A study of 27,000 people[1] by data research company GFK, Growth from Knowledge proved that out of 22 countries, only 16 per cent were satisfied with the amount of leisure time they had. The USA was above average with 25 per cent, the United Kingdom below with 21 per cent. That was in 2014.
With the pressures of working longer hours as job security still plummets after the financial crisis, the situation is only getting worse. Then there’s the anxiety, frustration and constant interruptions of email and social media notifications. That sense of always being available eats into quality time to learn.
Concerned that there wasn’t the time to read the thick tomes produced by historians, Hooked on History publish entertaining and informative books that take around an hour to read. That’s the same duration as a TV documentary, but with lots more rich detail. It makes them a perfect length for commuters, filling a lunchtime at work, or having a soak in the bath. Sitting next to friends and family as they numb themselves with another box set, readers can immerse themselves in the wonderful world of history instead.
The company and their writers and editors have designed the books to make it easier and more enjoyable to learn. People are looking to kill time while travelling, sat in a doctor’s surgery, or relaxing on their dinner break. Rather than aimlessly scrolling, they can dip in and out of a topic. The books work using the Kindle app on their smartphones, or a dedicated eReader. This ease of access makes these titles perfect. It’s not just the length of the books that make these special—it’s the way they can be devoured on the move in less than a day. Few people can devote a month to focus just on one reading topic, so, sadly they end up reading nothing.
One of the biggest complaints from budding history buffs is the way the books can drone on. Teachers echo those gripes. Authors use difficult, archaic language and write for hundreds of pages at a time. Educational experts have said, if a person enjoys what they are reading, then they will digest more of that knowledge. Help them cover more topics with a reasonable level of detail and they will have better learning experiences.
When asked why these history books stand out, a spokesperson for Hooked on History replied: “Our books are aimed at the everyday person. We want people to gain knowledge with an enjoyable one- hour read. They can easily pick the book up and delve in for twenty minutes and then put it down and come back to it at a later date. We write accurate accounts of the subject matter, but we steer clear of dry prose full of citations and ‘olde worlde’ language. Each book has an element of humour, humanity and horror in it”
Keen to make their books affordable, the folks at Hooked on History offer them for free to Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscribers, or just $2.99, the price of a coffee. They also have birthday offers with massive discounts to celebrate birthdays of the famous figures they feature.
These are some topics released already in 2020, allowing people to improve their history knowledge within the shortest time possible.
- Elizabeth I The Princess: The Queen’s First Twenty-Five Years
- Elizabeth I Early Years: 1558-1572 Marriage Proposals & Assassination Plots
- Henry VIII’s Court: Ambition, Betrayal and Death in Tudor England
- Nikola Tesla: The Mesmerising Wizard of Electricity
- Oliver Cromwell: From Lowly Puritan to Lord Protector
- Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of King Henry VIII’s Fixer
A full updated list is available on the website: https://hooked-on-history.com or Amazon: https://author.to/HoH.
Audio versions and will be available on Audible later in the year.
Contact information: [email protected]
Key facts:
Hooked on History provide enjoyable history books that can be read within one hour. A London-based publisher they release short-read history books on Amazon Kindle.
Bio:
Do you want a history book to entertain and educate you when you have a few minutes to spare? Great! If you love watching a good quality history documentary on TV, then these are the books for you. Dip your toe in and learn something new! Our short books are perfect for Kindle Unlimited readers. (You can get 30 days for free if you sign up.) Few of us have the time to read all the books we’d like to. Yet we lose hour aft hour struggling with mindless tasks that bring us little joy such as scrolling social media on our phones, commuting and tedious chores. What if we could turn these little blocks of wasted time into precious and rewarding moments for learning and reflection?
Sample:
Nikola Tesla: The Mesmerising Wizard of Electricity
PENNILESS AND WITH THE PIGEONS
The general public didn’t realise that Tesla was flat broke, only seeing the successful billionaires’ corporations harnessing his inventions.
He began to slump into isolation. The business world to him was totally disinteresting. He struggled to appreciate the relationship between the importance of invention and the importance of business. He still didn’t know how to think about his technology from a financier’s perspective. A critical part of creativity is understanding how those creations can fit it into the world in practice, and yet it eluded him time and time again. It was a fundamental flaw that undermined the quality of his life.
Still, Tesla dreamed of resurrecting his vision for Wardenclyffe and tried desperately for years to raise the money to do so.
In 1916, with his fortune diminishing, he surrendered the Wardenclyffe mortgage to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where he had been living for almost twenty years on credit. He had run up a debt of twenty thousand dollars, five hundred and five thousand in 2019 dollars.
The following year the Waldorf had the tower dynamited to make the land easier to sell.
He was so withdrawn, he looked to animals for company. Some years later, Yugoslavian inventor Dragislav Petkovic, would stroll with the inventor to Bryant Park on his daily mission of mercy — coming to the aid of pigeons in winter.
Quote: What if a history book could entertain you and educate you in just one hour? Who’s got the time to read masses of 500-page tomes these days? Unlike other history books available, these new titles share fun aspects of popular history in just a few minutes. We want people to use and enjoy those small blocks of time wasted scrolling on social media.
[1] Satisfaction with the amount of leisure time: Global GfK survey
https://www.gfk.com/global-studies/global-studies-satisfaction-with-amount-of-leisure-time/
Media Contact
Company Name: Hooked on History
Contact Person: Media Relations
Email: Send Email
Country: United Kingdom
Website: https://hooked-on-history.com