Backman's book Worlds of Medieval Europe

I'm working my way through the book Worlds Of Medieval Europe by Clifford Backman. While I'm finding it to be very informative, touching on various aspects of everyday life and the like, such as the risks of piracy, and problems with Simony, I do find that in places the book is a bit casual though.

What is the general opinion on the book?

Well, it's a textbook, so it comes with all of the problems of a textbook - it oversimplifies stuff, skips over big chunks of important information, and presents some information as fact that lots of historians would disagree with. But as far as textbooks go, this is actually a pretty good one - I consulted it a lot when I taught college-level medieval history. I thought it was more interesting and readable than a lot of other books, and doesn't really screw up anything important. It's a good overview, and a good starting point so that you know the basic outline of events. It will be a good launching point to lots of other reading. It has a decent bibliography, so when you come across something you're interested in, read the books Backman recommends on that topic.