Histories - Herodotus

The father of history, literally the first history book written in the sense we understand history, as the collection and interrogation of facts, not just the recitation of myth, and what a great first effort. The focus is supposed to be the war to keep the Persians out of Greece, but he takes forever to get there, going off on long, winding tangents. For example, incidental to the rest of the work, he gives us one of the most valuable accounts of ancient Egypt. Why does he take these detours? I suspect because, as no one had properly recorded much of anything written before, he felt the need to get down as much as he could, whereas, flooded with works and specialists, modern historians feel the need to stick to narrow subjects. This bagginess is one great value of the work, but when he does make his way onto what is supposed to be his subject, the war with Persia it is immense.