The Year 1000

I’ll admit: I approached *The Year 1000* expecting a polite stroll through ‘ye olde times,’ but Lacey’s book is more like a backstage pass to a society that’s alien yet weirdly recognizable. The standout moment? Learning that Anglo-Saxon ‘doctors’ drilled into skulls to relieve pressure (success rates: …variable), while simultaneously hawking charms against elf-shot. Lacey’s knack for juxtaposing the grotesque and the bureaucratic keeps you hooked—like discovering that the Domesday Book was essentially a medieval IRS audit, but with more Latin and less paperwork. Derek Jacobi’s performance is *the* reason to listen, not read. His delivery turns statistical asides (e.g., ‘a third of children died before five’) into gut-punches, while his timing on Lacey’s dry humor—like comparing a bishop’s mitre to a ‘divine hard hat’—lands perfectly. My only gripe? The pacing occasionally rushes through fascinating tangents (I���d kill for a deeper dive into the ‘gossip columnists’ of monastic chronicles). And while the brevity suits a commute, it leaves you wanting more—specifically, a sequel on *how* this world collapsed into the Norman invasion. Still, as a primer on the year 1000, it’s flawless: erudite but never stuffy, packed with details that’ll make you side-eye every ‘medieval’ trope you’ve ever swallowed.