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Rating: 
Summary: Tough going, small result
Review: Clearly, the author didn't have those who's interest is in the culinary use of spices in mind as an audience. One of my degrees is in history, I'm used to sorting through dry tomes for nuggets of fact, but didn't find anything useful here. May I suggest that before taking it on, the reader will want to obtain an excellent historical atlas, and a detailed botanical guide, it's the only hope one has of following along. My interest is in recreation of historically accurate recipes, but found myself sadly disappointed by the lack of reference to flavors, and a great many spices popular in medieval Europe missing entirely.The author is clearly fascinated by ancient documents for their own sakes, and a linguist. Unfortunately for me, I'm interested in spices for their own sakes. This is scholarly enough that by page 25 I was convinced I was reading a doctoral dissertation, by page 35, I was questioning the editor's judgement. This is a stunningly dull book. Of the 200 or 300 culinary reference books I've purchased over the past 10 years, this is ONLY disappointment. It is quite functional as an insomnia cure, however.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Researched and a Pleasure to Read
Review: I learned a lot from this book, and I showed it to a teacher in culinary arts, and she was very impressed. Andrew does wonderful research, as one might expect from a librarian, but he writes well as well.
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