Published on 12, July, 2020
We hear so much about autistic people and special interests and so many people have them and enjoy them, but we never hear about people who can't afford them, what do they do?
I can't afford mine, I love early medieval history and things associated with it, such as archeology, but I can't afford it, I could easily spend £3-400 on books every month, many of the books I'd like are out of print or in limited print runs and cost between £80 and £200, I've looked online and many are as expensive as ebooks as they are print editions, if they exist as ebooks at all. Many journals are expensive too and online resourses are too and many are really aimed at organisations such as universities rather than private people.
It's frustrating to have an interest that I find so consuming, but can't afford to follow or find others to even talk about it with, but then how many people know the Anglo-Saxon conversion period even existed, let alone know anything about it?
As I said in my previous comment, my barrier is mostly my lack of energy due to work. Also I don't have a car so I can't drive to places of interest (natural and historical) that I would want to go to. Luckily there are some nice walks near me, and I get my history fix where I can.
I would absolutely love to go on one of the archaeological digs that volunteers can apply to go on, but they are never near where I live, so in addition to the expense of paying for the dig access, I would also have to pay for accommodation and transport.
What periods and places are you interested in, Becca? I find many people who are interested in history are either generalists or they're interested in the bits that I'm not, like the industrial revolution or napoleononic wars, or even big engineering, which just makes my eyes glaze over. One of the reasons I like the late antiquity/early medieval stuff is there's so much we don't know and so much thats coming to light, those post Roman centuries are no longer dark and the picture although not yet clear is far more interesting than just people poking swords into each other. I also like the neolithic and bronze ages, what were they doing with all those huge stone monuments? Why did they move and sort the bones of ancestors in burial mounds? Who got to be buried and memorialised and why, what happened to everybody else? Did you choose how you wanted your remains treated, rather like you can today?
I mean, I can generally find something to be interested about in all periods of history - I like seeing how things have changed but are also still the same.
But specifically, the eras of history books I have on my shelves are prehistoric, medieval, Restoration, and 18th century.
I just visited the Star Carr mesolithic exhibition at York Museum and was so excited to see some of the deer skull/antler headdresses they discovered. My bedtime reading at the moment is 'The Deorhord' by Hana Videen, which is an exploration of the the words used in old medieval bestiaries.