As noted, the first half of the book consists of selections from all books of the Histories . These are of different lengths and the approach has been to include large self contained sections rather than a more piece-meal approach. The editor has attempted to provide a balanced sample of Herodotus' work as a narrative historian, his skill as a story-teller and his interest in the culture, geography and customs of various peoples. Overall the approach works well. Any selection is really a matter of choice but many will look for their favourite chapters in vain.
Personalities seem strangely missing.
Both are lively reading and deal with individuals who had a major impact on the Greek world of Herodotus. Another concern is that important chapters where Herodotus outlines his historical methodology, such as Book II.99, are not included. This is not crucial in itself but becomes more of an omission when many of the commentaries included in the third part of the book discuss the reputation of Herodotus as an historian based, in part, on his methodology. Overall, however, the selections provide an excellent, balanced sample of both the narrative skill and the scope of the interests of Herodotus. Introductions are given to the translated chapters from each of the books but these are varied in value because they sometimes relate to the selections but on other occasions instead provide a commentary on chapters which have been omitted.