There doesn't seem to be a consensus on which of those doorstops are his best. I don't know much at all about the general history of late medieval / early modern Europe and the Mediterranean, which seems to be most of his subject, so I'm going to be scurrying to wikipedia for context a lot regardless. Do any of you have a favorite or a bias towards one or the other?

Also wonder if any of the are a little easier or more accessible for the non-specialist. I think Hobsbawm described the audience he was shooting for as 'the educated layman', and I enjoy his histories without trouble-- but Braudel looks to be a level up. The past year or two I've been recreationally reading major modern historical narratives of big topics, like Spence's Search for Modern China, Judt's Postwar, the Hobsbawm Age of books. Think Braudel will be a way to read one of the Greats, and also kick start me on an earlier period of history that I'm not yet familiar with.

A friend who has read him told me "prepare yourself to devote a ton of willpower to reading about ways the development of the fork slowly impacted agricultural prices and loads of boring shit like that". Was meant to dissuade me, but piqued my interest more!