So far, it's a bit shallow, but fun nonetheless. Not as much detail as the dedicated history nerd might want, but still a source of some good info, and a great overview for those of us who are relative ignoramuses about Byzantine history ::points to self::.

Concise and clearly written, Sailing from Byzantium is a fascinating introduction to the empire pivotal in the spread of Greek, Islamic, and Christian culture.

I'm interested in medieval maritime, and especially the Byzantine empire, so I found that this book is a great entry point to the period. The book is short, so it's a concise read that covers a rather large span of time. There is not very much description or examples of medieval lifestyle, but there is detailed maps and detailed profiles for many historical figures, and how they effected the empire, and the world by spreading knowledge and resources. This is overall a great resource for remembering people and dates.

This book is a general survey of Byzantium cultural legacy. The book is divided into 3 sessions, covering Byzantium's influences on the West, the Islamic, and Slavic world. Of the 3 sessions I thought the Slavic session is the best covered. As someone who's interested in the history of Byzantium, I found the information covered in this book fascinating, although a bit too general.

Disappointing. Surely the emphasis should be on ideas at least as much as politics and people?

This popular history covers Byzantium, the West, the Islamic world and the Slavic world as different religions succeeded and different conquerors won. I knew little about some periods from the end of the ancient world to the 15th century and would have appreciated more detail. The timeline was helpful. The bibliography will help if I want to know about the Slavs especially. The final section seemed a little rushed for a reader who knew little.

An easy and accessible book with a fresh angle, if somewhat wanting in terms of academic rigor. Strong love hate relation with this book. I really liked the structure, separating the book into three sections dealing with the Byzantines relations with the Western, Islamic and Slavic worlds. I also really liked how the chapters in each section were done thematically rather chronologically, so you got to pass over events from different perspectives and got a really holistic history that focused on the ideas (religious and secular) and innovations that came from Byzantium. It was also interesting to see how each of the aforementioned civilizations claimed to take up the mantle of Rome from the Byzantines and reworked the concept of being the Roman Empire. The actual writing itself however, often slipped into fluffy descriptions of sights and sounds rather than hard analysis of facts. There was also zero discussion of the historiographical debates around the subject nor any talk of primary sources. Overall a good read, but don't expect too much.

Wells has written a really accessible and worthwhile book about the cultural influences of Byzantium on its three large 'civilizational' neighbours: the Latin West, the Islamic East and the Slavic North. Anyone not familiar with Byzantium or still holds on to the notion that the Byzantine Empire was just one long decline, should strive to read it. Though not really an academic work or one coming forth from original research, Wells readily acknowledges this fact and states that wasn't his intent, an attitude which I can appreciate.

If I were to levy one criticism, it is that his exploration of the influence of Byzantium on Islamic cultures doesn't go far enough. The Ottoman Turks are for example only present in the book as the bringers of Byzantium's doom, but the influence of Byzantium on them goes basically ignored.

Still, this is one of the better popular historical works I have encountered and an excellent jumping off point for anyone interested in Byzantine history.

I was looking forward to reading this assuming it was light travelogue of the area mixed with explaining history of the area but no, it's a highly detailed explanation of how knowledge was sent out from Byzantium to fuel much of civilization. I had to skim much of it because the details of the people and alliances just washed over me with nothing to take from it. There is a ton of good info in here though and a bunch of assumptions of life in this time are shattered.
Boethius may be one of most important people in history for propagating Greek Knowledge to the west. Cassiodorus lived with the Goths and continued his translations and preservations. Constantinople was considered a place of almost god-like as it was so advanced compared with every city in the region and much more populous than other cities. There was a throne that raised into the ceiling and the emperor was lowered again in fancier clothes to impress all ambassadors. apparently Baghdad had the same throne device as well, and it is not clear who built it first.

fantastic. this book has convinced me that i'm right to be fascinated with byzantium. enjoyable, interesting and very well-written. wells is funny and intelligent in his assessments of byzantium influence on western, islamic and slavic cultures.

This is a good cultural approach to understanding how the Byzantines did (or did not) influence the cultures -- western Europe, Islamic, and Slavic over the course of centuries. Fairly interesting, but it helps to already have a base of knowledge or it can be very confusing keeping track of changes and personalities through the years.

I've temporarily book this book on hold in favor of better reading and may never pick it up again. The general historical outline it has laid out so far is interesting, but the author relies too much on bad historical stereotypes in his narrative. Example: The Crusaders are out to steal whatever they can. The Venetians will sell anyone down the river for a buck.

A good example is his discussion of the First Crusade. He notes that the Crusaders betrayed their agreements to the Byzantine Emperor and refused to return conquered lands to Constantinople. He neglects to this was spurred by their perceived abandonment by the Emperor, who turned back his promised armies when retreating Crusaders warned him that the rest of the Crusade army was going to be destroyed. The author chooses to rely on the stereotypical (and quite wrong-headed) modern view of Crusaders to explain events instead of diving into the story and exploring its complexities.

I understand that in a short book the author can't hope to tell us the whole story. His job is to give us enough detail to set us on a path to understanding what happened. He fails in this, instead deciding to rely on convenient stereotypes to drive his narrative, which leads his readers to unfounded conclusions about the actual historical events