Stick a Flag in it - Review

Author: Arran Lomas

Genre: Nonfiction

Format: Ebook

Pages: 442

I received a free copy of this via Netgalley for my honest review.

The first thing that caught my eye about this book is its name. It reminds me of the Eddie Izzard, 'Do you a flag?' joke. The second thing was the cover itself. One of my favorite kinds of nonfiction books is the one that tells the stories of the weird and wacky things that happened throughout history. So I couldn't pass this one up, and it really didn't disappoint. 

Stick a Flag in It hooked me from the very start. The chapter titles themselves are hilarious and set each chapter up with a quick anecdote. The humor carries throughout the books with Arran Lomas throwing in his own opinions here and there. There are also a decent amount of comparisons that pull the effects of some of these events into the modern-day to show it's not all just dusty old history.

Each chapter is packed full of information, but I never found myself confused or lost. In fact, I was able to keep up with each chapter and follow along with the history. The chapters are small so it never felt like pieces were dragging along, and I enjoyed the little breaks of fun and strange, little facts between chapters. 

My only complaint about the chapters is the ones talking about the creation of the banks and during the American Revolution. I found the former dull and those papers seemed to drag on, and since I went to school in the US I have had the American Revolution beat into my skull through every single history class I've taken. 

The book moves along quickly enough, and I like that the timeline jump along quickly. It doesn't feel like it drags on through the years. Arran Lomas picks what he thinks is the most bizarre parts of a decade and throws into a fun narration and not only reaches but had me laughing out loud. 

I found myself reading quite a bit of this book out loud to my roommate. 

The only real complaint with the whole thing is I wished I would have a physical copy to read. This is one of those books I'd love to highlight passages and tab pages. Sadly I couldn't do that with the Netgalley version.

All-and-all I thought it was great and I really enjoyed it. This is definitely one I'd recommend to friends and would be something I would gladly add to my shelves. I also need to check out Arran Lomas's Youtube Channel, Thoughty2.

HAPPY READING!!