Theodore Papakostas is an archaeologist and there is no doubting his knowledge of Greek History. He calls himself an archaeo-storyteller.

How to Fit All of Ancient Greece in an Elevator is a curiosity of a read - it is that rare amalgam of combining education and knowledge within a fictional context.

Remember 'Sophie's World' back in the early 1990s - the world of philosophers was opened up to us all through challenges given to a teenager.

This is a very accessible read to those wanting to enter the world of Greek History or those wanting further clarity- possibly ideal for teenagers stepping into the world of the 'ancient greeks'

The concept of an archaeologist trapped in an elevator with a stranger and the ensuing conversation between them is intriguing and the range of focus is broad and fascinating ; the sections of forms of archaeology were really good.

The 'blip' in this read is some of the unnatural/stilted dialogue- maybe it's the translation. The unknown listener/questioner- keeps using 'mate' in responses and the repeated informality grates.

That aside it's certainly an original way to making Greek history approachable to a wider audience and the chronological format certainly strengthens understanding between the periods of history. The storytelling from the archaeologist is certainly entertaining and very informative

This is a book I'll be recommending to KS3/4 colleagues or friends with teenagers studying history

This is a real romp. The book is white literally the whole of the history of Greece in a nice chatty form. The book is a long conversation, complete with interruptions, questions, comments and exclamations. The interjections the information stick, as there is a lot of it. The informal style is great. It allows story telling and descriptions and responses to challenges which a more formal telling. Wouldn’t allow. The importance of pottery is discussed and pondered on. There are also lovely examples from history of priestesses not doing their gardening or reasons to ignore Homer that really made the book come to life. This is such a fluid read, it covers a huge amount of ground but does it easily.

I really liked this book and the concept behind it. I found the idea of being trapped in an elevator and getting a free history lesson quite amusing. The structure made the book coherent and put all the eras and important dates in order. I also really liked that it was focused on the dates as well as on the more „normal“ people living in the period that was talked about.
I can only recommend if one is interested in knowing about Ancient Greece.

I’m sure this book could perhaps be interesting in parts, but the writing style is so weird and painful that I couldn’t get far enough into the book to find anything interesting. It’s written as though you’re listening to a conversation between 2 strangers, one of whom clearly feels vastly superior to the other, and there’s random Greek bits interspersed between banalities of conversation. This was a DNF for me