Reading this is not nearly as history-geeky as you might think. Beyond descriptions of siege battles is insight on the history of western European and Ottoman/Middle Eastern relations that probably still taint how we get along. Piracy, wholesale slaughter or sale of entire cities into slavery, religious zealotry, the corruption of power, weakness of European unity, double- dealing by Venetians, the effect of New World riches on Spain's power and on the cost of feeding an army. . . It's a surprisingly interesting and thought-provoking read.