Is there any benefit to reading a textbook from a general survey course (US, world, European etc..) for somebody looking to start reading history for personal enjoyment?

by tx2005

So I've always enjoyed history but I have not done much reading about history since my freshman level US history courses in college nearly 20 years ago. I've read a handful of WW2 books and a couple presidential biographies, otherwise most of my reading is other non fiction genres amd fiction.

I made one of my reading goals for 2019 to start digging into history for fun but I have no idea where or how to start. One idea I had was maybe reading a broad survey history text (US, World, or European) and just sorting veering towards whatever interests me there.

Any thoughts on this idea? Do you think it is benefical to read a broad survey history book for persomal enrichment to get my feet wet or would my time be better served reading a broad history book written for general readers?

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Thanks!

Wepwawet-hotep

Textbooks tend to be dry, quite surface level and often present dubious versions of historical events very mater of factly. I would recomend looking into either a textbook that has high remarks for accessibility or into a general audience book with a broad scope (in my field the standard is Ian Shaw's "Oxford History of Ancient Egypt").