An outstanding volume on one of the aspect of life, we want to forget., 06 Feb 2007
This excellent book will fascinate a wide range of readers and should help local, social and family history researchers.

Simon Fowler looks at the whole experience of the pauper in the workhouse and clearly explains the reasons why they were so treated.

The author's style is excellent, his narrative is easy to read and is quite often amusing with some very useful and humorous anecdotes that make it different from other titles on the subject.

Although the workhouse often had a bad name, which was not helped by a number of scandals in the 1830s and 1840s as well as novels such as Oliver Twist. Some good often came out of it and, as the author points out, many children did in fact receive a better lifestyle and education in these institutions, than they would have done had they remained with their parents or extended family in the hovels of the poorer areas of the country.

There is no doubt that this book has been well researched. It provides the reader with a good insight into how these establishments came about and also how they were managed and run too. The best chapters relate to children and the sick and elderly which really gives an idea of how they were treated and the fact that in most places conditions improved during the 19th century.

I read a previous review and can agree this is a not a volume aimed at academics, yes there are one or two spelling mistakes here and there, but for the general reader it is fascinating -so much so a history lecturer friend of mine has already borrowed it and one or two others have asked where they can get it from!

Get more stocks in Amazon - this will be a success.


An entertaining and illuminating read, 05 Feb 2007
This book explores, in an easy and amusing style, how and why the workhouse came to be a byword for last place you would wish to find yourself in the nineteenth century (and well into the twentieth). On the other hand it also shows how sometimes the workhouse was able to do some good. I hadn't known, for instance, that before universal education workhouse children often got a better one than the children of the "respectable poor" outside it, nor that workhouse hospitals eventually started to provide what was sometimes the best medical attention in some areas. The food however, always an interest of mine, seems to have been quite as dreadful as you might imagine!

This is an impressively well-researched book. It gives a very good picture of how and why the workhouse came into being, what it was like inside it for those running it and for the inmates and the gradual changes that took place.
There are some typos but these don't detract from the author's convincing arguments. I would have liked too to be able to tie some of what is said to a particular source (of which there are many) but there are no footnotes. The book is clearly aimed at the general reader though, and not the academic one, so perhaps the editors were to blame for the decision not to have any.

Thoroughly recommended.

A Curate's Egg, 25 Jan 2007
Simon Fowler's book contains much of interest, particularly in its bringing together of extracts from a wide variety of contemporary accounts of the workhouse and what went on behind its doors. It includes material from such diverse sources as official publications, newspapers, biographies and autobiographies, diaries, poor law correspondence and so on.

The book is at its weakest when the author strays away from these sources. For example, the dust-jacket proclaims that "[workhouses] were after 1834 almost the sole source of relief for paupers across the land", yet on page 37 we learn that "the poor had a bewildering choice of charities from which to seek assistance".

Surprisingly for a work published by The National Archives, the book contains a great many errors and innaccuracies. Even the front-cover illustration is wrongly credited as "Halifax workhouse" when it is in fact the Halifax union's poor-law infirmary, a rather different class of establishment located a couple of miles from the workhouse. [NB in the Amazon details, the cover image and subtitle for the book are not the ones used in the published book.]

Typical of the book's sloppiness is the dating of Sir Frederic (not "Frederick" as spelt by Fowler) Eden's description of Louth workhouse (p.150) to 1791 rather than the correct date of 1795 - the former year is actually the date of the building's construction.

More seriously, Fowler makes the incredible claim that "in 1900 about 30 per cent of the population over 70 were in the workhouse" (p.171). According to the 1901 census returns, the real figure was around 4 per cent.

An outstanding volume on one of the aspect of life, we want to forget., 06 Feb 2007
This excellent book will fascinate a wide range of readers and should help local, social and family history researchers.

Simon Fowler looks at the whole experience of the pauper in the workhouse and clearly explains the reasons why they were so treated.

The author's style is excellent, his narrative is easy to read and is quite often amusing with some very useful and humorous anecdotes that make it different from other titles on the subject.

Although the workhouse often had a bad name, which was not helped by a number of scandals in the 1830s and 1840s as well as novels such as Oliver Twist. Some good often came out of it and, as the author points out, many children did in fact receive a better lifestyle and education in these institutions, than they would have done had they remained with their parents or extended family in the hovels of the poorer areas of the country.

There is no doubt that this book has been well researched. It provides the reader with a good insight into how these establishments came about and also how they were managed and run too. The best chapters relate to children and the sick and elderly which really gives an idea of how they were treated and the fact that in most places conditions improved during the 19th century.

I read a previous review and can agree this is a not a volume aimed at academics, yes there are one or two spelling mistakes here and there, but for the general reader it is fascinating -so much so a history lecturer friend of mine has already borrowed it and one or two others have asked where they can get it from!

Get more stocks in Amazon - this will be a success.


An entertaining and illuminating read, 05 Feb 2007
This book explores, in an easy and amusing style, how and why the workhouse came to be a byword for last place you would wish to find yourself in the nineteenth century (and well into the twentieth). On the other hand it also shows how sometimes the workhouse was able to do some good. I hadn't known, for instance, that before universal education workhouse children often got a better one than the children of the "respectable poor" outside it, nor that workhouse hospitals eventually started to provide what was sometimes the best medical attention in some areas. The food however, always an interest of mine, seems to have been quite as dreadful as you might imagine!

This is an impressively well-researched book. It gives a very good picture of how and why the workhouse came into being, what it was like inside it for those running it and for the inmates and the gradual changes that took place.
There are some typos but these don't detract from the author's convincing arguments. I would have liked too to be able to tie some of what is said to a particular source (of which there are many) but there are no footnotes. The book is clearly aimed at the general reader though, and not the academic one, so perhaps the editors were to blame for the decision not to have any.

Thoroughly recommended.

A Curate's Egg, 25 Jan 2007
Simon Fowler's book contains much of interest, particularly in its bringing together of extracts from a wide variety of contemporary accounts of the workhouse and what went on behind its doors. It includes material from such diverse sources as official publications, newspapers, biographies and autobiographies, diaries, poor law correspondence and so on.

The book is at its weakest when the author strays away from these sources. For example, the dust-jacket proclaims that "[workhouses] were after 1834 almost the sole source of relief for paupers across the land", yet on page 37 we learn that "the poor had a bewildering choice of charities from which to seek assistance".

Surprisingly for a work published by The National Archives, the book contains a great many errors and innaccuracies. Even the front-cover illustration is wrongly credited as "Halifax workhouse" when it is in fact the Halifax union's poor-law infirmary, a rather different class of establishment located a couple of miles from the workhouse. [NB in the Amazon details, the cover image and subtitle for the book are not the ones used in the published book.]

Typical of the book's sloppiness is the dating of Sir Frederic (not "Frederick" as spelt by Fowler) Eden's description of Louth workhouse (p.150) to 1791 rather than the correct date of 1795 - the former year is actually the date of the building's construction.

More seriously, Fowler makes the incredible claim that "in 1900 about 30 per cent of the population over 70 were in the workhouse" (p.171). According to the 1901 census returns, the real figure was around 4 per cent.


The period comes alive, 29 May 2008
Max Arthur's book is up to his usual standard. In their own words, the joys fears and pains of ordinary people. Far from those history books which talk only of Kings and battles and court intrigues, this history brings to life the period. One is struck above all by the poverty and deprivation, by the huge social inequalities which today one would associate with third world countries, but also by the ingenuity of those who were trying to survive. Dirt, death and hardship are at the centre of this book. Reading the chapters on work, you understand why in 1914 many joined the army hoping for a better life.

The only frustrating element is the patchwork or often short quotations. Complement this reading with "The Classic slum" by Robert Roberts ( I think)

Incredible portrait of an era, 21 Apr 2006
I wasn't sure what to expect from an oral history book sourced, as this had to be, from archive material - but I was not disappointed. From the first page you get an extraordinary insight into an era so different from today that only the simple honesty of the reminiscences convinces you that life can have once been like that in the lifetime of our grandparents and great grandparents. It's an all-round portrait of the time - swingeing poverty, illness and infant deaths, life in the criminal and underworld classes, politics and the suffragettes, travel, entertainment - and the yawning chasm between the lives of the well-off upper class and the rest of the country. It's an intensely vivid and moving portrayal of a neglected era of our history. If you like oral history, this is a 'must-read' - a real treat.

Brilliant insight, 21 Apr 2006
My parents were both born during the Edwardian period - my mother is keeping going for her telegram! To me, it is almost a lost decade nestling between Victorian times and WW1 when the world really changed. Very little is known about it and it was an eye-opening experience to read this masterful book that explaims the world into which Mum & Dad were born. Only a 100 years ago and, yet, so different. I bought a second copy that my mother's carer is reading to her. Stephen Fry was right in saying "An extraordinary and immensely moving book." Thank you Max Arthur.

A unique collection of memories, 03 Apr 2006
Whenever I thought of the Edwardian era, the images I had tended to be of the genteel world of Upstairs, Downstairs, or of the supremely wealthy first class victims of the Titanic. Yet this amazing book immediately dismissed those ridiculously limited ideas. For here are the real Edwardians, in their own words, and what comes across most strongly is that their lives were, by and large, ones of hard labour and early death, of few pleasures and grinding, relentless, poverty. I was amazed at their descriptions - the conditions they lived in seemed more relevant to the eighteenth century than the twentieth. Max Arthur has chosen the accounts for maximum impact - and what an impact they have. An immensely moving read, I can recommend it highly - not just to those with an interest in social history, but to anyone curious to know how their near ancestors lived.

A SPLENDID READ, 02 Apr 2006
This is a superb book, a window on the lost world of our grandparents and greatgrandparents. For those like myself, whose grandparents lived and worked in Britain in the years between the death of Queen Victoria (Kipling's 'Widow at Windsor') and the death of her son Edward VII (known to the caricaturists as 'Tum-tum'), the recollections of several hundred ordinary men and women - and children - will bring vividly to mind an era that, with its squalour and its splendour, laid the foundation of our own world almost a century later.

An outstanding volume on one of the aspect of life, we want to forget., 06 Feb 2007
This excellent book will fascinate a wide range of readers and should help local, social and family history researchers.

Simon Fowler looks at the whole experience of the pauper in the workhouse and clearly explains the reasons why they were so treated.

The author's style is excellent, his narrative is easy to read and is quite often amusing with some very useful and humorous anecdotes that make it different from other titles on the subject.

Although the workhouse often had a bad name, which was not helped by a number of scandals in the 1830s and 1840s as well as novels such as Oliver Twist. Some good often came out of it and, as the author points out, many children did in fact receive a better lifestyle and education in these institutions, than they would have done had they remained with their parents or extended family in the hovels of the poorer areas of the country.

There is no doubt that this book has been well researched. It provides the reader with a good insight into how these establishments came about and also how they were managed and run too. The best chapters relate to children and the sick and elderly which really gives an idea of how they were treated and the fact that in most places conditions improved during the 19th century.

I read a previous review and can agree this is a not a volume aimed at academics, yes there are one or two spelling mistakes here and there, but for the general reader it is fascinating -so much so a history lecturer friend of mine has already borrowed it and one or two others have asked where they can get it from!

Get more stocks in Amazon - this will be a success.


An entertaining and illuminating read, 05 Feb 2007
This book explores, in an easy and amusing style, how and why the workhouse came to be a byword for last place you would wish to find yourself in the nineteenth century (and well into the twentieth). On the other hand it also shows how sometimes the workhouse was able to do some good. I hadn't known, for instance, that before universal education workhouse children often got a better one than the children of the "respectable poor" outside it, nor that workhouse hospitals eventually started to provide what was sometimes the best medical attention in some areas. The food however, always an interest of mine, seems to have been quite as dreadful as you might imagine!

This is an impressively well-researched book. It gives a very good picture of how and why the workhouse came into being, what it was like inside it for those running it and for the inmates and the gradual changes that took place.
There are some typos but these don't detract from the author's convincing arguments. I would have liked too to be able to tie some of what is said to a particular source (of which there are many) but there are no footnotes. The book is clearly aimed at the general reader though, and not the academic one, so perhaps the editors were to blame for the decision not to have any.

Thoroughly recommended.

A Curate's Egg, 25 Jan 2007
Simon Fowler's book contains much of interest, particularly in its bringing together of extracts from a wide variety of contemporary accounts of the workhouse and what went on behind its doors. It includes material from such diverse sources as official publications, newspapers, biographies and autobiographies, diaries, poor law correspondence and so on.

The book is at its weakest when the author strays away from these sources. For example, the dust-jacket proclaims that "[workhouses] were after 1834 almost the sole source of relief for paupers across the land", yet on page 37 we learn that "the poor had a bewildering choice of charities from which to seek assistance".

Surprisingly for a work published by The National Archives, the book contains a great many errors and innaccuracies. Even the front-cover illustration is wrongly credited as "Halifax workhouse" when it is in fact the Halifax union's poor-law infirmary, a rather different class of establishment located a couple of miles from the workhouse. [NB in the Amazon details, the cover image and subtitle for the book are not the ones used in the published book.]

Typical of the book's sloppiness is the dating of Sir Frederic (not "Frederick" as spelt by Fowler) Eden's description of Louth workhouse (p.150) to 1791 rather than the correct date of 1795 - the former year is actually the date of the building's construction.

More seriously, Fowler makes the incredible claim that "in 1900 about 30 per cent of the population over 70 were in the workhouse" (p.171). According to the 1901 census returns, the real figure was around 4 per cent.


The period comes alive, 29 May 2008
Max Arthur's book is up to his usual standard. In their own words, the joys fears and pains of ordinary people. Far from those history books which talk only of Kings and battles and court intrigues, this history brings to life the period. One is struck above all by the poverty and deprivation, by the huge social inequalities which today one would associate with third world countries, but also by the ingenuity of those who were trying to survive. Dirt, death and hardship are at the centre of this book. Reading the chapters on work, you understand why in 1914 many joined the army hoping for a better life.

The only frustrating element is the patchwork or often short quotations. Complement this reading with "The Classic slum" by Robert Roberts ( I think)

Incredible portrait of an era, 21 Apr 2006
I wasn't sure what to expect from an oral history book sourced, as this had to be, from archive material - but I was not disappointed. From the first page you get an extraordinary insight into an era so different from today that only the simple honesty of the reminiscences convinces you that life can have once been like that in the lifetime of our grandparents and great grandparents. It's an all-round portrait of the time - swingeing poverty, illness and infant deaths, life in the criminal and underworld classes, politics and the suffragettes, travel, entertainment - and the yawning chasm between the lives of the well-off upper class and the rest of the country. It's an intensely vivid and moving portrayal of a neglected era of our history. If you like oral history, this is a 'must-read' - a real treat.

Brilliant insight, 21 Apr 2006
My parents were both born during the Edwardian period - my mother is keeping going for her telegram! To me, it is almost a lost decade nestling between Victorian times and WW1 when the world really changed. Very little is known about it and it was an eye-opening experience to read this masterful book that explaims the world into which Mum & Dad were born. Only a 100 years ago and, yet, so different. I bought a second copy that my mother's carer is reading to her. Stephen Fry was right in saying "An extraordinary and immensely moving book." Thank you Max Arthur.

A unique collection of memories, 03 Apr 2006
Whenever I thought of the Edwardian era, the images I had tended to be of the genteel world of Upstairs, Downstairs, or of the supremely wealthy first class victims of the Titanic. Yet this amazing book immediately dismissed those ridiculously limited ideas. For here are the real Edwardians, in their own words, and what comes across most strongly is that their lives were, by and large, ones of hard labour and early death, of few pleasures and grinding, relentless, poverty. I was amazed at their descriptions - the conditions they lived in seemed more relevant to the eighteenth century than the twentieth. Max Arthur has chosen the accounts for maximum impact - and what an impact they have. An immensely moving read, I can recommend it highly - not just to those with an interest in social history, but to anyone curious to know how their near ancestors lived.

A SPLENDID READ, 02 Apr 2006
This is a superb book, a window on the lost world of our grandparents and greatgrandparents. For those like myself, whose grandparents lived and worked in Britain in the years between the death of Queen Victoria (Kipling's 'Widow at Windsor') and the death of her son Edward VII (known to the caricaturists as 'Tum-tum'), the recollections of several hundred ordinary men and women - and children - will bring vividly to mind an era that, with its squalour and its splendour, laid the foundation of our own world almost a century later.

An excellent scientific explanation rather than a vindication, 31 Dec 2007
Given that Soloman's Scott account is from a Scientist's perspective I thought I was going to be in for a hard read. I couldn't have been more wrong. Well written and well researched, Soloman smoothly guides the reader over the scientific complexities with a style not unlike a detective novel - in itself a mark of distinction.

However, to say that this is a vindication of Captain Scott's fatal expedition is, at the very least, an enthusiastic overstatement promulgated, I suspect, by Scott devotees desperate to reincarnate the misguided glory bestowed on him for the first decade or so after his and his men's deaths.

Nevertheless, as a scientific explanation, Solomon offers the reader a completely new and refreshing breakaway from the Victorian and Edwardian commentaries that have hitherto stacked the `Antarctic Expedition' book shelves.

Refreshing, informative, probing and, not least, a damn good read.


The British were divorced from her ( the weather), 29 Dec 2007
Scott's bumbling amateur style reflected Victorian sentimentalities and Empire hubris. His command relied on hierarchy and rank, not the efficiency of function, and he staunchly refused to listen to others, like Eskimos.
With cavalier insouciance, Scott allowed trivia and myth to dominate his attention. He slighted the grubby but ultimately crucial details of vitamins, food, snow, ice, skis and innovations in ship design.

The Norwegian, Amundsen, reveals modern management skills. He listened.
He chose the best experts regardless of rank or class, then accorded them flexibility in carrying out his orders. He accepted innovations like skis. To prepare, he lived among indigenous people.


An unforgiving land, 23 Oct 2007
Primarily a scientific investigation and a good one at that, with the human interest aspect secondary but significant. Solomon is very informative. Being in the Antartic may mean not just reckoning with the cold but also with low humidiity and high elevation. What being severely frostbitten is like. Considerations of what to bring on an Antartic expedition. The impact on bodies and minds as the temperature drops lower and lower.

Diary fragments are used heavily to reveal what Scott and his team were thinking. Solomon's tone is more descriptive than dramatic. One page the team has reached the South Pole and not many pages later, with little buildup, they are dead. Much of the human interest comes from Solomon's speculations after that as to why the team died as they did.

For a polar story told with less science but more drama, try also "Mawson's Will" by Leonard Bickel. They complement each other well. That Mawson, alone of his team, escaped the fate of Scott and his team is incredible. The PBS video based on "The Coldest March", an episode of the "Secrets of the Dead" series entititled "Tragedy at the Pole" is excellent.

balanced appraisal of Scott, 01 Jan 2007
Over the years we have had various books which have either castigated or lauded Scott. Here is one at last which gives a fair and frank review of his strengths and failings. It de-bunks many of the myths which have grown around Scott (e.g. his decision not to use dogs for the full journey was not because of any public school ideal about wanting to achieve the great feat by the toil of fine Englishmen alone, but rather was because of his and others previous poor experiences with dogs in the antarctic.)

The book also fairly re-assesses the comparison of Scott to his great rival Shackleton. In the years since their exploits, Shakleton has been elevated by many to near mythical status in polar exploration, while Scott has been lampooned and ridiculed as a public school amateur. The fact is that many of the "failures" for which scott has been criticised were actually tried and tested in Shackletons Nimrod expedition to become the received wisdom of polar exploration (e.g. use of ponies, suitability of dogs).

That said, Scott was not without his shortcomings, and these are fairly and frankly assessed in this book.

A better and more informed read than those one-sided accounts of Feinnes, Huntford etc

Coldest March of Baroque Science , 19 Sep 2006
`The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition' by Susan Salomon was published in 2003. It received, as usual every book published, enthusiastic reviews. Ranging from:

Robert MacFarlane, Guardian
"Brilliant ... A marvelous and complex book: at once a detective story, a brilliant vindication of a maligned man, and an elegy both for Scott and his men and for the `crystalline continent' on which they died."

`Science demolishing prejudice'

`I really enjoyed this book, and re-evaluated my opinion of Captain Scott'

`she interested me in the modern scientific approach'

`For anyone interested in the story of Antarctic exploration in the early years of the 20th century, this book is indispensable. From start to finish, I found it hard to put down. A senior scientist and expert on the Antarctic "ozone hole", Susan Solomon writes from personal experience of the extremes of Antarctic weather. Although the story of Captain Scott's tragic final expedition is well known, it seems to have become "fashionable" in recent decades to deride him as a bumbling amateur who led his men needlessly to their deaths. Drawing on the latest scientific research from Antarctica, combined with years of meteorological statistics, Solomon shows how Scott's polar party was overwhelmed by low temperatures which the best planning could never have anticipated and which are only experienced in about one year out of 15 in Antarctica. I found Solomon's arguments all the more impressive given her own scientific background, and as an American she could hardly be accused of lapsing into misplaced patriotic support for Scott. While the science in this book is impressive, it never detracts from a superbly written account of human grit and determination in the face of ultimately overwhelming conditions. Although I have read other accounts of Scott's final days and the discovery of the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers, Solomon's account combines a careful and detailed presentation of the facts with genuine humanity and compassion. I sincerely hope that any student of Antarctic exploration who has been swayed by the rather mean-spirited and one-sided arguments of Roland Huntford will read this fine book and ponder on its revelations.'

So you must to be convinced by now. For years we were juggling with multiple reasons and explanations of Scott's expedition and its end. But now thanks to science and more importantly American science of automated whether stations we know that as Salomon notices:

`Scott and his men carefully probed the weather of the Antarctic, and their "forecast" of what to expect was remarkably accurate. But the conditions they experienced on their return from the Pole were very far from normal. The daily minimum temperatures they endured in late February and March in 1912 were near -40ºF at a time of year when -20 to -25ºF is typical'

http://www.coldestmarch.com/popwins/Figure62.gif

Yes, recorded by Scott party daily temperatures as Salomon is informing us in the above statement were:

(1) very far from normal
(2) when -20 to -25ºF is typical
(3) Average ( as depicted on Figure 62 above and page 293, Yale Univ. Ed.)

It is remarkable, how trained scientist in one sentence is capable refer to temperature as a: normal, typical and average. Well, it is possible if one wants to prove imaginary point by pretending of use of scientific method. It looks like manipulation of pooling before presidential vote.

Collecting data for whether, human weight and height,... belongs to statistics which is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.

Now let say that you collect minimum temperature data for x years for 1 March. Out of these x data points one can obtain and calculate for 1st March the following:
(1) Minimum temperature
(2) Maximum temperature
(3) Average temperature
(4) Mean temperature
(5) Median temperature
(6) Standard deviation
(7) ...

All the above digits have errors due to measurement device and size of the sample (x). Therefore one can get T average temperature for 1st March however observed temperatures are ± Tx. Presented figure should depict T±Tx and than one should look at it and compare with Scott data.

Regretfully Salomon did not presented scientific analysis of temperature data and therefore her conclusions should be dismissed and not to be published in the present form. Moreover her data analysis ends in 1999 and good question arises about continued data analysis up to now. Obviously she can not publish an update in her book however her web site certainly could show us new results.

An outstanding volume on one of the aspect of life, we want to forget., 06 Feb 2007
This excellent book will fascinate a wide range of readers and should help local, social and family history researchers.

Simon Fowler looks at the whole experience of the pauper in the workhouse and clearly explains the reasons why they were so treated.

The author's style is excellent, his narrative is easy to read and is quite often amusing with some very useful and humorous anecdotes that make it different from other titles on the subject.

Although the workhouse often had a bad name, which was not helped by a number of scandals in the 1830s and 1840s as well as novels such as Oliver Twist. Some good often came out of it and, as the author points out, many children did in fact receive a better lifestyle and education in these institutions, than they would have done had they remained with their parents or extended family in the hovels of the poorer areas of the country.

There is no doubt that this book has been well researched. It provides the reader with a good insight into how these establishments came about and also how they were managed and run too. The best chapters relate to children and the sick and elderly which really gives an idea of how they were treated and the fact that in most places conditions improved during the 19th century.

I read a previous review and can agree this is a not a volume aimed at academics, yes there are one or two spelling mistakes here and there, but for the general reader it is fascinating -so much so a history lecturer friend of mine has already borrowed it and one or two others have asked where they can get it from!

Get more stocks in Amazon - this will be a success.


An entertaining and illuminating read, 05 Feb 2007
This book explores, in an easy and amusing style, how and why the workhouse came to be a byword for last place you would wish to find yourself in the nineteenth century (and well into the twentieth). On the other hand it also shows how sometimes the workhouse was able to do some good. I hadn't known, for instance, that before universal education workhouse children often got a better one than the children of the "respectable poor" outside it, nor that workhouse hospitals eventually started to provide what was sometimes the best medical attention in some areas. The food however, always an interest of mine, seems to have been quite as dreadful as you might imagine!

This is an impressively well-researched book. It gives a very good picture of how and why the workhouse came into being, what it was like inside it for those running it and for the inmates and the gradual changes that took place.
There are some typos but these don't detract from the author's convincing arguments. I would have liked too to be able to tie some of what is said to a particular source (of which there are many) but there are no footnotes. The book is clearly aimed at the general reader though, and not the academic one, so perhaps the editors were to blame for the decision not to have any.

Thoroughly recommended.

A Curate's Egg, 25 Jan 2007
Simon Fowler's book contains much of interest, particularly in its bringing together of extracts from a wide variety of contemporary accounts of the workhouse and what went on behind its doors. It includes material from such diverse sources as official publications, newspapers, biographies and autobiographies, diaries, poor law correspondence and so on.

The book is at its weakest when the author strays away from these sources. For example, the dust-jacket proclaims that "[workhouses] were after 1834 almost the sole source of relief for paupers across the land", yet on page 37 we learn that "the poor had a bewildering choice of charities from which to seek assistance".

Surprisingly for a work published by The National Archives, the book contains a great many errors and innaccuracies. Even the front-cover illustration is wrongly credited as "Halifax workhouse" when it is in fact the Halifax union's poor-law infirmary, a rather different class of establishment located a couple of miles from the workhouse. [NB in the Amazon details, the cover image and subtitle for the book are not the ones used in the published book.]

Typical of the book's sloppiness is the dating of Sir Frederic (not "Frederick" as spelt by Fowler) Eden's description of Louth workhouse (p.150) to 1791 rather than the correct date of 1795 - the former year is actually the date of the building's construction.

More seriously, Fowler makes the incredible claim that "in 1900 about 30 per cent of the population over 70 were in the workhouse" (p.171). According to the 1901 census returns, the real figure was around 4 per cent.


The period comes alive, 29 May 2008
Max Arthur's book is up to his usual standard. In their own words, the joys fears and pains of ordinary people. Far from those history books which talk only of Kings and battles and court intrigues, this history brings to life the period. One is struck above all by the poverty and deprivation, by the huge social inequalities which today one would associate with third world countries, but also by the ingenuity of those who were trying to survive. Dirt, death and hardship are at the centre of this book. Reading the chapters on work, you understand why in 1914 many joined the army hoping for a better life.

The only frustrating element is the patchwork or often short quotations. Complement this reading with "The Classic slum" by Robert Roberts ( I think)

Incredible portrait of an era, 21 Apr 2006
I wasn't sure what to expect from an oral history book sourced, as this had to be, from archive material - but I was not disappointed. From the first page you get an extraordinary insight into an era so different from today that only the simple honesty of the reminiscences convinces you that life can have once been like that in the lifetime of our grandparents and great grandparents. It's an all-round portrait of the time - swingeing poverty, illness and infant deaths, life in the criminal and underworld classes, politics and the suffragettes, travel, entertainment - and the yawning chasm between the lives of the well-off upper class and the rest of the country. It's an intensely vivid and moving portrayal of a neglected era of our history. If you like oral history, this is a 'must-read' - a real treat.

Brilliant insight, 21 Apr 2006
My parents were both born during the Edwardian period - my mother is keeping going for her telegram! To me, it is almost a lost decade nestling between Victorian times and WW1 when the world really changed. Very little is known about it and it was an eye-opening experience to read this masterful book that explaims the world into which Mum & Dad were born. Only a 100 years ago and, yet, so different. I bought a second copy that my mother's carer is reading to her. Stephen Fry was right in saying "An extraordinary and immensely moving book." Thank you Max Arthur.

A unique collection of memories, 03 Apr 2006
Whenever I thought of the Edwardian era, the images I had tended to be of the genteel world of Upstairs, Downstairs, or of the supremely wealthy first class victims of the Titanic. Yet this amazing book immediately dismissed those ridiculously limited ideas. For here are the real Edwardians, in their own words, and what comes across most strongly is that their lives were, by and large, ones of hard labour and early death, of few pleasures and grinding, relentless, poverty. I was amazed at their descriptions - the conditions they lived in seemed more relevant to the eighteenth century than the twentieth. Max Arthur has chosen the accounts for maximum impact - and what an impact they have. An immensely moving read, I can recommend it highly - not just to those with an interest in social history, but to anyone curious to know how their near ancestors lived.

A SPLENDID READ, 02 Apr 2006
This is a superb book, a window on the lost world of our grandparents and greatgrandparents. For those like myself, whose grandparents lived and worked in Britain in the years between the death of Queen Victoria (Kipling's 'Widow at Windsor') and the death of her son Edward VII (known to the caricaturists as 'Tum-tum'), the recollections of several hundred ordinary men and women - and children - will bring vividly to mind an era that, with its squalour and its splendour, laid the foundation of our own world almost a century later.

An excellent scientific explanation rather than a vindication, 31 Dec 2007
Given that Soloman's Scott account is from a Scientist's perspective I thought I was going to be in for a hard read. I couldn't have been more wrong. Well written and well researched, Soloman smoothly guides the reader over the scientific complexities with a style not unlike a detective novel - in itself a mark of distinction.

However, to say that this is a vindication of Captain Scott's fatal expedition is, at the very least, an enthusiastic overstatement promulgated, I suspect, by Scott devotees desperate to reincarnate the misguided glory bestowed on him for the first decade or so after his and his men's deaths.

Nevertheless, as a scientific explanation, Solomon offers the reader a completely new and refreshing breakaway from the Victorian and Edwardian commentaries that have hitherto stacked the `Antarctic Expedition' book shelves.

Refreshing, informative, probing and, not least, a damn good read.


The British were divorced from her ( the weather), 29 Dec 2007
Scott's bumbling amateur style reflected Victorian sentimentalities and Empire hubris. His command relied on hierarchy and rank, not the efficiency of function, and he staunchly refused to listen to others, like Eskimos.
With cavalier insouciance, Scott allowed trivia and myth to dominate his attention. He slighted the grubby but ultimately crucial details of vitamins, food, snow, ice, skis and innovations in ship design.

The Norwegian, Amundsen, reveals modern management skills. He listened.
He chose the best experts regardless of rank or class, then accorded them flexibility in carrying out his orders. He accepted innovations like skis. To prepare, he lived among indigenous people.


An unforgiving land, 23 Oct 2007
Primarily a scientific investigation and a good one at that, with the human interest aspect secondary but significant. Solomon is very informative. Being in the Antartic may mean not just reckoning with the cold but also with low humidiity and high elevation. What being severely frostbitten is like. Considerations of what to bring on an Antartic expedition. The impact on bodies and minds as the temperature drops lower and lower.

Diary fragments are used heavily to reveal what Scott and his team were thinking. Solomon's tone is more descriptive than dramatic. One page the team has reached the South Pole and not many pages later, with little buildup, they are dead. Much of the human interest comes from Solomon's speculations after that as to why the team died as they did.

For a polar story told with less science but more drama, try also "Mawson's Will" by Leonard Bickel. They complement each other well. That Mawson, alone of his team, escaped the fate of Scott and his team is incredible. The PBS video based on "The Coldest March", an episode of the "Secrets of the Dead" series entititled "Tragedy at the Pole" is excellent.

balanced appraisal of Scott, 01 Jan 2007
Over the years we have had various books which have either castigated or lauded Scott. Here is one at last which gives a fair and frank review of his strengths and failings. It de-bunks many of the myths which have grown around Scott (e.g. his decision not to use dogs for the full journey was not because of any public school ideal about wanting to achieve the great feat by the toil of fine Englishmen alone, but rather was because of his and others previous poor experiences with dogs in the antarctic.)

The book also fairly re-assesses the comparison of Scott to his great rival Shackleton. In the years since their exploits, Shakleton has been elevated by many to near mythical status in polar exploration, while Scott has been lampooned and ridiculed as a public school amateur. The fact is that many of the "failures" for which scott has been criticised were actually tried and tested in Shackletons Nimrod expedition to become the received wisdom of polar exploration (e.g. use of ponies, suitability of dogs).

That said, Scott was not without his shortcomings, and these are fairly and frankly assessed in this book.

A better and more informed read than those one-sided accounts of Feinnes, Huntford etc

Coldest March of Baroque Science , 19 Sep 2006
`The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition' by Susan Salomon was published in 2003. It received, as usual every book published, enthusiastic reviews. Ranging from:

Robert MacFarlane, Guardian
"Brilliant ... A marvelous and complex book: at once a detective story, a brilliant vindication of a maligned man, and an elegy both for Scott and his men and for the `crystalline continent' on which they died."

`Science demolishing prejudice'

`I really enjoyed this book, and re-evaluated my opinion of Captain Scott'

`she interested me in the modern scientific approach'

`For anyone interested in the story of Antarctic exploration in the early years of the 20th century, this book is indispensable. From start to finish, I found it hard to put down. A senior scientist and expert on the Antarctic "ozone hole", Susan Solomon writes from personal experience of the extremes of Antarctic weather. Although the story of Captain Scott's tragic final expedition is well known, it seems to have become "fashionable" in recent decades to deride him as a bumbling amateur who led his men needlessly to their deaths. Drawing on the latest scientific research from Antarctica, combined with years of meteorological statistics, Solomon shows how Scott's polar party was overwhelmed by low temperatures which the best planning could never have anticipated and which are only experienced in about one year out of 15 in Antarctica. I found Solomon's arguments all the more impressive given her own scientific background, and as an American she could hardly be accused of lapsing into misplaced patriotic support for Scott. While the science in this book is impressive, it never detracts from a superbly written account of human grit and determination in the face of ultimately overwhelming conditions. Although I have read other accounts of Scott's final days and the discovery of the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers, Solomon's account combines a careful and detailed presentation of the facts with genuine humanity and compassion. I sincerely hope that any student of Antarctic exploration who has been swayed by the rather mean-spirited and one-sided arguments of Roland Huntford will read this fine book and ponder on its revelations.'

So you must to be convinced by now. For years we were juggling with multiple reasons and explanations of Scott's expedition and its end. But now thanks to science and more importantly American science of automated whether stations we know that as Salomon notices:

`Scott and his men carefully probed the weather of the Antarctic, and their "forecast" of what to expect was remarkably accurate. But the conditions they experienced on their return from the Pole were very far from normal. The daily minimum temperatures they endured in late February and March in 1912 were near -40ºF at a time of year when -20 to -25ºF is typical'

http://www.coldestmarch.com/popwins/Figure62.gif

Yes, recorded by Scott party daily temperatures as Salomon is informing us in the above statement were:

(1) very far from normal
(2) when -20 to -25ºF is typical
(3) Average ( as depicted on Figure 62 above and page 293, Yale Univ. Ed.)

It is remarkable, how trained scientist in one sentence is capable refer to temperature as a: normal, typical and average. Well, it is possible if one wants to prove imaginary point by pretending of use of scientific method. It looks like manipulation of pooling before presidential vote.

Collecting data for whether, human weight and height,... belongs to statistics which is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.

Now let say that you collect minimum temperature data for x years for 1 March. Out of these x data points one can obtain and calculate for 1st March the following:
(1) Minimum temperature
(2) Maximum temperature
(3) Average temperature
(4) Mean temperature
(5) Median temperature
(6) Standard deviation
(7) ...

All the above digits have errors due to measurement device and size of the sample (x). Therefore one can get T average temperature for 1st March however observed temperatures are ± Tx. Presented figure should depict T±Tx and than one should look at it and compare with Scott data.

Regretfully Salomon did not presented scientific analysis of temperature data and therefore her conclusions should be dismissed and not to be published in the present form. Moreover her data analysis ends in 1999 and good question arises about continued data analysis up to now. Obviously she can not publish an update in her book however her web site certainly could show us new results.


A Gem for Genealogists, 02 Feb 2006
I bought this book because I have ancestors in The Blean area of Kent. Defined by the author as Boughton-under-Blean, Hernhill and Graveney parishes. I hoped to learn more about what their lives and living conditions were like. I was not disappointed. The information it contains provides an interesting insight into rural England between 1800-1930 and could be of interest to anyone studying their family history, or with an interest in local history. Although it is primarily an academic study, it is an easy and enjoyable read. Yes there are a lot of graphs and tables, but none of them are overly complicated and they can be ignored without detriment to your understanding. I particularly liked the extensive use of quotes from local people and the excellent use of primary sources e.g. records of the Quarter Sessions. A real gem!

An outstanding volume on one of the aspect of life, we want to forget., 06 Feb 2007
This excellent book will fascinate a wide range of readers and should help local, social and family history researchers.

Simon Fowler looks at the whole experience of the pauper in the workhouse and clearly explains the reasons why they were so treated.

The author's style is excellent, his narrative is easy to read and is quite often amusing with some very useful and humorous anecdotes that make it different from other titles on the subject.

Although the workhouse often had a bad name, which was not helped by a number of scandals in the 1830s and 1840s as well as novels such as Oliver Twist. Some good often came out of it and, as the author points out, many children did in fact receive a better lifestyle and education in these institutions, than they would have done had they remained with their parents or extended family in the hovels of the poorer areas of the country.

There is no doubt that this book has been well researched. It provides the reader with a good insight into how these establishments came about and also how they were managed and run too. The best chapters relate to children and the sick and elderly which really gives an idea of how they were treated and the fact that in most places conditions improved during the 19th century.

I read a previous review and can agree this is a not a volume aimed at academics, yes there are one or two spelling mistakes here and there, but for the general reader it is fascinating -so much so a history lecturer friend of mine has already borrowed it and one or two others have asked where they can get it from!

Get more stocks in Amazon - this will be a success.


An entertaining and illuminating read, 05 Feb 2007
This book explores, in an easy and amusing style, how and why the workhouse came to be a byword for last place you would wish to find yourself in the nineteenth century (and well into the twentieth). On the other hand it also shows how sometimes the workhouse was able to do some good. I hadn't known, for instance, that before universal education workhouse children often got a better one than the children of the "respectable poor" outside it, nor that workhouse hospitals eventually started to provide what was sometimes the best medical attention in some areas. The food however, always an interest of mine, seems to have been quite as dreadful as you might imagine!

This is an impressively well-researched book. It gives a very good picture of how and why the workhouse came into being, what it was like inside it for those running it and for the inmates and the gradual changes that took place.
There are some typos but these don't detract from the author's convincing arguments. I would have liked too to be able to tie some of what is said to a particular source (of which there are many) but there are no footnotes. The book is clearly aimed at the general reader though, and not the academic one, so perhaps the editors were to blame for the decision not to have any.

Thoroughly recommended.

A Curate's Egg, 25 Jan 2007
Simon Fowler's book contains much of interest, particularly in its bringing together of extracts from a wide variety of contemporary accounts of the workhouse and what went on behind its doors. It includes material from such diverse sources as official publications, newspapers, biographies and autobiographies, diaries, poor law correspondence and so on.

The book is at its weakest when the author strays away from these sources. For example, the dust-jacket proclaims that "[workhouses] were after 1834 almost the sole source of relief for paupers across the land", yet on page 37 we learn that "the poor had a bewildering choice of charities from which to seek assistance".

Surprisingly for a work published by The National Archives, the book contains a great many errors and innaccuracies. Even the front-cover illustration is wrongly credited as "Halifax workhouse" when it is in fact the Halifax union's poor-law infirmary, a rather different class of establishment located a couple of miles from the workhouse. [NB in the Amazon details, the cover image and subtitle for the book are not the ones used in the published book.]

Typical of the book's sloppiness is the dating of Sir Frederic (not "Frederick" as spelt by Fowler) Eden's description of Louth workhouse (p.150) to 1791 rather than the correct date of 1795 - the former year is actually the date of the building's construction.

More seriously, Fowler makes the incredible claim that "in 1900 about 30 per cent of the population over 70 were in the workhouse" (p.171). According to the 1901 census returns, the real figure was around 4 per cent.


The period comes alive, 29 May 2008
Max Arthur's book is up to his usual standard. In their own words, the joys fears and pains of ordinary people. Far from those history books which talk only of Kings and battles and court intrigues, this history brings to life the period. One is struck above all by the poverty and deprivation, by the huge social inequalities which today one would associate with third world countries, but also by the ingenuity of those who were trying to survive. Dirt, death and hardship are at the centre of this book. Reading the chapters on work, you understand why in 1914 many joined the army hoping for a better life.

The only frustrating element is the patchwork or often short quotations. Complement this reading with "The Classic slum" by Robert Roberts ( I think)

Incredible portrait of an era, 21 Apr 2006
I wasn't sure what to expect from an oral history book sourced, as this had to be, from archive material - but I was not disappointed. From the first page you get an extraordinary insight into an era so different from today that only the simple honesty of the reminiscences convinces you that life can have once been like that in the lifetime of our grandparents and great grandparents. It's an all-round portrait of the time - swingeing poverty, illness and infant deaths, life in the criminal and underworld classes, politics and the suffragettes, travel, entertainment - and the yawning chasm between the lives of the well-off upper class and the rest of the country. It's an intensely vivid and moving portrayal of a neglected era of our history. If you like oral history, this is a 'must-read' - a real treat.

Brilliant insight, 21 Apr 2006
My parents were both born during the Edwardian period - my mother is keeping going for her telegram! To me, it is almost a lost decade nestling between Victorian times and WW1 when the world really changed. Very little is known about it and it was an eye-opening experience to read this masterful book that explaims the world into which Mum & Dad were born. Only a 100 years ago and, yet, so different. I bought a second copy that my mother's carer is reading to her. Stephen Fry was right in saying "An extraordinary and immensely moving book." Thank you Max Arthur.

A unique collection of memories, 03 Apr 2006
Whenever I thought of the Edwardian era, the images I had tended to be of the genteel world of Upstairs, Downstairs, or of the supremely wealthy first class victims of the Titanic. Yet this amazing book immediately dismissed those ridiculously limited ideas. For here are the real Edwardians, in their own words, and what comes across most strongly is that their lives were, by and large, ones of hard labour and early death, of few pleasures and grinding, relentless, poverty. I was amazed at their descriptions - the conditions they lived in seemed more relevant to the eighteenth century than the twentieth. Max Arthur has chosen the accounts for maximum impact - and what an impact they have. An immensely moving read, I can recommend it highly - not just to those with an interest in social history, but to anyone curious to know how their near ancestors lived.

A SPLENDID READ, 02 Apr 2006
This is a superb book, a window on the lost world of our grandparents and greatgrandparents. For those like myself, whose grandparents lived and worked in Britain in the years between the death of Queen Victoria (Kipling's 'Widow at Windsor') and the death of her son Edward VII (known to the caricaturists as 'Tum-tum'), the recollections of several hundred ordinary men and women - and children - will bring vividly to mind an era that, with its squalour and its splendour, laid the foundation of our own world almost a century later.

An excellent scientific explanation rather than a vindication, 31 Dec 2007
Given that Soloman's Scott account is from a Scientist's perspective I thought I was going to be in for a hard read. I couldn't have been more wrong. Well written and well researched, Soloman smoothly guides the reader over the scientific complexities with a style not unlike a detective novel - in itself a mark of distinction.

However, to say that this is a vindication of Captain Scott's fatal expedition is, at the very least, an enthusiastic overstatement promulgated, I suspect, by Scott devotees desperate to reincarnate the misguided glory bestowed on him for the first decade or so after his and his men's deaths.

Nevertheless, as a scientific explanation, Solomon offers the reader a completely new and refreshing breakaway from the Victorian and Edwardian commentaries that have hitherto stacked the `Antarctic Expedition' book shelves.

Refreshing, informative, probing and, not least, a damn good read.


The British were divorced from her ( the weather), 29 Dec 2007
Scott's bumbling amateur style reflected Victorian sentimentalities and Empire hubris. His command relied on hierarchy and rank, not the efficiency of function, and he staunchly refused to listen to others, like Eskimos.
With cavalier insouciance, Scott allowed trivia and myth to dominate his attention. He slighted the grubby but ultimately crucial details of vitamins, food, snow, ice, skis and innovations in ship design.

The Norwegian, Amundsen, reveals modern management skills. He listened.
He chose the best experts regardless of rank or class, then accorded them flexibility in carrying out his orders. He accepted innovations like skis. To prepare, he lived among indigenous people.


An unforgiving land, 23 Oct 2007
Primarily a scientific investigation and a good one at that, with the human interest aspect secondary but significant. Solomon is very informative. Being in the Antartic may mean not just reckoning with the cold but also with low humidiity and high elevation. What being severely frostbitten is like. Considerations of what to bring on an Antartic expedition. The impact on bodies and minds as the temperature drops lower and lower.

Diary fragments are used heavily to reveal what Scott and his team were thinking. Solomon's tone is more descriptive than dramatic. One page the team has reached the South Pole and not many pages later, with little buildup, they are dead. Much of the human interest comes from Solomon's speculations after that as to why the team died as they did.

For a polar story told with less science but more drama, try also "Mawson's Will" by Leonard Bickel. They complement each other well. That Mawson, alone of his team, escaped the fate of Scott and his team is incredible. The PBS video based on "The Coldest March", an episode of the "Secrets of the Dead" series entititled "Tragedy at the Pole" is excellent.

balanced appraisal of Scott, 01 Jan 2007
Over the years we have had various books which have either castigated or lauded Scott. Here is one at last which gives a fair and frank review of his strengths and failings. It de-bunks many of the myths which have grown around Scott (e.g. his decision not to use dogs for the full journey was not because of any public school ideal about wanting to achieve the great feat by the toil of fine Englishmen alone, but rather was because of his and others previous poor experiences with dogs in the antarctic.)

The book also fairly re-assesses the comparison of Scott to his great rival Shackleton. In the years since their exploits, Shakleton has been elevated by many to near mythical status in polar exploration, while Scott has been lampooned and ridiculed as a public school amateur. The fact is that many of the "failures" for which scott has been criticised were actually tried and tested in Shackletons Nimrod expedition to become the received wisdom of polar exploration (e.g. use of ponies, suitability of dogs).

That said, Scott was not without his shortcomings, and these are fairly and frankly assessed in this book.

A better and more informed read than those one-sided accounts of Feinnes, Huntford etc

Coldest March of Baroque Science , 19 Sep 2006
`The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition' by Susan Salomon was published in 2003. It received, as usual every book published, enthusiastic reviews. Ranging from:

Robert MacFarlane, Guardian
"Brilliant ... A marvelous and complex book: at once a detective story, a brilliant vindication of a maligned man, and an elegy both for Scott and his men and for the `crystalline continent' on which they died."

`Science demolishing prejudice'

`I really enjoyed this book, and re-evaluated my opinion of Captain Scott'

`she interested me in the modern scientific approach'

`For anyone interested in the story of Antarctic exploration in the early years of the 20th century, this book is indispensable. From start to finish, I found it hard to put down. A senior scientist and expert on the Antarctic "ozone hole", Susan Solomon writes from personal experience of the extremes of Antarctic weather. Although the story of Captain Scott's tragic final expedition is well known, it seems to have become "fashionable" in recent decades to deride him as a bumbling amateur who led his men needlessly to their deaths. Drawing on the latest scientific research from Antarctica, combined with years of meteorological statistics, Solomon shows how Scott's polar party was overwhelmed by low temperatures which the best planning could never have anticipated and which are only experienced in about one year out of 15 in Antarctica. I found Solomon's arguments all the more impressive given her own scientific background, and as an American she could hardly be accused of lapsing into misplaced patriotic support for Scott. While the science in this book is impressive, it never detracts from a superbly written account of human grit and determination in the face of ultimately overwhelming conditions. Although I have read other accounts of Scott's final days and the discovery of the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers, Solomon's account combines a careful and detailed presentation of the facts with genuine humanity and compassion. I sincerely hope that any student of Antarctic exploration who has been swayed by the rather mean-spirited and one-sided arguments of Roland Huntford will read this fine book and ponder on its revelations.'

So you must to be convinced by now. For years we were juggling with multiple reasons and explanations of Scott's expedition and its end. But now thanks to science and more importantly American science of automated whether stations we know that as Salomon notices:

`Scott and his men carefully probed the weather of the Antarctic, and their "forecast" of what to expect was remarkably accurate. But the conditions they experienced on their return from the Pole were very far from normal. The daily minimum temperatures they endured in late February and March in 1912 were near -40ºF at a time of year when -20 to -25ºF is typical'

http://www.coldestmarch.com/popwins/Figure62.gif

Yes, recorded by Scott party daily temperatures as Salomon is informing us in the above statement were:

(1) very far from normal
(2) when -20 to -25ºF is typical
(3) Average ( as depicted on Figure 62 above and page 293, Yale Univ. Ed.)

It is remarkable, how trained scientist in one sentence is capable refer to temperature as a: normal, typical and average. Well, it is possible if one wants to prove imaginary point by pretending of use of scientific method. It looks like manipulation of pooling before presidential vote.

Collecting data for whether, human weight and height,... belongs to statistics which is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.

Now let say that you collect minimum temperature data for x years for 1 March. Out of these x data points one can obtain and calculate for 1st March the following:
(1) Minimum temperature
(2) Maximum temperature
(3) Average temperature
(4) Mean temperature
(5) Median temperature
(6) Standard deviation
(7) ...

All the above digits have errors due to measurement device and size of the sample (x). Therefore one can get T average temperature for 1st March however observed temperatures are ± Tx. Presented figure should depict T±Tx and than one should look at it and compare with Scott data.

Regretfully Salomon did not presented scientific analysis of temperature data and therefore her conclusions should be dismissed and not to be published in the present form. Moreover her data analysis ends in 1999 and good question arises about continued data analysis up to now. Obviously she can not publish an update in her book however her web site certainly could show us new results.


A Gem for Genealogists, 02 Feb 2006
I bought this book because I have ancestors in The Blean area of Kent. Defined by the author as Boughton-under-Blean, Hernhill and Graveney parishes. I hoped to learn more about what their lives and living conditions were like. I was not disappointed. The information it contains provides an interesting insight into rural England between 1800-1930 and could be of interest to anyone studying their family history, or with an interest in local history. Although it is primarily an academic study, it is an easy and enjoyable read. Yes there are a lot of graphs and tables, but none of them are overly complicated and they can be ignored without detriment to your understanding. I particularly liked the extensive use of quotes from local people and the excellent use of primary sources e.g. records of the Quarter Sessions. A real gem!

Good overview of the period, 30 Apr 2008
This book is one of a number of recent history books that are academically well researched, but are so well written with the layman in mind, that interest is maintained throughout and a truly remarkable story emerges. Rather than just concentrating on any one country's response to the industrial revolution, Gavin Weightman lays greater emphasis on the transmission of ideas between countries and continents, concentrating less on the well known (and often unjustifiably praised) pioneer inventors and more on the entrepreneurs or "fixers" who were ideas men who got unsung engineers in to turn their dreams into reality. What was especially fascinating for me were the stories relating to how Japan came late to industrialism but how within 50 years they had virtually caught the rest of the industrialised nations up.

There is an extensive bibliography for those who want to delve deeper into individual aspects of this subject, as it has to be admitted this is a sketch of what is obviously a much wider subject. Still it is a very good, interesting and thought provoking sketch which should appeal to anyone interested in this era of history.

One caveat would have to be that there are numerous typographical errors, stray hyphens and commas in my paperback edition which suggests that the proofs were just spell checked rather than read, but this is a minor quibble.

Thoughtful and interesting, 22 Apr 2008
This is the perfect introduction for anyone wanting to learn of the origins of industry between 1776 and 1914. The chapters flow with interesting insights into the pioneers and inventors around the world at that time, with the end of one chapter acting as the introduction to the next.
It certainly removes some of the myths and legends that surround the inventions of the time, especially the Morse code chapter.
The books covers all the major technologies of the time in Europe and America in a most readable and non stuffy way.

A must for anyone interested in the history of this period.