Good morning. How are you doing today, Michael good How are you fantastic?
What an amazing book. There's there's happiness in this book because you're you're
just constantly learning new things, and I swear that makes the body happy.
That's good to hear. One of the things about this book is that it's
like these are the It's like it puts the book into the hands of young
adults and children in the way that don't go to Google. We've got some
answers here, and that's what I love about it, especially when you're talking
about things like dragon's blood being a cure. Let's oh my god, let's
start it off there. Well, that was That was one ingredient in a
potion called Saint Paul's Potion, which is said to cure several illnesses, including
an upset to stomach um. The ingredients also included licorice and funnel, which
I think we use today it's peas for digestive issues, so there probably was
something to it. But then the dragon's blood was obviously not from a dragon.
It was a red resin from a tree that came from some parts of
Africa. But the potion also did include real blood from a cormorant. So
when you drank that potion, you were getting quite a mixture of things.
I cannot speak to how well it treated the illness, though, what almost
sounds like Doctor Pepper because they didn't it start off as a medicinal I think,
so, yeah, that sounds great. One of the fascinating things in
the book is that we all like pyramids. I mean, you go into
the Mayan ruins, but of what got my attention were the mounds. North
Carolina has mounds in them. They don't get a lot of attention, but
it was very interesting to find other nations that have mounds well in certain other
parts of the United States. I mean the big one being in Cahokia Um
in southern Illinois. That was I don't remember now that the dimensions, but
it was it was huge, and I think it was the Vikings Head Mounds
for burial mounds. So yeah, you see you see certain things that are
repeated in places that didn't have contact with each other, which is interesting.
You turn it into fun, turning history into fun. How is it that
you're able to do that? I mean, do you sit around in conferences
and go, okay, how can we make that fun? Or is it,
I mean, because it's just so naturally absorbing. Well, I think
part of it is, you know how National Geographic designs their books. They
have great designers and illustrators, and this book is heavy on illustrations, but
they're they're they're fun, they're vibrant. And then we have the tech,
you know, broken up into different pieces so it doesn't feel kind of overwhelming.
And then within the text, my editors, you know, kind of
give me free rein to use puns and jokes and make allusions to things that
you know, maybe aren't really directly related to the Middle Ages, but you
know, you hear a word and it makes you think of something that's contemporary,
and you play around with that, and I you know, I hope
that kids get a lot of those those things, but I think any parents
or grandparents who might be reading along with kids will hopefully get some of those
word plays that go over the head of an eight or nine year old,
so it'll be entertaining for them as well. Well. You're definitely in touch
with those young adult readers because when you've got things in here, you know,
spotlight on the legends of the lore. They love folklore, and you
have really you know, brought them closer to the stories. Well it's nice
to hear, I mean, you know, And for me, one of
the fascinating things about doing a book like this is I learned so much.
I mean, I I study history in college. I took one class in
the Middle Ages. I didn't know probably ninety percent of the things in here.
So I'm getting to learn a lot. And then, you know,
then the challenge is taking the what I learned and making it accessible to kids.
So that's that's what I enjoy about what I do. There's there's also
some reality in here, because I mean, we're we're fresh out of the
COVID nineteen locked down and the and the pandemic that swept across the world.
So I love the idea that you that you put focus on the deadliest diseases
because we can't forget about the Black Death, we can't forget about the ad
bugs are still out there and things. So you're very honest with this.
That's true. And you know, it's funny because this book, I started
it before COVID. Why we took we took a break because of COVID.
The book was kind of showed for a while and then finished it, and
so you know, going back to that those parts about the Black Death was
made it feel very you know, it's like, wow, this is this
is really relevant. And you know, we don't mention COVID directly, but
I would think that kids who have lived through that, you know, they
might make a connection. I mean, we talk about the root of the
word quarantine, so that's certainly a word that became part of their vocabulary the
beginning of the pandemic. So again it's it's nice to have times where you
can make the connections for the past and the present, and you know,
you can't avoid some of the darker things. I mean, you know obviously
warfare and religious conflict. I mean that was all part of that historic period
too, So we just tried to retreat that stuff respectfully. Ating and maybe
you don't have any jokes about some of the serious things, but I think
you can still make it interesting for the kids. Photographs, you know,
they always say will create a thousand words. But what I love about your
words is that you can take something a photograph that we have seen a million
times, such as the Dome of the Rock, and you share the story
it's right there. We don't have to go dig in for it or anything
like that, because we see these famous places in all of these if we're
watching TV and all of a sudden, but we don't, you know,
really have a resource, but you do. This book really is a great
resource. Yeah, and again you know the fact that National Geographic just has
access to so many wonderful images and and you know, I didn't tell them
get an image of this or that, but you know, their their photo
research. You just know like, Okay, this is going to be the
best way to illustrate that. And obviously with something like the Dome of the
Rock or other buildings, it's it's a pretty obvious choice. But they they
had some really just excellent selection of photos to illustrate the words. So that's
I'm very lucky to be working with them in a very creative way. Are
you not introducing the Middle Ages to the to the preteens as well as the
younger ones, because I mean it's to them. They's like, okay,
well nineteen eighty was forty years ago, but but this this book really does
help you dive into a time in history that we should never forget, right
right, No, But I hope you know that's certainly the intent and uh
and again I think that trying as many times as possible to make connections from
the past to today. Um, Like we have a spread about inventions from
the song Dynasty. Yeah, and those are things that were invented then that
we still use paper, money, gunpowder, magnetic compass. So it's it's
trying to let them see that, you know, things aren't in isolation.
There's there's there's connections that we got where we are today because of what happened
in the past. That's the thing that's always fascinated me. And that's what
I hope. I hope I stir some interesting kids about that. Oh you
do, and and if if anything, it starts a conversation with the adult
and then they sit down with their with their little ones and say, you're
not gonna believe it. I just found in this book because when you when
you see a parent laughing or giggling about a story, the kids always want
to know more. Tell me what are you looking at and what it does?
It serves as an invitation. Yep, yep, yeah, I hope
that's how it works. Definitely, how did you put all of this together
into one? I mean, because the illustrations, the pictures, everything.
I mean, this had to have been a chore, but at the same
time you got it. It feels like you had a great time putting it
together. I did. I did. And again, you know, as
far as the illustrations, that that's really out of my hands. I mean,
I might make suggestions for a spread, you know, let's have a
nap of this or picture this, but then it's really up to the to
the photo researchers and the designers to execute it. Um. For me,
the interesting part was doing an outline, doing the basic research, figure out
what are the topics we should include, how best to organize them, and
then filling in the details by doing more research and and you know the process.
Like I said, we started this twenty nineteen, I believe. And
it's even without COVID it it's a long product. Takes a couple of years
to do a book like this, and that's because there's my part with the
research and writing, there's the editing, there's the fact checking, and then
there's all the illustration design element. It's a it's a big process, a
very collaborative effort. Feathers have always been a major part of my spiritual life
in the way that I there's a life after the bird has it and that
because people will laugh about it. They you know, they'll find it on
a forest floor. But to read about feathers that are filled with gold,
I this is awesome. It shows how important that quill really is after the
bird. And one of the other things that I find interesting is how the
feathers were traded as like parrot feathers were traded as valuable goods. And to
show how there was the interaction of different cultures. You know, in the
desert southwest the United States, there are any parrots, but yet they find
parrot feathers, so obviously they were trading with with people much are the south
and and I just always am fascinated by the by the way, uh,
the people of different cultures and areas intermingled through trade, and not only goods
were traded, but also ideas and then inventions. It's um, yeah,
I think that this era helps us see that, you know, globalization,
uh is not necessarily a new concept, you know, has it has it
roots hits roots back in this period. That would be so fun in the
way that you know, trading feathers as as a monetary thing because you know
macaw feather it buys this, but where a blue crown con your feather will
get this or an eagles feather. It's like, whoa, hey, we're
talking about something here. Now. We all know that the Nights in Shining
Armor are some of the greatest stories of all time. But to dive into
this inside this book where you're showing us what to where to warm, yeah,
it's it's it's you know, and the evolution. You know, you
go from like leather armor to to chainmail and to the solid um solid metal
um. And then we have a spread where you look at the same thing
with um with the samurai in Japan, yes, where they have very particular
uh outfits and and of course helmets being very important because you know, you've
got to you've got to protect your eyes and your brain. And so yeah,
it's it was interesting again, you know, obviously I was more familiar
with the medieval nights Guard than than than the samurai. So that's where I
had to do a little bit more research. But it's it's yeah, and
you know, in a way it's I don't know, a little sad that
warfares what's a big part of this history, but it is, and so
you just have to you just address it. And um and I think especially
for young boys, I think they kind of gravitate towards that. Anyways.
Oh yeah, And as a martial artist, I'm sitting here looking at the
the the warfare, uh and I don't want to call the costume, but
but but what they had to wear two war and I it's like, as
a martial artists, I couldn't wear that. I couldn't move the way that
I was trained to move and something like that. Right, right, What
did you learn from this project? Because there's always going to be something that
you guys have learned. It's like it's an oh my god moment. Well,
you know, getting it down to a granular level. Just some of
the facts. We're really fascinating. This is one that I've I've had no
idea about it. So there was a Danish king named Harold, like ninth
to tenth century. He unified the Danes, brought Christianity to them. He
was known for having a diseased tooth that was kind of bluish black, and
so we got the nickname Harold Bluetooth. Well, you know, centuries later
they're an engineer working on a device to or a process to connect our phones
and laptops and all these devices wirelessly. And he reads about Harold and sees
that he was a unifier. He's like, well, my device is unifying,
so we get the Bluetooth that we use on our computers and phones.
Wow, Michael, you got to come back to this show anytime in the
future. The door is always going to be open for you. Oh.
I appreciate that's that's great, excellent, Thank you so much for this book.
Where can they go to find out more about the book and to find
out more about what National Geo is doing for kids? I think well,
National Geographic Kids has a website, so that would be one place to go.
You can find the book at any online retailer. And if you want
to know more about my books in particular, it's Michaelbergen dot net and that's
b U R G A N. I love it. Will you be brilliant
today? Okay, sir? Oh, thanks you too.