The God Gene Chronicles: The Secrets of the Gods
9.0
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Book
What would you do if you found out that everything you knew about your life was a lie? What if all...
Greeking Out (Destination Daddies)
10.0
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Book
Apollo A year of messaging on the Cuffd app has led me to understand one thing: Troy is the one...
Contemporary MM Romance Destination Daddies
Similo: Spookies
8.0
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Tabletop Game
Similo is a co-operative deduction game, and each version of the game — e.g., Fables, History,...
Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages
8.0
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Extraordinary women have held positions of power throughout history. But, aside from the select few,...
Non Fiction History Medieval
The book reads as a quasi-novel, from the birth of the universe to the third and fourth generations of immortals (this includes the creators, the titans, the gods, and mythical creatures/characters, spawns of titans and gods, gods and creatures, gods and men and all sorts.) and their adventures, each following on from the other.
I have always had an interest in the Greek myths and gods, and as I suggested above the really interesting part of these stories, beyond the very human nature of the immortals (jealousy, unreasonableness, duplicity, rage, deceit and pride) which makes for so much more of a believable creation theory, is the myriad ways they have influenced English language (any many others I'm sure). To give an example (I'm showing my own ignorance flagrantly here) a simple thing, the alphabet. It never occurred to me, in my own self centered existence, this simply come from the first and second letters of the Greek alphabet. Alpha and Beta. So simple, so obvious, yet I never made this connection.
The stories themselves are wonderful, and the best thing about them is they all tie in with a creation theory. Something, whatever it is, is learned, or created. Some paradigm is set, some moral conundrum is answered, or something in the world is explained by the end of every story told (the tides, the moon, wine, love, soul, war, sex, the seasons, humanity itself just to name a few). It's such an entertaining read, and I find myself telling anyone who will listen some of the revelations I find in this book page on page on page.
As an end note, don't be overwhelmed by the prospect of reading about these stories, this installment ONLY covers from creation, to the establishment of the twelve Greek gods, and their children. It stops before the even greater amount of legends stemming from human demigods (Hercules, Perseus etc) and these are picked up in Fry's most recent offering, Heroes (which I am yet to read).
If you have any interest in the Greek mythology, or etymology, or even history as a whole, this is absolutely one for you.
- Rob
Hannah (27 KP) rated Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind in Books
Jun 6, 2017
This book is a simple retelling of what we currently know about the history of humankind. It follows a path from our common ancestor with apes through the stages of revolution to our modern era. It takes a deeper look at the Argicultural and Cognitive Revolutions, and at the progressions of human society over thousands of years, including the development of writing, money and laws.
The author challenges many of the beliefs and myths we hold in our age, asking us to question why things are as they are. Why has society typically been patriarchal throughout our long history? Why, with a closer look at the structure of other species' societies, do we not live in a matriarchal society? He raises many questions that I never previously realised or thought about, and really has the capability of changing the way you look st society and how it developed.
This is a fascinating, well-written work sure to keep you hooked for the entirety of the book. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone with a curious or enquiring mind.
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Hero at the Fall: Rebel of the Sands Book 3 in Books
Jul 5, 2018
There's so little I can say about this book without spoiling the previous two! We learn even more about the Djinni in this book, and some of the creation myths of Amani's people. We get a little more into the politics of other countries, and even a bit of their magic. And ohhhh there are stories to be told there, if Hamilton wants to continue in this world. I'd love to see a prequel based on Sam, and his country could do an entire sequel trilogy!
I think one of my favorite scenes was Amani using her control of sand to sail their ship across the desert. It's just an amazing visual.
This was one of the best concluding books to a trilogy that I have read in a long time. Fantastic book.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
Sonofdel (6291 KP) rated Harry H Corbett: The Front Legs of the Cow in Books
Oct 31, 2019
What the Hell Happened to My Brain?: Living Beyond Dementia
Kate Swaffer, Steven R. Sabat, Shibley Rahman and Richard Taylor
Book
Kate Swaffer was just 49 years old when she was diagnosed with a form of younger onset dementia. In...
The Great Train Robbery: Crime of the Century: The Definitive Account
Nick Russell-Pavier and Stewart Richards
Book
Definitive account of the famous 1963 Great Train Robbery - and its aftermath. In the early hours of...