zebec

As mentioned over on Progol's Egypt/Jordan TR, there's new book with an interesting theme: 'A Grand Tour of the Roman Empire'.
I'm reading the Egyptian chapters just now.
Such a unique structure---the author poses as a fictional upper-crust Roman traveling about, and there's a summary update written by a real archaeologist at the end of each chapter.
Excellent writing and well worth your time if interested in ancient Rome and its possessions, both land-wise and otherwise.

A+ for originality.
I am done. the reader

Fra_Diavolo

Reminds me of Tony Perrottet's Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists. (Originally published as Route 66 A.D.). I think I'll be reading this one, too. Thanks.

dfourh

I'm not a Roman history guy per se, but one of my favorite books of all time is A Day In The Life of Ancient Rome (actually circa 400 A.D.). It's a complete cross-section of all facets of daily life, and all social strata, and all daily activities, and exhaustive detail about food, daily rhythms, professions, slave life, the baths, EVERYTHING, all encapsulated inthe shape of one day. As your recommendation seems to be, it's not all about emperors and armies and intrigues, it's about how then compares to now, in every jot and tittle of everyday life. Written by a journalist, it lets you realize what are the constants and what are the transient facets of human societies. As a psychologist, it is in my top 5 in a balanced and rounded view of human societies and human behavior: