Warning: this book may contain depictions of buggery on the high seas (mostly consensual) as well as sailors getting their freak on with indigenous peWarning: this book may contain depictions of buggery on the high seas (mostly consensual) as well as sailors getting their freak on with indigenous peoples. This shouldn't come as a surprise to any educated adult but just trying to protect the children. I guess I shouldn't have posted this warning because once the kids read it, good luck getting them not to read Farther Than Any Man.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Or can I? saying that I can’t recommend something highly enough seems to infer that I’m not trying hard enough, or that there is something wrong with me for not being more persuasive, or I just don’t care. I never claimed to be a salesman, but I have claimed to be a book reviewer as evidenced by my hundreds of sometimes unlettered opinions I’ve posted here. I need to stop writing clichés like, “I can’t recommend this highly enough.” It’s a can of worms.
I suppose I should say something about the book, but now I’ve lost my momentum. I’m a sucker for any book about the age of sail, so this book hit the bullseye. I suggest you read a review by someone who isn't so easily hoodwinked into liking a book simply because of the era it describes. For all I know, people unlike me, those who aren't suckers for sailboat discovery tales might think little of this biography of Captain Cook rating it right down there with bilgewater.
I think Bilgewater would make a good name for a boy (Thank fuck I don't have kids). This last bit may have nothing to do with the book, but I'm almost positive that word came up at least once in the pages of this fine book, although not as a boy's name, but for the disgusting muck found in the bottom of a ship's hull.
Unfortunately, for the macho men of my era, there are no worlds left to discover, at least not without a huge space agency to finance it. Instead of sailing out into the unknown, I just did the modern day equivalent: I bought a Camaro and learned how to do donuts and peel out. It's not the same as discovering new worlds, but still kinda rad....more
I read this in English way, way back when it came out. The book that inspired Munich, perhaps my favorite Spielberg film. The book is good, the film iI read this in English way, way back when it came out. The book that inspired Munich, perhaps my favorite Spielberg film. The book is good, the film is great.
Even when I read the book way back in 1984, the parts outside of those that could be verified sounded like fiction. Still, it’s a great story and sort of a David and Goliath tale, except when it drags down into a pointless blood feud between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
On that front, nothing has changed in the entire history of this conflict that I’m tired of hearing about, to be honest.
That's it for this review as I'm just trying to clean out my "Currently Reading" file as mine was looking like a hillbilly's garage.
P.S. I had no Fourth of July plans so I bought some great bockwurst and some lovely small loaves of bread yesterday so I can have a couple of hotdogs. That counts as American, right?...more
This sounded better on the dust jacket than inside. Not a big fan of this guy as I couldn't get through twenty pages of his book that was recently madThis sounded better on the dust jacket than inside. Not a big fan of this guy as I couldn't get through twenty pages of his book that was recently made in to a Scorcese film. Couldn't watch the movie, either....more
I love Goodreads because it makes me think about the books I've read after I finish reading. I read this book several months ago and for whatever reasI love Goodreads because it makes me think about the books I've read after I finish reading. I read this book several months ago and for whatever reason never got around to writing a review.
This is about all I can remember of the book after this brief interlude: Napoleon attacked Russia and his army was ravaged by typhus. Typhus is transmitted to humans from body lice. Lice are really gross.
As shameful as this review may be, my memory is a total disgrace....more
This book was a brilliant synopsis of America’s fall into the world of Muslim Fundamentalist terrorism, something we could/should have totally avoidedThis book was a brilliant synopsis of America’s fall into the world of Muslim Fundamentalist terrorism, something we could/should have totally avoided had our military leaders had even half a brain between them. This could be a great book for people not schooled in Middle East affairs, or it could be overwhelming. I thought it was brilliant and engaging....more
It's now official: I now have way more knowledge about the Bounty mutiny than anyone really needs. It’s a fascinating story that Peter FitzSimons flesIt's now official: I now have way more knowledge about the Bounty mutiny than anyone really needs. It’s a fascinating story that Peter FitzSimons fleshes out to within an inch of its life. What you’ll take away from this reading is an appreciation for just how much has been written about this whole affair, not only by historians, but by many actual participants. FitzSimons has probably scoured every word.
His approach is more even-handed than anything else I’ve read or seen in movies regarding the mutiny, both showing the cruelty and pettiness if Bligh, while portraying Christian as a rash youngster. What it all seemed to come down to was dudes getting laid, and an aristocratic kid who didn’t like being told what to do. The three major films on the subject miss the mark by siding one hundred percent with the mutineers.
I’ve spent enough time on this light entertainment to write more of a review. It made for a way-too-brief train ride to Madrid, at least the last one hundred-fifty pages or so....more
This is a great little coffee-table book for anyone who loves Valencia and its history. It's simply a listing, as the title suggests, of tidbits aboutThis is a great little coffee-table book for anyone who loves Valencia and its history. It's simply a listing, as the title suggests, of tidbits about the history of the city, from its Roman past, through the Moorish era, the Reconquest, to the present. While the book is sorely lacking as far as a true history, it’s meant as an entertainment and on this front it excels. The curiosities are listed by number, and I wanted at least every third listing to have a link to a book with more on the subject. No links, no bibliography, no notes, and no index. Just a lot of fun stuff, although I’m sure that many of them are apocryphal....more
Richard Fidler is much more of a journalist and storyteller than historian, something I don't hold against him and a virtue that he doesn’t attempt toRichard Fidler is much more of a journalist and storyteller than historian, something I don't hold against him and a virtue that he doesn’t attempt to hide. He brings the story to life, but at the same time he relies a little too much on the myths and completely unverifiable aspects of the saga of this amazing city that impresses me more and more with every book that I read of its history.
Here is an example of how the athor's editorializing brings the story into focus seven centuries later:
Villehardouin describes how, after three days of looting, the Crusaders agreed to pool the plundered wealth of Constantinople and divide it among themselves. As I read this I pictured the Frankish and Venetian soldiers coming and going, depositing barrowloads and sackfuls of treasure into glittering heaps, enough to fill three churches. Villehardouin describes his astonishment in such a way you can almost feel the pen trembling in his hand:
The booty gained was so great that none could tell you the end of it: gold and silver, and vessels and precious stones, and samite, and cloth of silk, and robes fair and grey, and ermine, and every choicest thing found upon the earth . . . Never, since the world was created, had so much booty been won in any city.
I have often felt like one of those Crusaders, staring open-mouthed at this treasure heap of stories from the lost world of Constantinople.
I don’t think that I’d recommend this book for the completely uninitiated to the history of Constantinople, or perhaps its personal telling of the story is just what is needed to begin learning about this great city. I’ve read several books recently about the city and the Ottomans, so for me it was a very pleasant and readable review of the staggering saga of not only a city, but an entire civilization....more
I listen to these lectures on my bike rides, and I have to say that this is the worst of the bunch so far. He keeps asking these silly, unanswerable qI listen to these lectures on my bike rides, and I have to say that this is the worst of the bunch so far. He keeps asking these silly, unanswerable questions like, “Did law and order break down after the plague?” while responding with “Perhaps.” If I were sitting in his class at a university, I’d stand up and leave. “Were conditions in London unsanitary in 1348 when the plague struck the city?” He’ll answer by giving an account in which a man was fined for throwing his chamber pot out the window into the street.
If this only happened once or twice, I could see past this laziness, but the course is built on some very flimsy extrapolations from scant historical data. Unfortunately, I had to listen to a lot more of this than I cared to because it’s all I had on my MP3 player, and it was a very long ride....more
I picked up this book after reading a novel about Pompeii and wanted more in the way of a history. If you are looking for a history, I’d find another I picked up this book after reading a novel about Pompeii and wanted more in the way of a history. If you are looking for a history, I’d find another because this is much too specific and geared more towards professional archaeologists than those of the armchair variety. I felt there was way too much speculation on how life in that city may have been lived instead of simply stating the facts as they are presented to us.
If you give a shit about which streets in pre-volcano Pompeii were one-way then this is the book for you. I didn’t find this book to be very readable and the information given was too arcane and obscure for the average reader.
I think that I am over my fascination for that city so I probably won't search out a tome more suitable for those like me who just wanted to learn a bit more about what happened back in 79 a.d. ...more
I read this as research for something that I was working on a while back, so I didn't finish the book. Not because I didn't like it, but because I gotI read this as research for something that I was working on a while back, so I didn't finish the book. Not because I didn't like it, but because I got what I needed from it. What I got out of it was a cool history of old school Hollywood and the ruthless nature of that business back in the early years of the film industry.
The book was somewhat of a mess on a narrative level and desperately needed an editor which seems to be a major problem in this era of self-publishing and diminishing profits for publishing houses. Still, the book was a lot of fun and very interesting regarding the history of the film world in the early 20th century....more
The title alone is an insult to historians everywhere and intellectually dishonest. Stealing? She can barely make the case for some slight borrowing.
SThe title alone is an insult to historians everywhere and intellectually dishonest. Stealing? She can barely make the case for some slight borrowing.
She keeps telling readers that we’ve forgotten about the eastern influence on Europe. Who is she referring to? Most people she is talking about don’t know anything about anything, so what’s her point? The forgotten history of the Moors, except it isn’t, not by anyone who’s read a history book. The author acts as if everyone living in Europe is completely ignorant of the Moorish culture and to back up her claim, she ambushes some idiot parish clergyman. How many residents of Istanbul know that their city was one of the centers of Christianity for over a millennia before it was attacked with its citizens killed and enslaved? As long as we’re dragging up the past, let’s drag it up on both sides.
"It can’t be proven but it’s likely that…" God, I wish she would stop writing that, but she does it again and again. I really hate writers who want so desperately for their point to come out that they simply lose every bit of objectivity in their research and find examples of their premise where none exist.
France most certainly isn’t undergoing a “spiritual renaissance” after the fire in Notre Dame. The French were stunned simply because the cathedral is such an iconic part of the Paris skyline and has been for 700 years. She also mentions the terrorist attacks in Paris carried out by Muslim extremists as pushing the French towards religion. Simply not true and she gives not even a shred of evidence to back up this claim.
In response to these upheavals and the perceived threat of Islam, many sought to revive a Christian national identity. France, that most secular of countries where even wearing a crucifix to work is not allowed, is having a religious renaissance, a spiritual awakening.
How many is “many” in this statement? Five people? Ten? This “religious renaissance” is just patently not fucking true.
She claims that the mosque minarets led directly to Christian bell towers which is simply absurd, as if no one had ever considered making a tower in Christian Europe before this architectural detail of the Muslims. A stronger case could be made for how Islam plagiarized Judaism and Christianity in its scriptures. She has one historic figure (Christopher Wren) who she uses to hold up almost her entire point of how Gothic architecture was basically invented by Muslims with her main point being the twin towers used in church construction in Europe after the Muslim conquests in Spain.
Almost without exception, every culture has borrowed from every culture that came before theirs, but somehow the West “stole” from the Muslims....more
Dissent was in short supply in the former Soviet Union, and now Russia. Putin seems nostalgic not so much for the “Russian Empire” (And yes, I think wDissent was in short supply in the former Soviet Union, and now Russia. Putin seems nostalgic not so much for the “Russian Empire” (And yes, I think we can call it that with a straight face, to steal a line from the forward) but for the repression and state control Soviet leaders enjoyed (and I think they probably did actually enjoy their total power).
Svetlana Alexievich’s account of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is culled from the memories of soldiers and other people (nurses, advisers, mothers of dead soldiers, etc.) who served there. Most of the voices aren’t particularly articulate, but that’s what you get when you’re doing interviews, but what many of the voices may lack in erudition, they make up for in the truth of those not interested in glossing over their experience.
I almost never comment on how books are translated, but this one suffers from a serious shortcoming in that department. We are told jokes that make zero sense to non-Soviets, so either they are the shittiest jokes in history, or the translator doesn’t know enough to give readers some context.
For anyone who has read a lot about America’s failed military campaigns in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, there is little new here. Afghanistan was a shit-show for the Soviets and a horrible and costly mistake, like the American wars I just mentioned. All we seemed to gain from the violence was a better understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as our military elite seem incapable of learning anything about when and when not to conduct a war.
Private, Gunlayer (this was his job, but not translated properly. What the hell is a “gunlayer?”) : The first thing I learnt about army life was that you’re a slave. I felt the army took my personality away from me… The Afghans weren’t people to us, and vice versa.
So much for winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans. Hard to do when you can’t even win the hearts of your own soldiers....more
This book would make a great introduction to the Medicis and the history of Florence. If you are already familiar with the family, I’d suggest works tThis book would make a great introduction to the Medicis and the history of Florence. If you are already familiar with the family, I’d suggest works that take smaller bites out of the story and are more detailed. This didn’t really work for my current research, but I would highly recommend it to others.
This isn't much of a review, but I am up to my eyebrows in other things at them moment....more
Looking back through my Goodreads history I see that on December 2016 I finished Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580Looking back through my Goodreads history I see that on December 2016 I finished Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 by Roger Crowley. This means that I’d probably completely forgotten everything in that book regarding The Siege of Malta so a refresher course was in order. Wow, this little book was so quick and so much fun to read.
It all started to come back to me once I started reading, but it was still a thrilling tale from start to finish. I need to backtrack and read about the Siege of Rhodes that sort of led up to this epic face-off between the Ottomans and Christian Europe.
This Ernle Bradford guy has a weird first name but he can write a compelling history. I plan to read everything he’s written.
My question is when is the movie going to come out? This seems like a total no-brainer for the no-brains in Hollywood, especially since many of the original fortresses and wall are still standing in Malta. Throw in a liberal does of CGI and you have a blockbuster on your hands....more
Samuel Elliot Morrison makes his intentions very clear about what he was after in this biography of Cristóbal Colon: he wanted to show what the man diSamuel Elliot Morrison makes his intentions very clear about what he was after in this biography of Cristóbal Colon: he wanted to show what the man did, not who he was. All of the modern criticism of the man focuses less on the man, and more on the era in which he lived. It was a violent, horrible era in many respects, a time when entire cities were destroyed by invaders and the inhabitants enslaved or slaughtered. A day before the captain-general sailed for the New World, the Jews of Spain were shipped out of the country. To judge Colon as some sort of tyrant would be like making fun of the clothes he wore 500 years ago.
What he did was perform some very impressive sailing achievements, almost magical in the fact that he had so little in the way of science backing him up. He was the master of “dead reckoning” or sailing by simply observing the sea and the sky without much in the way of technical support or celestial knowledge.
I’ve read several accounts of the first voyage, and this is definitely the gold standard as it was written by a pretty fair sailor in his own right. The technical aspects of just how Colon carried out this voyage are more important than anything else in this story....more
« L’histoire, plus des rois, plus des guerres. - Jean Paul Belmondo
I know that history is much more than wars and kings, but this particular battle was« L’histoire, plus des rois, plus des guerres. - Jean Paul Belmondo
I know that history is much more than wars and kings, but this particular battle was such an iconic moment for that entire era that it was good to get the play-by-play. Spoiler Alert: The Ottomans storm the castle and kill or enslave everyone inside, just in case you hadn’t heard. Because up until the final pages of this exciting story, you think the defenders may have a chance.
This is my third or fourth history by Roger Crowley. The man can write. I plan to read every word he’s ever written. This story was a slam dunk because it is just a thrilling tale from start to finish, and by finish I mean the annihilation of the Roman Empire, or at least its Eastern branch.
As a life-long atheist, I didn’t really have a dog in this fight, although you really have to go with the defenders, just folks living their lives and trying to get by. The Ottomans had no claim to this city, none whatsoever. So much for Islam being the religion of peace. I really wish people would stop saying that. The entire Islamic Empire was forged by the sword, so I don’t understand the peaceful bit.
All religions are bad, but some are certainly worse than others. Crowley barely mentions the religious aspect to this war, in spite of the title. I’m sure he’s been accused of Islamophobia simply on the basis of the title.
I’ve read reviews calling this history both boring and to popular in appeal to be serious. Bullshit. It was a fucking blast to read, like the best sort of action adventure that also shored up a few major holes in my understanding of history. I could never ask more of a book....more
This is the second time I've read this book and this time around I really appreciate its brilliance. Sorry historians, if you can't make your subject This is the second time I've read this book and this time around I really appreciate its brilliance. Sorry historians, if you can't make your subject interesting to the readers, perhaps you'd be more suited to another profession, like as an undertaker? This history was a blast to read and really filled in a gap in my knowledge of Eastern and Western civilizations. I reread it as research for something I'm working on and I can only hope that what I write will be this thrilling to read.
This book shows the soft, sensitive side of Khan. A man who liked to take walks in the summer rain...before he made a pyramid of the skulls from the inhabitants of an entire city. Seriously, the world would have been a lot better if he had died at childbirth.
The book is fascinating in recreating the world of the Mongols and their completely warped value system, or lack of value system. You have to admire their complete commitment to war; not like America's half-assed battle plans in the post WWII era. I am mostly a pacifist. Either you avoid war at all cost or you fight with everything you have, with a complete commitment of the entire society....more
I understand completely that anyone as accomplished and talented as Benvenuto Cellini has every right to be vainglorious, but he goes a bit overboard I understand completely that anyone as accomplished and talented as Benvenuto Cellini has every right to be vainglorious, but he goes a bit overboard in his autobiography. If you believe what he says, he either beat up or fucked everyone living on the Italian peninsula in his lifetime.
Spanish has a wonderful saying about a man who brags, they say that he doesn’t have a grandmother, because a grandmother is usually the one to make a fuss about someone. Cellini obviously no tenía abuela. He also didn’t have a publicity agent, so we should forgive him. He was just out to sell himself. I would have bought what he was selling.
More than in any other book I’ve ever read, you take away from this memoir a sense of just how violent the times were back then. There wasn’t much in the way of law and order, and quite often a man had to defend what was his, sometimes to the death. Cellini had to kill a couple of motherfuckers in his time on earth. We shouldn’t judge him.
Even if you take everything he writes with a grain of salt, I don’t think anyone in our times could argue that he didn’t have a most extraordinary life. If you’re looking for a true definition of a Renaissance man, I think Benvenuto Cellini is a shining example....more
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