielded an interesting mix of suggestions well worth a read for anyone.

Nigel Baker (@NigelMBaker1) suggested children’s historical novelist Ronald Welch. “His books cover a broad period of history, include saints and sinners, are well written and you can learn a lot,” he wrote. Philip (@ HArrisonPE) added: “Tom Holland is fairly accessible. James Hawes’ The Shortest History of Germany is good too. Stephen Fry’s Greek mythology series is great.”

Nikki Carter (@CartnerNI) offered the perspective of a history teacher, noting that “My students find Robert Service, Simon Sebag Montefiore and Simon Schama accessible. The Osprey Publishing series on wars is great, and the Access to History series [from Hodder Education] is good too. Short and easy.” Alison Kershaw (@Alikersh) nominated a firm favourite of mine, A Million Years in a Day: A Curious History of Daily Life by Greg Jenner. “Short, easy-to-read, entertaining chapters about everyday life through the ages,” she enthused.

A number of people, including Steve Erwood (@SteveErwood1), suggested EH Gombrich’s A Little History of the World. Another popular choice for many, including JSM History (@historyjsm), was David

Olusoga’s Black and British: A Short, Essential History – a condensed and repackaged version of his much lauded 2016 book, newly aimed at young people.

Phoebe Style (@ph0ebestyle) tweeted that “Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala is one of the best books I’ve read recently – a good mix of personal experience and British history”. And @MrPattisonTeach “would massively recommend Robert Lacey’s Great Tales from English History series. Short, gripping accessible chapters on key points in English history,” as well as “the illustrated version of Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads”.

Sean Goodwin (@seanE_Goodwin) nominated Ian Mortimer’s Time Traveller’s Guides – “excellent and very accessible”.

Meanwhile, Kim (@kim_b4) recommended: “Agent Zigzag or Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintrye – excellent history books [that] read like thrillers.” Katie Taylor (@ktltaylor2010) made the great suggestion of Kerstin Lücker’s A History of the World with the Women Put Back In, calling it “both brilliant and very accessible”.

Finally, MJ Garland (@MrG_Guybrarian) picked a new one on me: The Eccentropedia: The Most Unusual People Who Have Ever Lived by Chris Mikul. “Great to dip into, shines a light on figures not covered in history books, such as Jozef Stawinoga, the Wolverhampton roundabout hermit [who lived in a tent on the Wolverhampton ring road for decades and became famous in the local community],” he wrote. Sounds fascinating – and now on my reading list.

Anna Whitelock is professor of the history of monarchy and head of the history department at Royal Holloway University of London