Rating: 
Summary: The Father of History
Review: In case classical literature still lies in your future, you can look forward with delight to a wonderful story-teller of the 5th century BC, the first known of a genre. His tales are often mythical and require decipherment to get at their historical sources, if any. In addition, however, we get the first clear view of the Fars, long before they converted to Islam, a few centuries after they had arrived in Iran, and were still extended into a large part of southern Russia, where they contended with mounted shooters called the Skyths. The Fars today have long since been amalgamated into one people. Herodotus gives some detail of the people who were there before the Fars. He also details the assault of this new Persian Empire on the Greek world and its containment via the first enthralling battle stories ever: Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis.
Rating: 
Summary: Had a hard time finishing it.
Review: Okay, I will not deny that Herodotus is one of the greatest historians out there. Nor will I deny his ability to tell a good story. I won't deny that his scrutiny of the facts is refreshing in an era of blind acceptance of religious tradition.BUT, I struggled to even finish the book. Herodotus's digressions are MADDENING. I have trouble keeping track of who did what to who. Just when I get a hold of what is going on, he changes the focus to another part of the world or another facet of culture. Most introductions don't help at all with this. The scholars all assume that you already know enough of the main history and get into the deep, involved parts. Now, if Robert B. Strassler would do for Herodotus what he has done for Thucydides, it would be a lot easier for the uninitiated to read. Maybe it's because I'm a poor, unattentive reader, but I just can't give it a high rating. Good book, bad edition, hence the two stars. I recommend this to lovers of ancient history with the above reservations.
Rating:
Summary: The father of History is also a good historian
Review: The Histories is sheer ecstasy and emotion, and the reader is kept attentive trough the many fascinating histories narrated by Herodotus, always keen on given the reader the most accurate version to the many stories he was told regarding some important issue. By this many accounts he begins to end the tradition of oral transmission in the Greek culture, a powerful tradition which was responsible for the preservation to posterity of works of such caliber as the Odyssey and the Iliad, from Ulysses. In Herodotus view, the written report of the many different points of view would adduce credence to the histories.
The main focus of The Histories is on the battles of the Peloponnesus war, and the chapters revolve around the feats of the Persians and Greeks for the supremacy of Europe and Asia Minor. His is a 360 degrees analysis of customs, culture and habits of war and peace of the most variegated people, being him eyewitness to many events reports. Above all, and part of the merit must be given to the excellent translation to English, Herodotus is an expert with words and narrates many pretty interesting tales in a way reminiscent of Arabian nights: the dialogues between Solon the legislator and Croesus, the richest man in the world, the customs of some people who ate their deceased kin, but not if they died sick, the battle between the cavalry of Croesus and the camel riders of Cyrus, the detailed descriptions of the customs of Egypt and the supposition by Herodotus that the Greeks inherited much of their pantheon from them, the origin of the myth of Cyrus having a bitch as a suckling mother (paralleling the myth of the foundation of Rome), and many etceteras.
I was quite surprised with the overall quality of the book and, mostly, by the many excellent ideas Herodotus gives for each and every act of the likes as Cyrus, Darius, Croesus and many more. His geographical descriptions of each and every territory he interested on, adds luster to his narrative and are not all boring, quite to the contrary, serving always as a background to some historical events he analyses. His demystifying of Greek ideal of being the center of the earth, his projection of the fulfillment of the Red Sea by the Nile water flow in the next 20.000 years gives a vague idea of the man that lies behind the book and who has a lot to teach, even if he does not say so, to future generations, also to our.
I think that every reader interested in the ideas of great thinkers of the Humanity, should take a look upon Herodotus and his Histories. I am sure he/she will not be disappointed, being the Histories, in my humble opinion, one of the 100 best books to be read.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a great book to read if you have a basis in history.
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