Viking Warrior Operations Manual: The life, equipment, weapons and fighting tactics of the Vikings (Haynes Manuals)

Great source of information

I have enjoyed other Haynes manuals on historical subjects and was really looking forward to reading this one.On the plus side, it is packed with attractive colour illustrations, including photos of Viking re-enactors, and reconstructed ships and settlements. It also gives a reasonably clear explanation of how the Vikings developed and operated.But oh, dear. I don't think I have ever read a book so littered with errors. There are typos or other mistakes on virtually every page. It's as if a first draft has been bashed out and never proofread or edited. The author refers to the Vikings' descendants when he means ancestors, refers to 'millennia' (plural) when he means 'millennium' (singular), 'Edmund' the Confessor instead of Edward the Confessor, a leader suing his army instead of using his army and my particular favourite, archers using bows made of 'ewe' (female sheep) rather than 'yew' ( type of wood). Some of the descriptive panels accompanying illustrations bear no relation to the pictures concerned. I could go on but you will have got my point.I was very surprised at Haynes allowing this donkey to hit the bookshelves in such a state. I hope that they get round to publishing a corrected edition.I'm usually very generous with my star ratings and if this book had been up to standard, I would have given it a 4 or 5. As it is, I think I'm being very kind in giving it a 3.

Amused to see Haynes Manuals (bought for my 70s VW Beetle and Hillman Avenger) under this new guise. Well worth a place on my shelves, for the excellent maps, photos and illustrations of Viking warriors, reconstructed villages and ships, clothes and weapons photographed at very authentic looking re-enactment events and a survey of the history. In 150 pages you get a lot more detail than in the Osprey books. However, the use of the conditional perfect (warriors would have ...) betrays the lack of hard evidence and usual use of much later sagas as sources. The copy editors seem to have tired of the fine tooth-comb approach to the text, with typos and wrong captions, (including the hilarious ‘ewe’ bows) increasing in later pages. To be fair to them, it’s hardly a riveting read, though informative.

Haynes have come along way since their operating books of cars. And now they cover everything from the Star Trek Enterprise to Battle Tanks. I wonder who came up with idea to branch out into other subjects. I’d love to have been in that boardroom. With this latest offering we find out everything Viking. The artwork is splendid and up to and above ranges like Osprey. As a starting place on Viking history I cannot recommend this highly enough. And if you ever want to operate a Viking this is a must

A very comprehensive guide to Vikings and their way of life, full of photo examples.Yes there are a few grammatical errors, but on the whole a great book.

I really enjoyed this book. Very accessible , good photographs and illustrations. Would consider using it in a school setting.