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This is the Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts" thread.

***SPOILER THREAD*

For those of you who have completed the book and/or who want to discuss aspects of the book which are beyond our weekly assignments in the non spoiler threads, this thread is a spoiler thread where you can discuss those points. We know that some folks like to color outside the lines - so this a place for them.

If you have completed the book and would like to tell us what you thought about this selection, please feel free to discuss your opinions in a respectful way here.

However, please no links to personal reviews because we consider that self promotion. Simply post your thoughts here without the links.

Many folks read ahead of the weekly assignment and that is OK too; however, you must make sure that your posted comments on the other weekly non spoiler threads do not reflect reading ahead of the posted weekly assignment. If you would like to discuss aspects of the book further along, this is a spoiler thread where you can do just that.

We try to move along the discussion slowly on the weekly non spoiler threads but realize that some folks like to move along swiftly. So we have options for both groups of folks.

This is also the thread where you write your review of the book after completing it.

by Adrian Goldsworthy

I enjoyed the book. I think this period is one of the most interesting in history. So many fascinating characters and events.

I feel the same way, Vicki. Also learned about this era in history. Makes me want to read more books about Rome and the Empire.

Goldsworthy did a good job describing the battles Caesar was involved in, with some useful diagrams. Personally I'm not interested in the battle details (except for Avaricum and Alesia) but it's an important part of Caesar's history. It's really wonderful that his commentaries survived. To have contemporary descriptions of the action is invaluable.

Hi, sorry for my late post. I really enjoyed reading the book. Usually, Roman history is not my cup of tea (I tend to avoid it), but it turned out that I recognized so many things. Like Caesar being a populist, and that he was an ambassador of writing in plain and simple language. I particularly liked that fact. It is my job to convince people to write in plain and simple language so everyone can understand your message.

Thank you all of making this read more enjoyable for me (I'm not alone not understandig all the stuff about his campaigns). Special thanks for Vicki for moderating this discussion and making it enjoyable for everyone.

Harmke, it's never too late to let us know what you think about a book. Hopefully this book will lead you to read more about this very interesting part of history.

This was an informative history of Caesar - truly greatly expanding my knowledge and understanding of the man
For me the difficulty of the book was that there were so many characters to try to understand (I failed to do so) and keep track of. It might have been easier if there were somehow an equivalent of a family tree or similar illustration for each of the characters.
But I enjoyed the book although it was a slow read for me as I wanted to try to understand it/him.
Part of the problem may have been that I read it on Kindle and whenever there was a map I would have to stop until I could get to my I pad and see the map in a large enough view to be understood
I now resolve again, will I fail again,, to not read histories on the kindle.
If one is interested in Rome Mr Goldsworthy has done a good job -for a “Rome fan� then likely one will be better oriented than I an/was. But in any case I found it time well spent.

I had to set this book aside for a bit, but have now finished it and come away with greater insights into the social, political, and military operations of the leaders and people during this period. While some of Goldworthy's intimate details of the military campaigns (except for Alesia and Avaricum) will not be remembered by me, the overall strategies and thinking of Caesar during his campaigns indicate his willing risk-taking and genius in handling his armies to maintain their loyalties. Also the alliances with other tribes and other Roman leaders show his genius in the politics of Rome. Caesar's short-lived forays into Great Britain were also of interest. I also did not realize Caesar's astute interest in the succinct and proper use of language, although his speeches and his "Commentaries" attest to that. It is interesting also that the social liasons of Roman men and women seemed to be quite commonplace as were the arranged marriages for political gain and enhanced family power. As someone who only knew about Caesar through high school Latin class, and in an abbreviated ancient history class in college, and from reading Shakespeare, I found this book helped me appreciate the person Caesar was and the complicated political and military history of the period. My only problem was keeping track with all the characters and their relationships. Thanks for presenting this book for reading.

Thanks for your comments, Elizabeth. I'm very glad you liked the book. Such fascinating characters in this period of history.