I’ve always loved castles. When I was a boy my dad, a carpenter, made me a castle as a Christmas present. It had four circular turrets, one at each coI’ve always loved castles. When I was a boy my dad, a carpenter, made me a castle as a Christmas present. It had four circular turrets, one at each corner, and a drawbridge that could be raised and lowered. It’s probably the best present I ever received. And when I worked in Wales for a period I used to take my son to visit castles at Caerphilly and Cardiff – I’m not really sure whether this was for his education or to feed my own fascination with these structures. So when I spotted this book I knew it was something I’d lap up.
It’s a pictorial journey through abandoned hill and sea forts, castles, towers and citadels from Europe to the Americas and from Africa to India and Japan. The structures featured here were built as early as the 6th Century BCE and as late as the 5th Century CE. This collection comprises 150 stunning photographs detailing more than 100 fortifications. My favourites include:
- The intricate fort at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India, its walls covered in sculptures depicting scenes from Hindu mythology.
- Caught on a misty day, Corfe Castle in Dorset, England, looks stunning perched in a commanding position on a steep hill in a break between the Purbeck Hills.
- The triangular Caerlaverock Castle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland was the only British castle build in this shape.
- Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland is perched on a headland jutting into the North Sea. It was where the Scottish crown jewels were hidden when Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland in 1650.
- The fortifications at Palamidi, Nafplio, Peloponnese, Greece seems to dramatically crawl down the mountain.
A great book to browse through and to dream of times past.
My thanks to Amber Books Ltd and NetGalley for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
In 1881 Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, an American with no Arctic experience, led a team of men to explore the upper reaches of Northern Greenland in In 1881 Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, an American with no Arctic experience, led a team of men to explore the upper reaches of Northern Greenland in what became known as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. His aims were to record observations relating to branches of physics, meteorology and botany, as part of a more wide reaching plan to establish a ‘girdle’ of stations around the entire Arctic region. Greely also hoped to achieve the accolade of having travelled Farthest North and, if possible, reach the North Pole. It was planned to be a long trip lasting two or more years, with supply ships travelling up to their base to renew provisions on an annual basis.
It’s worth noting that at the time of the trip’s commencement there were still those who believed that beyond the Greenland lay a sea that was a tropical paradise, complete with palm trees. Little, indeed, was known of this area. Greely’s outward journey was difficult enough but he eventually established a base on the Canadian side of the Robeson Channel which he named Fort Conger. From this base he sent out teams to explore regions to the north, east and west. One of his teams did, in fact, reach the most northerly spot yet travelled, in May 1882, and for the most part activities went to plan as a huge amount of data was collected. But problems began when the first supply ship failed to reach them in the Summer of that year – it had to turn back due to the volume of ice blocking the channel. This was compounded in 1883 when the second supply ship became caught up in the ice and sank. As it became clear to Greely that they were not going to receive supplies he decided to close down the camp and head south with his team, hoping that either or both previous re-supply attempts had at least succeeded in offloading caches of food and other essentials at stop off points they’d pass en route - only to find that to a large extent they hadn’t!
The first third of this book deals with the planning for the trip and the period up to Greely’s departure from Fort Conger. It’s interesting enough but really it only serves to pave the way for the horrendous journey they are about to embark on, which takes up the remainder of the book. The sources for this book are many but the largest contributors were Greely himself and members of his team who recorded their own thoughts and accounts in journals that they updated throughout the period. I won’t go into too much detail here as it would spoil it for anyone who is drawn to read this riveting tale, but I will say that the way the story is told ratchets up the tension incrementally as one obstacle after another is thrown at this valiant group. This interpretation of events focuses on the adventure, triumphs and tragedies of the men but also on their unity and brotherhood. It’s a truly exhilarating but heart rending read.
This book certainly puts me in mind of Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage which tracks the the famous British explorer’s exploits in the Antarctic, some thirty years later. Shackleton and Greely faced similar challenges but the outcomes for the two parties vary significantly. I’m hard pressed to state which is the greater book, both are truly enthralling. The bravery and stoicism demonstrated by men on both of these voyages is amazing, and truly humbling.
There is one unfortunate footnote to the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition and it concerns precisely how some of the men managed to survive when the food stock ran down to virtually nothing. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what some of the claims were but, whatever the truth, in his leadership and determination to protect and deliver his team to eventual safety Greely will ever be a true hero in my mind.
I received an advance readers’ edition of this book from St Martin’s Press in return for an honest review....more
I suppose everyone is familiar with DaVinci’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa. It might just be the most famous painting of all time, by anyone. II suppose everyone is familiar with DaVinci’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa. It might just be the most famous painting of all time, by anyone. I once queued up to see it in person, only to discover that I could only view it under the arms of and between the heads of a throng of people who’d beaten me to it. I recall being surprised at how small and how dark it was. I also enjoyed Dan Brown’s conspiracy theory regarding his painting of the Last Supper in his novel The Da Vinci Code, a theory comprehensively debunked in this book. I’d even come across his depiction of The Vitruvian Man, even though I didn’t fully appreciate it’s genesis or significance. So in my mind the great man’s ability to draw and paint was not in doubt, but what of his other gifts? I was less sure of these.
I’d enjoyed the author’s biography of Steve Jobs, a man who he’d spent countless hours with and had also been afforded the opportunity to talk to many of his colleagues and acquaintances. I’d found that Isaacson was able to really bring Jobs to life on the page, but what of a man who’d lived over five hundred years ago, how much could he, could anyone, really know about this man? Well, it turns out that Da Vinci was an incessant note taker, carrying a notebook with him at all times and forever scribbling thoughts, drawing pictures and making ‘to do’ lists. Moreover, over seven thousand pages of these notes still exist to this day! To put this in context, the author points out that this is greater in volume than the total number of emails he and Steve Jobs were able to retrieve to aid the writing of his bio.
Born in 1452, from the start there were a number of things that might have be considered obstructions to his long-term success: he was left-handed, gay, did not receive full formal schooling and had been born illegitimately. What he did have going for him, however, was imagination, perseverance, undying inquisitiveness and startling observational skills. His interests ranged from art to mechanics, mathematics (though he was never to become wholly proficient in this subject), the human body and nature in all its forms. His stance throughout life was not to accept received wisdom but rather to conduct experimentation and observation and then draw his own conclusions. And subsequent study of his notes shows that he had formulated theories and made hugely significant discoveries that were to remain hidden for a hundred years or more as he sadly failed to publish his work. Many of these discoveries were later to be attributed to others who devised their own theories independently many, many years later.
It seems that though he’s best known as a painter he became a reluctant participant in this art as years passed. In fact, there are reportedly only around fifteen paintings have been fully, or mainly, attributed to him. He was a perfectionist who continually worked and re-worked his most famous pieces. His practice was to overlay diluted paint, building up layers until he achieved the desired effect. In fact, he worked on the Mona Lisa for sixteen years and had still not delivered the final version of the painting at the time of his death. His knowledge of optics was way ahead of its time and this meant that he could create effects that were simply not achievable by other artists.
Isaacson’s book is exhaustive in detail and at times exhausting to plough through. I listened to an audio version that ran to over seventeen hours in length and was accompanied by a very informative pdf document of one hundred and eleven pages. The combination of the two actually worked very well and I certainly didn’t feel cheated by not having a full colour hard copy to read through. It’s a comprehensive and thoroughly researched piece of work and though it does lack a little of the closeness to the man embodied in the Jobs book I do feel that I was able to gain a real feeling for Da Vinci and felt a genuine sense of sadness as this account of his life drew to a close....more
I love the whole concept of this book. It’s something I was vaguely aware of but had never attached a label to. Ghost Signs are the evidence a businesI love the whole concept of this book. It’s something I was vaguely aware of but had never attached a label to. Ghost Signs are the evidence a business leaves behind when it’s no longer there. Or to be more specific, it’s the sign displaying the name of the company and sometimes additional details of the enterprise. I’ve seen these locally, I’ve even worked in buildings where this has happened: old bank branches that are now shops or coffee houses. The signs may be carved into stone (as was often the case with old bank buildings in the UK – and similar to the Bowery Savings Bank featured in this book) or, more simply, a name painted directly on a wall adjacent to or above the business premises. Some are small and others cover vast areas of space. A number are barely visible and a few are are pretty well tucked away in dingy corners or below street level.
This book looks at Ghost Signs specifically in Manhattan. In fact, it doesn’t just look at the signs – and supply terrific photographs of the same – it also provides a potted history of each business featured. There’s some brilliant trivia too, interesting facts connecting some of the businesses with specific figures or events. And the book goes further, it sets the scene by running through what amounts to a history of the various neighbourhoods of New York, explaining how each district inherited its name and the way in which they have subsequently evolved. It’s an intriguing way of learning about the city.
I’ve got a few favourites here and they include a tiny sign on Seventh Avenue South on a spot where a five story building called the Voorhis once stood. After being purchased by the city and demolished, in the early 1900’s, it was later discovered that a minuscule triangle of land had been missed in the city survey. The family declined to donate this piece of land to the city and instead installed a sign which says ‘Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes’. I also loved some of the signs featuring neon tubing, such as the Rocco Restaurant sign in Greenwich Village, which has been repurposed to advertise a new eatery with a different name, though you can still clearly see the the chipped and peeling evidence of the old name below.
What a great hobby. I know I’ll be looking out for ghost signs wherever I go now and I might even photograph them to start my own collection. I really, really enjoyed this book. It’s essentially a browser but I read the whole thing through in a couple of days, I was absolutely hooked from the start.
My sincere thanks to Schaffer Publishing Limited and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more
It’s true that to see, in real life, many of the wonders featured in this book a degree of neck contortion is required. I’ve visited a number of the bIt’s true that to see, in real life, many of the wonders featured in this book a degree of neck contortion is required. I’ve visited a number of the buildings featured here and to appreciate the most dramatic element on show you have to look up. Unfortunately, on at least a couple of occasions I seem to have, at least partially, missed out. At the Sistine Chapel in Rome the ceiling is so high I found it hard to fully appreciate the detail of the amazing paintings (and note that anyone trying to take a photograph was immediately ushered out) and at the Sangrada Familia in Barcelona ongoing construction work partially obscured efforts to fully admire the amazing work above. But in this book the superbly detailed photographs fully display the staggering beauty on show in these buildings and in a wide range of others across the world.
The photographs are amazing, both the large overviews and the detailed breakdowns. Colours are vividly captured and the overall result is, at times, mind blowing. It definitely inspired a desire in me to visit more of these sites at some point. My favourites include the subterranean art displayed across the walls and ceilings in Stockholm’s Metro Stations and the ceramic tiles covering virtually every surface in the Imam Mosque at Asafan, Iran. Many of the images included in this book have a religious context, but some scenes are political in nature and others are hard to categorise. An informative text accompanies each. I was viewing an electronic version but I’d imagine a hard copy of this book would be a wonderful item to own and peruse at your leisure.
My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
As I write this, it’s a little over three years since Cameron resigned as the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister. Having led the campaign to remain in thAs I write this, it’s a little over three years since Cameron resigned as the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister. Having led the campaign to remain in the European Union, indeed having been responsible for allowing a referendum on the issue in the first place, it was always going to end in tears for him personally if the vote was lost. I’ve always thought him a decent man and really wanted to know more of his story. Also, as it’s the way of most political memoirs to dish the dirt somewhat, I wanted to know what he really thought of the people around him during this pivotal period.
I knew of his posh boy image, but I hadn’t quite realised quite how privileged a childhood he’d had. Old money, boarding school at aged 7, Eton College and Oxford University – well, it doesn’t get much more establishment than that! Throw in links to the Royal Family, and here you have someone who’s been given every opportunity to succeed. And very soon, armed with a first-class honours degree (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), he was on his way.
There’s a little bit here on his upbringing, education, and early career steps, but the majority of the text centres on his time as leader of the Conservative Party and his six years as PM. The tenor of the book is largely formal and factual, and there’s sadly very little time for gossip or name calling. In fact, it all sometimes feels uncomfortably like a presentation or a speech. There are, though, a few occasions where a sense of humour shyly shows its head – I listened to an audio version read by Cameron himself and his gift for mimicry and grasp of regional accents really surprised me. There was, too, a section on the death of his young son, which was truly, heartbreakingly sad.
I’d expected his account of his years ‘in power’ to be largely self justifying and, to a significant extent that’s exactly what I found. He provides lengthy pronouncements on problems he inherited from a Labour government and protracted explanations of the actions he took in an effort to redress these issues. Where any doubt exists as to whether a decision he took or action he sanctioned was, in fact, beneficial for the nation he breaks down his thought process in some detail, listing why he chose a particular course of action and what other other options he considered. I confess that these sections tended to feel clunky and somewhat tedious.
Though he does point out instances where he feels he erred during his time in office, he certainly details what he considers to be his major achievements exhaustively. He also makes it clear who he thinks is principally responsible for these achievements – the words I ordered, I said and I did crop up continually. He confesses that he’s a ‘head under the car bonnet’ kind of guy, and he definitely doesn’t scrimp on the detail. In fact, one point that was driven home to me was just how much detailed knowledge a PM is required to absorb on such a huge range of issues - it really does seem truly mind-blowing and it's clearly not a job for anyone who values seven or eight hours sleep every night.
This is a large book, over seven hundred pages or thirty hours of audio, and a basic knowledge of macroeconomics is useful if you are to fully understand some of Cameron’s more detailed points. But on the whole, this is an easy to follow and highly interesting account of a key time in the UK's history. I know it’s just one man’s view of what happened through this period, but it’s an intriguing perspective all the same....more
I’m always somewhat sceptical about books written by investigative journalists concerning political figures, particularly when they don’t feature convI’m always somewhat sceptical about books written by investigative journalists concerning political figures, particularly when they don’t feature conversations carried out directly with the politician himself or herself. What’s the agenda here and what are the political inclinations of the journalist? But this book is penned by Bob Woodward, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was at the centre of the Nixon Watergate exposure. Surely Bob wouldn’t make it up – would he? And the blurb with this book claims that he draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with first-hand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. Ok, that sound pretty authoritative. The focus here is on how Trump makes decisions on major domestic and foreign policies and on the relationships he has with his senior team. It’s explosive stuff.
Without straying into the detail of the text I’ll summarise my take:
- Trump comes across as a fly-by-the–seat-of-his-pants operator. His mind flip-flops from one topic to another seemingly at random. He’s obsessed with news coverage, especially when it directly involves him. He’s hot-headed, knee-jerk in his decision making and is over influenced by members of his family, notably his daughter and son-in-law. He often (maybe usually) makes important decisions without heeding the advice of his team and then proceeds to announce the outcome via Twitter, which might be the first his team get to hear of it.
I suppose little or none of this comes as a surprise – it’s exactly what I would have expected, based solely on what I’ve previously read about the man or witnessed via news coverage.
- Woodward paints a picture of a man with narrow and outdated views, someone who is living in the past when it comes to issues such as the country’s switch from it’s historical position as a manufacturing giant to a much more service focused economy. He has a black and white protectionist view - if he doesn’t feel that it helps America then he’s against it. And he’s a hard man to move because his attention span is short and he refuses to listen to detailed presentations or read briefing papers. He’s pretty much all about the money, no matter what the issue. The result is that his policies are often contradictory and ever changing
Is this the sort of person you’d want leading your country, particularly given the degree of executive power he’s able to exert when compared to, say, a British Prime Minister? The scariest example of his do-it-all-yourself approach is the escalating series of Tweets he directed to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un concerning the size of the ‘red button’ on their respective desks. World War 3? Yeah, we’ll have some of that if you keep rattling my cage!
- So what of his man management skills? Well, what man management skills! He’s a hirer and firer of epic proportions. The hiring seems to be done on gut-feel and the firing is almost always down to differing views on something – i.e. Trump doesn’t work with anyone for long if they don’t share his views on what needs to be done. He’s direct, rude and profane. He’s a classic narcissist and is totally lacking in empathy and sympathy.
Ok, so he’s a tough guy to work with, does this make him a bad leader? I think the answer is yes, if he refuses to listen and won’t change his views no matter what the advice is or the strength of evidence to support that advice.
I kept thinking that there must be an upside to Trump, that as a change agent he might just be the right man to bulldoze through the major initiatives that are needed, to be the leader that will make things happen. But there’s little evidence as yet that he’s able to achieve this as there has been only one significant legislative change thus far under his leadership, that being on on tax reform (as at the date of publication of this book, September 2018). Maybe he’ll yet surprise his detractors and pull something out of the bag, but I fear the odds are against it.
On the evidence of this book, Trump is a simple man – a bully and a liar – who has somehow found himself in a position of incredible power. Will he use it or abuse it? Time will tell, but I know on which side of the fence I currently sit....more
As the Brexit debate continues to rage across Great Britain, I thought it a good time to refresh my knowledge (and memory) of the key events impactingAs the Brexit debate continues to rage across Great Britain, I thought it a good time to refresh my knowledge (and memory) of the key events impacting my homeland throughout, and just prior to, my lifetime. Andrew Marr is a political commentator I’ve always much admired and I’d caught the tail end of the BBC serialisation of this book when it was aired in 2007, always thereafter wishing that I’d tuned in from the beginning. The book picks up events from the end of World War II in Europe and takes us through to the end of Tony Blair’s reign as Prime Minister.
There’s quite a bit of politics here, as you might expect, but plenty of other topics are covered too, including: fashion, sport, music, scientific discoveries and much more. The first thing that struck me is just how much changed in such a relatively short space of time. In the 1940’s GB was in a terrible state, having hocked ourselves up to the eyeballs to finance the war effort; rationing wasn’t to end until 1954, not long before I was born! People were in the mood for something new, and this eventually heralded the hedonism of the Swinging Sixties. The seventies were a time I do remember but it’s sobering to realise that many of the major world events simply passed me by, so focussed was I on my own small world. In the eighties and nineties, I do recall being a bit more tuned in to what was going on around me, but not fully so, and certainly not into the political shenanigans of the day. That said, I was aware of Thatcher and the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentinian troops and the subsequent short war was probably the first time I paid close attention to the evening news bulletins.
Beyond this, the events covered in this book feel a little more familiar but there’s still quite a few political connections I’d missed and lots of detail that was new to me. It’s not a book that seeks to delve in the minutiae, rather it provides an overview and a context for the events and cultural changes of the day. I found it completely fascinating and brilliantly observed by Marr.
The final thing that struck me is just how much has changed since this book was published. The financial crash of 2008 came just after and much has changed in Britain and across the world since. When my son, currently aged 22, looks back on the first 60 years of his life will he be as surprised as I am at the rate of change (I was tempted to say ‘progress’ but I’m not sure that’s necessarily the right word)? Time, as they say, will tell....more
I've read my share of leadership texts over the years – an occupational necessity for a while – and a name I came across more than once was Ernest ShaI've read my share of leadership texts over the years – an occupational necessity for a while – and a name I came across more than once was Ernest Shackleton. Some sources reckoned him to be possibly the greatest leader that ever lived. Well that’s some claim and it’s something I knew I'd have to look into sooner or later. So when I came across this book, originally published in 1959, the time had finally arrived.
I knew that the man was an Antarctic explorer but precious little else. I soon learned that after having twice previously failed to reach the South Pole, in 1914 he set off with a 28 man crew hell bent on becoming the first person to cross the Antarctic continent. If you don’t already know the story then I’ll not spoil it by giving a full run down of how it played out but what I will say is that quite early on Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, was crushed by ice flows leaving everyone stranded on the ice pack. They were left in a truly desperate situation, exposed in the freezing cold hundreds of miles from any civilisation and with no means of contacting any potential source of assistance. It was to take well over a year for events to unfold to a conclusion.
This really is an amazing adventure story. I'd even go so far as to say that were I to have been told that this was a work of fiction I'd have dismissed it as overblown and way too far fetched to be believable. The story is brilliantly told and I enjoyed it all the more for having had no pre-knowledge of these events. It's been pieced together from first hand accounts handed down through interviews with members of the crew and from diary entries (some of the crew kept diaries throughout the ordeal). I found myself totally gripped by this account. The terrible conditions the crew faced and the many acts of daring, bravery and stoicism reported here are truly humbling.
And what of Shackleton’s leadership qualities? Well he definitely had a style I struggle to recognise from my business experience but there’s no doubt that he did display many of the acknowledged skills and behaviours we’re told are essential for any good leader. He was open and honest (sometimes brutally so), also decisive and he certainly employed effective delegation. He showed, too, a readiness to improvise, an ability to get the group working as a team and he maintained throughout a faith and optimism that simply beggars belief. The best ever? I'm not sure about that but he pulled off the virtually impossible, so maybe he truly does deserve this accolade....more
Garry Gallagher is Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the author and editor of many books on the American Civil War. In this book Garry Gallagher is Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the author and editor of many books on the American Civil War. In this book (I listened to it on audio) he delivers a series of 48 lectures examining on the background to the war, the repercussions following Northern victory and how the conflict affected all people in America. Along the way he delves into some pretty deep detail on how armies were recruited, strategic breakdowns of key battles, pen pictures of leading figures and many more related topics. The audiobook was accompanied by a comprehensive word document aimed at helping the listener fully get to grips with the subject matter.
Although this is effectively a course designed for students or others wishing to study the war, it’s actually pretty easy listening. Gary has an engaging and enthusiastic delivery and the information is very well structured into bite sized chunks. I liked too that the author/presenter is prepared to nail his colours to the mast on some much debated and contentious issues. And although I did occasionally refer to the word document (and sometimes other sources) I felt that the only reason for me to do this was an occasional desire to refresh, ingrain or further explore particular elements covered in the lectures. This is clearly a massive subject and to undertake an exhaustive review it would be necessary to augment the information contained herein with additional study on the detail of the many components of the war, but I believe that the material here is comprehensive enough to satisfy the interest of all but serious students of the conflict.
I started out with only a very rudimentary knowledge of some key events and in the course of imbibing the the 24 hours or so of information supplied it certainly fleshed out my knowledge considerably and, for me, it also threw up a number of surprises, namely:
- I’d always been led to believe that the United States had, from the very start of the war, held an overpowering superiority over the Confederacy. However, Gary’s assertion is that at the outset, when the various advantages and disadvantages were taken into account, the chances of either side winning was relatively equal. The North had money and numbers heavily weighted in their favour but this was somewhat negated by the home field advantage held by the South. In terms of senior military figures, both had sets of Generals who had been trained at West Point and blooded in the Mexican War.
- I hadn’t realised that Maryland, bordering the nations capital, was at the time of the war a slave state and early in the conflict it remained quite possible that this state could itself have chosen to declare secession from the Union. I was also surprised to learn that at one-point Confederate troops ventured as far north as the suburbs of Washington D.C.
- I’d no idea that President Lincoln’s preferred way of dealing with freed African American slaves was to have them removed from the American continent and shipped to to Africa or the Caribbean. Or that he had trialled this concept in an ill fated venture using Haiti as the haven for this colonization experiment.
In summary, I found this to be an excellent way of gaining a good overview of the war and all associated elements. I’d certainly be encouraged to explore this way of learning about other key historical events....more
I must admit that I was totally unaware of Christopher Hitchens until I was directed to watch a YouTube video showing him being interviewed by BritishI must admit that I was totally unaware of Christopher Hitchens until I was directed to watch a YouTube video showing him being interviewed by British journalist Jeremy Paxman. The interview was conducted in 2010, about a year before Hitchens was to succumb to cancer of the oesophagus. In the interview, I was impressed by his rather dispassionate acceptance of his imminent demise and also the fact that he appeared to be just about the most articulate person I’d ever heard speak. It seemed to me that you could take each of his utterances, examine it closely and yet be totally unable to improve upon its fluency or coherence. I knew instantly that I needed to know more about this man.
A quick scan of available literature threw up this autobiography, and as a bonus the audio version read by the man himself. If by any chance you’ve yet to come across him then a quick pen portrait would include the words: writer, intellectual, atheist, polemicist, socialist, agitator and contrarian. Always a controversial figure, he wrote widely on politics, culture and literature whilst working for and contributing to a whole list of newspapers and magazines. There are many videos available online of his television appearances – I particularly enjoyed an airing of a debate on religion where he took on former British PM Tony Blair. He also publishing a whole raft of books, including a highly critical account of the role of Mother Teresa and another detailing his case against religion.
He was born in Portsmouth, England to a father he always had a rather distant relationship with and an unconventional, social climbing mother. He says that as far as he can recall he was always keen to make something of himself and so when his mother insisted on packing him off to public school (despite its strain on the family finances) he saw this as his ticket to a good university and subsequent high achievement. His account of his time at school (not a particularly happy period in his life) reads like an except from Tom Brown’s School Days. Oxford University followed where his interest in left wing politics and all things literary were amply fed during his time at Balliol College.
He was in his mid-twenties when he received a casual phone call from an acquaintance who’d seen a news item concerning someone who might be his mother. It transpired that his mother had travelled to Athens with her new lover where they had both committed suicide in their hotel room. This is an extremely harrowing section and it’s clear from his account that he was constantly haunted thereafter by the knowledge that when the staff found her body the telephone in the hotel room was off the hook – had she been trying to contact someone at the end or had she even had a late change of heart?
Hitchens became deeply involved in politics and there are long section detailing various meetings he attended with groups, political figures and writers. He travelled widely to pretty much anywhere he identified a cause. Was there a war zone or conflict he didn’t pay a visit to? He normally stayed in low level accommodation but seemed to habitually smoke and drink heavily. In truth, I found this section of the book hard work only saved by infrequent interludes of absolute hilarity such as a section in which he shares anecdotes of times spent with his friend, author Martin Amis.
In the second half of the book we see the author start to drift away from his support of the hard left. His defence of his friend Salman Rushdie, following the publication of his book The Satanic Verses, was potentially a tipping point with many on the left unwilling to condemn the ayatollah’s fatwa. The September 11 attacks further prompted him to believe that it was necessary to defend civilisation from terrorists and against the totalitarian regimes that protect them. In a lengthy section covering his thoughts on the Gulf War (1990-91) which he opposed and the Iraq War (2003) which he supported, he explains his thinking in some detail. This, like a few other sections of the book, reads like a detailed essay on the subject and it’s clear that the author can argue a good case, if you have the patience and wit to unpick it.
In one way I really enjoyed the fact that Hitchens was reading his own book aloud, it certainly spiced up the humour and added pathos to quite a few events in his life. The downside though is that he had a recurring habit of starting a sentence speaking quite loudly and clearly but towards the end both the volume and clarity tended to fade away rather quickly, often leaving him to finish it off with a few mumbled words or in a whisper. This wasn’t so much of a problem when I was listening to him in the quiet of my own home, but any ambient noise rendered it just about impossible to comprehend the message he was trying to convey.
Hitchens doesn’t really talk about his marriages or his children, they merit just a few lines here, this is a book about his life outside the family. He was certainly a deep thinker and expresses strong views on many subjects. I very much admire the fact that he was a brave supporter of causes and there’s no doubt that he possessed a piercing intelligence and a dry, edgy sense of humour. He occasionally admits to mistakes too, though I think in his eyes these are relatively few. My only real reservation about the way in which he catalogues his life here is that it seemed as though every other page contained yet another literary reference, usually from writers or figures I’d never heard of – to me this just felt slightly overbearing. But this is a book that certainly taught me a good deal about political history and made me hungry for more information on many of the subjects covered. It also acquainted me – albeit too late - with a man described in his Guardian obituary as the left’s biggest journalistic star....more
In this book Pope Francis lays out his thoughts on a variety of issues, during a series of twelve meetings with French researcher, intellectual and wrIn this book Pope Francis lays out his thoughts on a variety of issues, during a series of twelve meetings with French researcher, intellectual and writer Dominique Walton. In addition to a summary of the discussions, the text includes extracts from sixteen speeches delivered by the Pope since his election in 2013. The subject matter includes, amongst other things: globalisation, diversity, communication and what the the pontiff believes to be the greatest threat to world peace. My position on religion is that of an agnostic, or perhaps (a new word I was recently introduced to) an apatheist. I'm certainly not against religion, in any of it’s many forms; I believe that, at its best, religion can propose a set of moral guidelines or rules by which societies and individuals can set out their stall or judge themselves by. In other words, I do think that the church, by working as common conscience and by vocalising its thoughts on important issues, can serve a useful purpose.
So what of this book? Well, the first thing to say is that it’s not an easy read. To me, it quickly highlights one of the issues the church has, that of clearly communicating its message to non-believers. Pope Francis is clearly a very intelligent, well read and articulate man and when he speaks on a number of topics I found myself having a good deal of sympathy with his thoughts. The problem is that there is a lot of difficult stuff to get through to fully comprehend where he’s coming from. Religions have their own vocabulary and there are numerous terms, words and references that left me puzzled. I confess I ended up skipping over much of this stuff.
Here are some of the elements that did grab me, though:
His statement that we are going through ‘World War 3 in instalments’, I found interesting. In his view the biggest threat to world peace is money, in that weapons are supplied around the world by the West, who then bemoan the fact that they have to resolve issues, often by force, that they’ve contributed to creating. He talks a lot here about the need for social and political engagement – clear communication with all sides actively listening to each other. In fact, communication is a big theme in this book: the need for dialogue, negotiation and a desire to ‘build bridges’ (a phrase he repeats often).
He has strong views on globalisation too. He feels that it removes diversity, and that’s a bad thing. There is a need for unity, he says, not uniformity. His view is that we should accept and embrace difference. A common sense overview, maybe, but not one that is holding much sway in today’s world. He also talks of the danger represented by fundamentalists who only accept their own view of how things should be done. Again, a view that is hard to disagree with but but it's a problem that's going to be so very hard to resolve.
In a speech in 2015, the Pope made three key points:
1. That the economy ‘should not be a mechanism for accumulating goods, but rather the proper administration of our common home’
2. The idea that peoples culture, language and social processes should be respected
3. The need to ‘defend Mother Earth’ (primarily this being focused on the need for humanity to address climate change and rebalance its relationship with the planet and each other)
It’s hard to argue with these points, I think!
Overall I found this book to be a fascinating insight into the thinking of the head of the Catholic Church. I was impressed by his breadth of knowledge and his depth of thinking. It certainly doesn’t change my stance on religion but it does strengthen my view that religious leaders do have a valuable role to play in ‘big’ politics, though certainly not party political politics, if (and it’s quite a big if) we can find an effective way of harnessing it.
My sincere thanks to Don Shanahan from Bluebird and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
If you were told you had but six days left to live and that you could spend them with your family or you could ‘see what no living man has seen’, whatIf you were told you had but six days left to live and that you could spend them with your family or you could ‘see what no living man has seen’, what would you choose? Such a choice was presented to John of Wrayment, in plague ridden 14th Century England, and he chose the latter.
So starts this entertaining romp set in and around the city of Exeter, Devon. The kicker to the choice he makes (courtesy of an encounter with a disembodied voice) is that each of his six days will be spaced 99 years after the last. Consequently, John awakes the following morning in the year 1447. Each day he is in the same spot (or close to) where he slept the night before – but, as you can imagine, each time he encounters a very different world. He is accompanied on this journey by his brother, William, who similarly heard a voice that fateful night.
The brothers were returning home after some time away and John, in particular, is desperate to see his wife and three young children. Yet he believes that the Black Death has now visited him and his choice is significantly driven by his determination not to pass this deadly disease on to his family. But devout John is also hoping he will find Heaven at the end of his particular road, if only he can find sufficient good deeds to complete, in the limited time available, to warrant his salvation. William is more fatalistic and after years of warring he’s in no doubt where his destiny lies. In their remaining days the brothers discover that war seems to be a constant background, as they meet some friendly and informative people and we are provided a good deal of insight as to how Exeter and the surrounding area has changed in the intervening periods. But bad things happen to them too and it's safe to say that the seven deadly sins are all on view.
One of the real delights for me here is that all the action takes place in my own back yard, as it were. I lived in Exeter for 10 years and I've spent the majority of my life in close proximity. The author is a renowned historian and at times it felt like I was reading a potted history of this great, historic city. We witness the changes through the eyes of the protagonists: the clothes people wear, the food people eat and the vocabulary that they use. And bigger changes too, as the city expands we are treated to an architectural journey through the centuries. In fact it can be seen as fully a cultural, religious and (to a lesser extent) political commentary on centuries of dramatic change and development.
But the author still keeps a grip on the narrative and deals competently (and sometimes amusingly) with the practical challenges facing the brothers. It's a book that's hard to categorise but if you enjoy time travel adventures, historical novels or you're open minded enough to just go with the flow then I expect you’ll find something here to enjoy here. I certainly did....more
At school, history was always my favourite subject. It didn’t so much feel that I was being taught something, rather that I was being told stories – oAt school, history was always my favourite subject. It didn’t so much feel that I was being taught something, rather that I was being told stories – often interesting stories, too. And as a legacy of those days I’ve retained an interest in events that formed the world in which we live. I read a reasonable amount of non-fiction to fill the gaping holes in my knowledge but once in a while I like to pick up a book by someone like Robert Harris who is able to mix history with a little imagination. This manages to remove any hint of the dryness you can sometimes get from lists of facts interspersed with the erudite views of whichever learned historian’s book you happen to have picked up. No, Harris (and his like) fill the gaps with what they imagined was done and said by the real-life protagonists and weave this into a proper story.
Here I was introduced to Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman politician and lawyer. The events covered in this book (book one of three) cover the years 79-64 BC. At this point Rome was a republic and Cicero’s declared life goal was to reach the highest elected political office, that of Consul. There’s a good deal of skulduggery and a fair sprinkling of the violent acts that were ‘enjoyed’ by Romans at that time, but there’s also courtroom drama and political intrigue. It’s a rich mix indeed.
The tale comprises the recollections of a first person narrator: Tiro was a slave and acted as secretary to Cicero. He’d invented a version of shorthand and thus was able to document, verbatim, words spoken by his master and others he came into contact with. In effect, the author has mixed known historical events with fragments of real speeches and extracts from letters to weave a compelling account of this time. It’s gripping stuff and, to me, it felt like a mix of a Grisham courtroom drama combined with the political double-dealing of an episode of House of Cards.
I love this way of taking in historical events and Harris just does it so well. I can’t wait to get my hands on book two....more
Jon Sopel is a respected (and as anyone paying attention to the recent gender pay debates will know, very well paid) journalist who works for the BBC.Jon Sopel is a respected (and as anyone paying attention to the recent gender pay debates will know, very well paid) journalist who works for the BBC. As North American Editor, he’s lived in Washington DC since 2014. One amusing recollection I have is of Donald Trump’s reaction to Sopel at a heated White House press conference, shortly after taking office. Trump was clearly agitated by the fact that he was about to be asked a question by a reporter from the BBC, stating ‘here’s another beauty’ and then later, after Sopel had asked his question, chillingly ‘I know who you are’. This anecdote is covered in the opening Section of this book which goes on to reflect on Sopel’s time in America and his thoughts on Trump and the country he now leads.
Actually, his view of Trump is interesting; he clearly admires his ability to communicate directly to people through his expert use of social media but, it seems, is less taken with the man himself and some of his administration’s policies. Though being a news reporter, Sopel’s main focus is on how Trump has managed to sidestep and overpower traditional news media. Aside from his assiduous use of social media, he suggests that Trump’s use of fake news and post-truth (the use of ‘alternative facts’ to replace actual facts and where where feelings have more weight than evidence) have had a huge impact on a significant number of Americans. It’s possible that many ignore the obvious exaggerations and mistakes in detail (or outright lies) but focus instead on the general underlying message – and as a result many of them are sold on Trump’s view of the world and his focus on how to make America great again.
There are reflections on guns – the fact that America have lots of them and the U.K. very few – though there's little new insight here. Aside, that is, from some of the statistics used, which are truly scary! Then there’s the so called special relationship between America and the U.K., which he largely dismisses as diplomatic claptrap. But one of the most interesting sections is on religion. The author goes to some lengths to demonstrate how much more religious Americans are than any other Western country. It seems that more than half the population consider themselves ‘seriously religious’ and it’s virtually inconceivable that an atheist candidate could – at this time, at least – find his or her way to the White House.
There are other mildly interesting sections on access to medical help (little new here), pharmaceutical advertising (something I witnessed myself and was staggered by on a recent visit) and the American view on what the state should do for individuals versus what they should take responsibility for themselves.
Overall I found this to be an entertains, occasionally amusing and often insightful look at life on the other side of the pond. Highly recommended....more
This book covers the history of the area known as the Silk Road since it was first used, by traders circa 200 years BCE, up to very recent times. I'd This book covers the history of the area known as the Silk Road since it was first used, by traders circa 200 years BCE, up to very recent times. I'd touched on some of this history before but Peter Frankopan comes at events from a slightly different angle: essentially, his premiss is that early civilisation wasn't actually shaped by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians - it was the Persians who provided the catalyst for much of the learning and development that established the world we now live in. His view is that as people travelled the Silk Road routes, between China and the Mediterranean, ideas and religions as well as all sorts of goods travelled with them and that early scholars from the surrounding areas were, in fact, way ahead of the curve.
At an early stage I was seeking out early maps of the area to ascertain where exactly Persia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Asia Minor and other ancient names actually featured in the geography as we understand it today. The text is, in truth, rather textbook dry but it’s also peppered with small bits of wisdom and knowledge that surprised and delighted me. But it's a long book and I started to find myself rushing through sections to get to the periods I was most interested in.
The final sections of the book deal with events post WWII. I found to this part to be fascinating; even though I'd lived through most of this period, I quickly realised how little I really knew about how this bit of history had unfolded. The conclusion to the book is sobering too as it draws attention to the rich natural resources of the area (gas, oil and minerals) and how this is bringing increasing wealth to nations I couldn't even point to on a map. Frankopan suggests that history may well be turning full circle and cites examples to support his case that in the future the East may be rediscover its former pre-eminence over the West.
A thoughtful and thought provoking book for anyone interested in discovering more about the colourful history of this area....more
When it comes to religion, I’ve long been unsure whether to describe myself as an agnostic or an atheist. As a boy I attended a Christian (Methodist) When it comes to religion, I’ve long been unsure whether to describe myself as an agnostic or an atheist. As a boy I attended a Christian (Methodist) church some Sundays with my parents, where a kindly gentleman would take the children aside and talk to us about… well, I can’t actually recall what he talked to us about. He obviously didn’t leave a big impression on me. Later, I attended the church youth club for a while but was eventually expelled for stealing off to a pub during a trip to a neighbouring town – the consumption of alcohol being considered a step to far for the club leader. I even dabbled with a GCE Advanced Level Theology course in my last year at school but that didn’t last long, the material was just too dry and heavy for my tastes. In fact, I always found religion to be too obscure, the debates too esoteric. I didn’t get it, and I didn’t really believe it either.
This book is written in an easy to follow, matter of fact way. I found it particularly interesting as religious education classes I’d attended at school (at least, from what I can remember) focussed entirely on the Christian faith. I left school knowing virtually nothing about other world religions and what I’d subsequently picked up along the way seemed sketchy at best. I was also thankful that the text here wasn’t in any way ‘preachy’ about the subject matter; it’s very much a straight forward history of how the various religions have developed, their key beliefs and what this means for its followers.
All of the major religions are covered and some minor ones too. For instance, I was fascinated to learn that that followers of the ancient Indian religion of Jainism believe in non-violence to the extent they don’t sanction the killing any of living creature and that this also extends to ‘living’ plants. Their food intake is therefore restricted to fruit that has already fallen from the tree. Followers have been known to have intentionally starved themselves to death, a practice not considered to be suicide but rather the ultimate act of spiritualism and self discipline. The text is reasonably comprehensive, if high level, with the whole spectrum of the good, the bad and the ugly aspects being touched on here: the way in which lives have been enriched but also how wars have been fought on the grounds of competing beliefs and how groups have suffered horrific persecution.
So, did this book make me feel differently about religion? I can certainly see that each religion adopts a set of moral guidelines, or rules, that are pretty much essential to any intelligent society. That’s obviously a good thing and to some extent I can see that the dwindling of the Christian faith in the UK has led to what I consider to be a certain moral decline. It’s hard to pinpoint this precisely, but I nonetheless do believe this to be the case. But the bit that I can’t get past, the element that just doesn’t work for me, is the fact that each religion essentially starts with a man (an it’s just about always a man) professing to have received a message from a divine being and then claiming to speak on the entity’s behalf. No, I don’t buy this – particularly given the range of messages passed down to these so called prophets. This book lays out an interesting and colourful history in a very digestible way – but, in truth, it’s one that’s nudged me significantly closer to atheism....more
Have you ever thought what a complex world it is we live in? Why do some countries look to have it all whilst others seem destined to always struggle?Have you ever thought what a complex world it is we live in? Why do some countries look to have it all whilst others seem destined to always struggle? Each country has its own history of rivalries and ancient disputes with neighbouring nations – where do these stem from? And what about the frequent border changes – why have these occurred and surely they’ve created additional tensions, haven’t they? I have an old Reader’s Digest Great World Atlas (published in 1961) and a quick perusal of the pages just covering Europe and the southern reaches of Africa is enough to tell me that many of the names therein have long ago been cast onto the geographical scrapheap. Well the good news is that this book provides the answers to these questions… and many more.
Broken down into sections covering associated areas of the globe I first learnt how natural geography handed out the lottery prizes. Much of Europe, for example, is blessed by having long rivers, some of which flow into each other, creating natural vessels for moving resources around and thus significantly aiding the establishment of trading routes. Africa, on the other hand, has big rivers but they are all frequently interrupted by large waterfalls and they don’t meet up with other rivers, therefore precluding their use for large scale movement of goods. Then there’s the climate: again Africa draws the short straw (along with South America) with large areas providing a home for mosquitos which carry diseases such as Malaria and Yellow fever. And what about the land itself? Areas of Jungle, desert and high mountains have provided natural boundaries but also create problems for transporting goods and for travel. Yes, when you are born the natural lay of the land and climate will have predetermined – to an extent – how prosperous a country you will be born into.
History provides the second set of answers. Some countries with natural resources of gas, oil and minerals have been able to utilise their good fortune to enrich their nation (though not necessarily the people who live there). Others have been plundered by aggressive predatory forces hell bent on helping themselves to the assets. Boundaries have been changed through occupation and particularly as a result of the World Wars. These changes were often made by lines being drawn on maps without regard to ancient groupings based on tribal and religious backgrounds – the cause of many long standing disputes and conflicts can be traced back to these actions.
The great thing about this book is that the way it is organised allows these elements to be presented in a logical, organised way that not only makes perfect sense but also allows the reader to understand much of the geopolitical bickering that goes on to this very day. It’s a brilliant book and it’s bang up to date. I’d urge anyone interested in improving their knowledge of the big picture to grab a copy....more
I thought this third volume of Simon Schama’s History of Britain would be the one I’d enjoy the most, after all I’d lived through a small part of it aI thought this third volume of Simon Schama’s History of Britain would be the one I’d enjoy the most, after all I’d lived through a small part of it and surely I knew more about the more recent history of this sceptred isle than the years covered in the earlier volumes. But no, in truth I found this volume to be rather dull in comparison. Maybe it’s the way the author decided to tell the tale: i.e.by by tracking the timeline through his focus on a small number of influential characters? Or perhaps it was the very fact that I already knew a good part of the story? Or could it be that the early volumes had just covered more colourful periods in our history? A bit of all three, I think.
The first half of this book seemed to drag horribly as social changes, the rise of women’s rights movements and the evolution of the role of the Royal Family were explored largely through the writings of Wordsworth and other notable scribblers. In the second half, things livened up a bit as big chunks describing the reign of Queen Victoria and the political life of Winston Churchill dominated the text. I did like the way the author off-set Churchill’s period of influence with sections on George Orwell. The two were obviously politically miles apart, but they were both outspoken orators of uncomfortable truths. I think this was the section of the book that worked best.
As I’ve found on numerous occasions when listening to these volumes, some key moments of history seem to have hitherto passed me by. For example, I’d previously known nothing of the Seige of Lucknow (1857) or the Great Famine in India (1876-78). I also was reminded of the enormous scale of the British Empire at it’s peak - in 1913 23% of the worlds population were under British rule. A staggering fact but one undermined by the knowledge that in achieving this level of control and influence the treatment of many native inhabitants was far from acceptable!
As I came close to the end I began to notice how some sections were skimpy in the extreme. For example, WW1 was barely covered - although WW2 was granted more space – and all events after 1945 were virtually skipped over. The establishment of the Welfare State was touched on as were the Thatcher years (dismissively) but suddenly Shama was winding it all up with his reflections on where Britain goes next.
The body of work comprised in these three volumes is staggering and I’ve gained a great deal from working through them. I highly recommend these books (and/or the BBC television series that accompanied their release) to anyone interested in exploring the history of this island....more
I’ve been boning up on some history lately and I thought it about time I covered WWII. I already knew the basics, of course, but I’d still regularly cI’ve been boning up on some history lately and I thought it about time I covered WWII. I already knew the basics, of course, but I’d still regularly come across accounts of battles and other details of the war that would surprise me - I really didn’t have a full mental picture of events. It was time to get the full low-down.
I take in non-fiction best via audio, especially if it’s a long and heavy account and more particularly if it’s full of facts and figures. This way I can let it flow over me and any unnecessary (to me) detail can just get washed away by the part-time focus, I always have when listening to books, on whatever secondary activity I’m involved in at the time. That said, I drank this one in whole, the detailed numbers quoted being mainly confined to documenting the number of dead and injured on all sides in this horrific war; the remaining minutiae significantly being devoted to detailing the unbelievable scale of armament and ammunition utilised and explanations of the military strategies deployed. All of it fascinating and horrifying in equal measure.
I soon realised that my prior knowledge of both the political background and the many military conflagrations had been sketchy at best. I learnt a good deal from this book, which I found to be well structured, evenly balanced and exhaustively comprehensive. There were a few times when I resorted to researching background detail via the Internet (e.g. the rationale for war extending through North Africa), but on the whole the vast canvas was laid out in such a way as to paint the big picture very clearly.
Key take-aways:
- Somehow I’d failed to previously appreciate quite how early in the war the Battle of Britain was fought, but in the context of what was to follow it made perfect sense. - I also hadn’t realised quite how successful the Japanese were in the early part of the war, or quite how much territory they gained control over. - The huge contributions (and sacrifices) made by Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa were really brought home. - The astounding fact that a number critical mistakes and oversights cost Hitler ultimate victory. It was a close run thing, but if a few key elements had gone the German’s way then victory really could have been achieved.
Along the way there were interesting sections on the work undertaken at Bletchley Park by the code breaking team and on petty rivalries between top ranking officers on the Allied team as the war drew to a close. The most difficult sections to listen to were the many sections discussing and describing atrocities carried out – mainly by German, Russian and Japanese forces. These were horrific to the extent I’m convinced they disturbed my sleep and prompted a number of unwelcome and unpleasant dreams (well, nightmares to be more accurate). It’s hard to comprehend the fact that humans carried out such acts on other humans.
Overall a superb documentation of a key part of modern history. I’m sure there are other brilliant books out there on the subject, but as a one stop shop this one certainly did the job for me....more
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