Runes: a Handbook

This is a very thorough, very knowledgeable book on the field of runes. Runes were used in Norway for about 1500 years, so they are a very important part of norse history.

a thorough course book

Sadly, I am not able to buy this excellent-looking book. So I cannot offer a review of its contents. (But browsing the contents pages and sample pages using the "Search Inside" feature, one gains the impression that it is reasonably comprehensive, wide-ranging, clearly-written and clearly laid-out.)However, I am able to say something about the author, and for that reason I have been presumptuous enough to give this book 5 stars, for the reasons given below. The author is a world authority on runes. I was lucky enough to have Professor Michael Barnes as a tutor when I was doing an M.A. in Scandinavian Studies in the department of the same name at University College London in the late 90s. Professor Barnes was then head of department. I sat in on his Scandinavian runology class. It was brilliant! I have met few people more knowledgeable, gifted, and passionate about their subject. Professor Barnes precipitated in me a (hitherto) life-long interest in the runes themselves, their language, and their ultra-varied messages. Personally I find the Uppland runestones among the most interesting, and our course covered a number of those, but we also took in quite many other inscriptions, including some early ones from what is now Germany, Viking Age ones from places like Man, England, and Scotland, as well as some considerable focus, too, on the later medieval runic inscriptions and the fuþark as it developed through the Middle Ages. I found our discussion of the later, medieval "dotted runes" particulary absorbing and that's what I chose to write about in my assessed essay.What is unclear from the preview is whether this book contains in-depth discussions of such important (and fascinating) inscriptions as, for example, Rök, Glavendrup, Gripsholm, Saleby, Tryggevælde, Jelling, and Yttergärde - to name just a few. Or whether the book considers as groups the Swedish stones commemorating the expeditions to the east (Byzantine, Russia, Estonia, "Serkland"), the expeditions to the west (England, Saxony), and the ones that tell of conversion and missionary work. The limited preview also fails to illuminate whether the book contains extensive line-drawings (or, better still, photographs) of the inscriptions discussed, so the reader can read them for himself. (Perhaps someone who has the book can answer these questions?)But if Professor Barnes has been able in this book to communicate the same deep level of knowledge, understanding, and passion for Scandinavian (and Anglo-Frisian) runic inscriptions that he successfully communicated in his seminars, then this book ought to be at the top of the required reading list for anyone wanting to seriously learn about runes and runic inscriptions. (We can note in passing that Professor Barnes had no time for the "runic magic" nonsense that pervades many popular books on the subject of runes).I would not be surprised to discover that this book quickly becomes regarded as a classic within its field, right up there with R.I. Page's "An Introduction to English Runes". That would be a fitting testimony to the author of this book and his lifelong service to runology and Scandinavian Studies in general.