Galley Slave: The Autobiography of a Protestant Condemned to the French Galleys: v. 1: Seafarers' Voices
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This remarkable memoir tells of the miseries of Jean Marteilhe of Bergerac, 'a Protestant condemned...
Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible
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In the aftermath of recent financial crises, it's easy to see finance as a wrecking ball: something...
Politics economics finance
Bombing Hitler: The Story of the Man Who Almost Assassinated the Fuhrer
Hellmut G. Haasis and William Odom
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Georg Elser was just a working-class citizen living in Munich, Germany. He was employed as a...
Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism
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In the second century, Platonist and Judeo-Christian thought were sufficiently friendly that a Greek...
Nourishing the Inner Life of Clinicians and Humanitarians: The Ethical Turn in Psychoanalysis
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Nourishing the Inner Life of Clinicians and Humanitarians: The Ethical Turn in Psychoanalysis,...
Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig
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Unlike other barnyard animals, which pull plows, give eggs or milk, or grow wool, a pig produces...
Pulcinellopaedia Seraphiniana
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From the intriguing mind behind Codex Seraphinianus comes this beautifully illustrated tribute to...
Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint
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Two of the most famous mosaics from the Byzantine period, from the church of San Vitale in Ravenna,...
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Tiger Warrior (Jack Howard #4) in Books
Nov 26, 2019
This might sound far-fetched but Gibbins knows his archaeology and comes up with a plausible (if tenuous) story to make this work. The story is then taken up at the end of the 19th century in India when Howard's great great grandfather is part of the British Royal Engineers Corps trying to push roads - and hence British rule - into the jungle. He stumbles across an old temple that contains a secret.
The story roves around the the world showing us some incredible - but real - historic sites across Asia. Genuine books and records are quoted to back up the (modern day) Howard's quest to find out what happened - to both the Romans and his antecedant. Everything has very solid historical underpinnings with the more fantastic elements of the story cleverly weaved between them.
I did enjoy the book but it wasn't an unqualified success. There isn't really much menace, threat or drama in what happens to Jack Howard and his associates as they follow the past (told in a series of flashback chapters), uncovering clues one step at a time. Yes there are 'bad guys' but they seem quite ineffectual and the 'big boss' is in fact never seen at all but only mentioned in passing towards the end of the book. Judging by the notes from the author this is a very personal book - the character and story of Jack's ancestor in India is very much based on his own forebear - and this limits the scope for making the pieces fit into a pleasing whole.
That isn't to say I didn't enjoy reading it - as a subtle way of introducing surprising archaeological facts it works well (I didn't know that Ancient Rome traded with India but apparently so) and some of the set pieces are gripping to read. I will certainly be finding another Jack Howard book to read, but I suspect this was too personal a project for my first taste, which is s shame.
Roman Portable Sundials: The Empire in Your Hand
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In an unscientific era when maps were rarities, how did ancient Romans envisage their far flung...