The Book Report #123

Episode #122

The Stonehenge Companion By James McClintock

The Book

English Heritage published this book in 2006 by Think Publishing. It was also distributed in America and Canada by Sterling Publishing Co. It was printed in Italy by Grafica Veneta S.p.A.

My copy is a hardback. I am unsure if this is a first edition, but it may be. It has 162 pages, a glossary and answers to the numerous questions given throughout the book.

What Did I Think?

This book was available in the gift shop when I visited Stonehenge in 2008. It has been sitting on my bookshelf ever since. I still have the faded receipt for it.

The companion is a vast array of information, theories, and quizzes for when you have five minutes to spare. This book shouldn’t be read in one go unless you are really into Stonehenge and the various stone circles around the world.

We get to learn what type of stone it is and where it originated. There are multiple theories about the purpose of the stone circles. There’s still no definitive answer.

I never thought about this, but one theory talks about the average age at which people died when the henge was being built. It is believed that most of the people building it were teenagers.

At the end of each page is a question for you to think about, with the answers in the back of the book.

There are many sections of the book dedicated to the other henges. This is for those who enjoyed the Henge and would like to know about and see more stone or wooden circles.

All of the information is jumbled throughout the book, including general knowledge, movies, songs, quotes, and extracts from diaries and letters written by various authors, scholars and popular figures over the past few hundred years. If you are looking for order, this book has none.

Some of the information I was actually interested in, but when I got to the top tens and similar articles, I lost it again.

It is a little sad that the author wants to keep a low profile; he deserves some recognition. I couldn’t find a picture of him online. Hence, the title image.

Would I Recommend?

This is an interesting book, but I was unable to keep glued to it. The book is for those with a general interest or who would like some history and backstory; I would recommend this book.

Please give this book a go.

Would you like to purchase your very own copy?

You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA. Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/USA, Barnes and Noble and eBay UK/USA.

Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.