I would have stayed to hear Paul Coulter, history nerd extraordinaire, tell another ten stories beyond the five he did. 5 Mistakes that Changed History is absolutely marvelous. I’m a history nerd too, but not as wide ranging or deep delving as Paul. He had information to share that I did not know and juicy details on things I did know about. He was bright and funny and the room was packed with history nerds all just having the best time together.
We got to hear about Winston Churchill’s adventures as a young man and the mistakes he made that ended up getting him elected to office. I also didn’t know anything about the six young Japanese Samurai women sent to America to be educated who ended up changing their world. How Buffalo Bill’s capitalism overcame his misogyny and we got superstar Annie Oakley. We all know what Alexander the Great did wrong. You gotta leave clear instructions about your heir when you conquered and rule a huge empire.
Especially delightful was how Paul illustrated that we cannot know the ends of all our acts, and that what looks like a mistake, can turn out better in the end than you could have imagined. Informative and feel good. I highly recommend this show.
I hope he does another rendition of this show with more and different stories in the future so I can come learn and laugh some more in the most excellent company of history nerds from all over the world.
I feel obligated to point out that this is another “Australian” show – my pattern holds in appreciating the folks and material from down-under. Not sure if Paul is Australian or just lives there, but he clearly has the energy and spirit of the southern continent.