I’m on something of a volcano bent, this being my second book on eruptions and what happened after. Pompeii has captured our imagination for hundreds of years, since the fatal eruption in 79 BCE. Mary Beard explores the town and its history, and what it may have been like in 79, and how it had evolved to where it was when it was buried. 

This was incredibly informative. Beard explores different aspects of what life might have been like in Pompeii in the first century, with loads of illustrations and figures to supplement her storytelling. I was surprised by how quickly I was absorbed into her exploration of Pompeii.