Book Review: Kir Bulichev, Secrets of Rus

Tainy Rusi by Mozheiko Igor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm reading this book to improve my Russian reading. I've imported it, chapter by chapter, into LingQ (lingq.com) and studying all the new words. In total about 20% of all the words in it are new to me, which is about right.

As well as learning the Russian language, I'm learning about Russian history. This book is good for me because it's directed at Russian school children, middle-schoolers I should imagine. That keeps the language fairly simple, with often-repeated words and phrases and the use of extended metaphors kept to a minimum.

For a Russian learner this book is a little trickier than his other books on history aimed at teenagers. That's because he does assume that the reader has a middle-school knowledge of Russian history, as well as a fair grasp of Russian geography (and I couldn't point to Novgorod on a map) There's also quite a lot of social comment (comparisons of Stalin with Ivan the Terrible, for instance).

All in all a splendid book, highly recommended for Russian learners at middle B2 or Russian natives of about 12 - 16 years of age.

Эта книга о русском истории, то есть, о истории Руси и истории Российской империи, написанная для русских отрокоб. Это очень интересно для иностранниих читателей, но надо иметь хорошую карту России! Её мне очень нравился. Поразительно видеть, как протяжении всей истории Россия короли, цары и императоры действовали как шестилетними детьми под влиянием слишком много сахара.



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My bio from ELF English

Helen is an experienced university lecturer and English teacher from the UK. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. She has a post-graduate certificate in Teaching from Derby University. Her industry background is in the Information Technology and Telecommunications sector.

Helen has been teaching English for more than 15 years. She is particularly experienced at helping people who need English for their business or study. She encourages them to practice difficult situations such as interviews and examinations through role-play.

Helen’s TOEFL, IELTS and EIKEN students have a 100% pass rate and even report enjoying the examination. Helen uses the internet widely to find real learning materials that are relevant to the student’s needs, level and interests.

Helen encourages students to listen to real natives speaking in natural situations, as soon as they can, using radio podcasts, blog articles, news sites, YouTube clips and so on. Her gentle, calm approach makes her a very supportive and friendly teacher for those new to study, out of practice with English, and those who are downright scared of speaking with foreigners.

Helen knows Russian, German, French and a little Japanese. She also writes humorous stories about time travel, the post-living community and dodo-keeping. These stories are fictional.