England's Cathedrals

Great pictures and well written.

I am a huge fan of Simon Jenkins and I absolutely love everything he writes. This wonderfully egocentric journalist writes delightful history which want you to fully experience what he has, in writing his wildly entertaining history books. This book focuses upon England's' breath-taking and awe-inspiring Cathedrals. His book takes us the length and breadth of the countryside and examines in fine detail each significant Cathedral and describes how they were constructed and in what style they were built. I found his narrative, as always, witty and totally absorbing. Like in any good book I got lost in his obvious love and affection for these splendid and beautiful Cathedrals. In particular, I raced to his chapter on Sailsbury Cathedral which is and remains my favourite English Cathedral. Jenkins never misses a word and his graceful and elegant style draws you in to discovering ever-more about these enigmatic and timeless buildings. If you buy only one book this year, I thoroughly recommend that this is the one to buy! You will be on a thrilling ride of discovery and adventure which will leave you breathless with awe and wonder for these truly astonishing Cathedrals.

An absolutely beautiful book. Each cathedral is covered in a concise , but informative way! One to keep and re-read.

Paired with Simon Jenkins’ 1000 Best Churches these books tell the history of England. Both are must have books for anyone interested in church architecture and British history.

If you are buying this to read on a tablet/Amazon Fire tablet then fine. This is *not* suitable for the Kindle. The file is not the usual Kindle compatible one so the is no option on *any* device to change the font size or to word search. It is like the file is a locked pdf. Having said that on the Fire tablet it is possible to zoom in as if the whole page is a picture, to page turn it is necessary to zoom back out and page turn. There are many colour pictures anyway so you would want to read on a tablet, just remember the whole page zooms not the picture, somewhat restricting the pleasure of close scrutiny. The written text is fairly short and snappy, and the review for each cathedral carries the interest. If I had realised the format limitations I would very likely have considered buying the physical, rather than digital book. When I read the reviews I had not realised the majority were for hardback, the other Kindle review was negative for the reasons above.

This is a competent guide to all the well-known English cathedrals along with some of the less prominent ones, covering 53 in total. There is a map at the start of the book showing locations and a list of star ratings from 1 to 5, based on the author's personal preference. The cathedrals appear in alphabetical order and each entry is illustrated with several colour photographs. For each cathedral the author gives a brief history along with his personal 'take' on it. He also references other commentators: Pevsner and Betjeman crop up regularly. I thought the cathedral histories were pitched just right. There's enough information to give a sense of the chronology, but not so much as to become dull or confusing. Re-visiting a couple of cathedrals after purchasing the book, I found I had a better understanding of not only when, but how and why their different architectural features had developed, compared to previous visits. I found the author's personal views quite fascinating and at times, quirkily amusing. For example, he describes Southwark cathedral as 'a frigate . . . grey and slightly menacing'; Chester a 'boisterous urchin' and Lichfield a 'pugnacious bruiser'. As I visit and re-visit cathedrals I find that I do not agree with all of the author's personal views or his star ratings, but that hardly matters. It's fun to work out how he arrived at his opinions and to decide how much they correspond with or differ from my own. I think that anyone who enjoys visiting cathedrals will appreciate this book. In my own case it has helped enhance my experience when revisiting familiar cathedrals and has fired me up to visit some that I have not yet seen.

Bought initially as a Christmas present but we will now be getting our own copy. Gives brief descriptions of all the English Anglican cathedrals and some of the Roman Catholic ones, plus a useful foreword. Lots of very attractive illustrations and the overall appearance is very attractive. As noted by some reviewers, the text sometimes comments on a particular feature which is not then illustrated by the photographs, and Simon Jenkins has firm opinions (though widely shared) on what styles of architecture are the most attractive. What firmly qualifies the book for five stars is its outstanding value for money - less than £9 for a lavishly illustrated hardback. The original price on the jacket cover is £30!

I was given this as a Christmas present as a companion to England's 1000 Best Churches. Lovely book - challenged by a couple of the critics when it was first published - and I like the way Jenkins makes it clear that 'this is my opinion' instead of just wittering on about columns and vaulting like an lecture on architecture.There are all kinds of little things one never knew about these buildings, which are as much a testament to builders as to the deity they were built to honour. Even if one has a cathedral on one's own doorstep there is always something new to discover. The pictures are superb - I must try harder with my photographs! Only wish my husband had thought a bit about the weight of this hardbacked tome, '1000 churches' is in paperback, and easier on the hand.

Arrivé rapidement et en excellent état

Como era de esperar con este autor las recopilaciones siempre se quedan cortas debido a la magnitud del tema elegido.

Great book! Simon Jenkins narration on his selections and why was both informative and highly entertaining.

Da es sich um ein Buch handelt: zum Anschauen der darin enthaltenen Bilder und zum Lesen der zugehörigen Texte....

Unico nel suo genere per completezza di informazioni. Splendida grafica.