I quite like reading about Sumaria, Mesopotamia and all that stuff. Have read quite a bit of Zacharia Sitchin although I know how controversial he is.
I love all the mysteries about ancient temples. One cracker is Baalbek. There they have cut stones weighing 1000 tons. I don't think even today we have machinery that can lift that kind of weight, although I could be wrong.
English Civil war and the Stuarts in general, too many Commando comics as a kid have left me with a fascination for all things WWII, although I'll read pretty much any history book that comes my way...
I read back-issues of "OK" & "Hello" magazine. Does that count? 
an interest in the Neanderthal, markgraylish?
The industrial revolution but not the boring stuff you learn at school about spinning jennies but the fact that whole cities like manchester appeared in 30 years flat, were the prototypes of the shanty towns of the third world today, where in living memory people had seen life expectancy quality of life decline, where our whole society of consumerism to fill an emotional and spiritual hole took root, and (hard to believe the way history and politics panned out subsequently across the world) where the now sleepy centre-right Britain was a hot bed of communism and workers movements.
Peter Hopkirk and Flashman are some of my fave reads. Central Asia just amazes me perhaps more from a geographical / cultural point of view rather that history but the Great game was fascinating. The bravery of some of those Empire guys was extraordinary. And its still going on now, Russia, China, Kazakstan, India, Multinationals etc all looking for oil, air bases to bomb Afghanistan from etc. Gripping stuff, great food, amazing landscapes, beautiful old caravanserais etc. Well done Flashheart.
Ta!
Re the earlier point about explorers going totally beyond their "comfort zone" there is something fascinating about all of that, especially as now we can all go exploring from the comfort of an armchair through the TV. These people were out there in the real world at the very sharp end!
Some of the tales from the Great Game book by Hopkirk read like an adventure novel, but they really did go out there and do it. Rather like reading Thor Heyerdahl's stuff now and again, as well as RObert Byron (Road to Oxiana)
Read 'The Chronical of Froissart' a couple of years ago. He was a french monk/ambassador to various English courts either side of Richard II. He chronicles the period with all the prejudices of the ruling elite of the time dressing things up in terms of chivalry & heraldic valor but reading with modern eyes its not hard to see that ten mounted & fully armoured knights charging a bunch of unarmed peasants with justifiable grievances isn't particularly heroic. Its more like the Met deciding to police the G20 protests with napalm strikes
Well, i re-enact the WoTR so the C14th/C15th in Europe has a particular appeal for me 
The WoTR is often derided by serious historians as a petty spat before the rennassiance hit the shores of Britain but it is an interesting period.
Also have an interest in the British Civil Wars of the C17th - specifically John Lilburne & the Leveller movement, but also in it's wider context of the wars of religion that raged across Europe that Century.
The Peninsular Wars as well, although i'm actually finding the history of Britain's Empire rather amusing in that it was never actually intended to be, and that as time went on the UK Govt. tried to prevent the aquisition of more lands yet seemed unable to do so!
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