I read Clan of the Cave Bear nearly 30 years ago. I didn't care for it. To much like a soap opera in prehistoric times.
I'm taking a detour from reading the biography of Agrippa to re-read this old favorite. How many of you here know anything about Sumeria, Babylonia, Ur, Uruk, Lagash, and all the other early city states that gave birth to civilization as we know it? I think its terrible how little interest the average Westerner has for the cradle of civilization, which not only gave us writing and the blueprint for advanced urban living, but also the place where many of the old biblical stories were born. Read this book and find out how the great Lord Enki gave birth to humanity at Eridu (where the legend of the garden of Eden begins), before sending a flood to wipe out humanity and sparing only one family in a boat full of animals. Read this book and find out how the talking snake in Inana Ishtar's garden took over her tree of life, and how the snake tricked a mortal hero who came to slay the snake, condemning the human to the underworld (the roots of the Genesis tree and snake story). If you want to not only understand civilization itself, but also the begining of the biblical tales 2,500 years before the Hebrews modified them and added revised versions of them to their religious cannons, take your time to read about these great civilizations of the fertile crescent..
Twas a good book. I am also fascinated with the thought of how long ORAL traditions and stories were passed down through prior generations BEFORE they were written down by the "cradle" of civilization.
I admire you folks who can read multiple books concurrently. I can do a book, a magazine article and some reading in reference books and my tiny brain is having a real workout.
I have to 'graze' since my attention span is short. So it is easier for me to hold my attention reading small sections at a time over several books. Helps me to be creative since my mind is spanning several stories and writing styles simultaneously.
So far so good, I love speculation about the future although it is usually wrong. I think the author has a view of the future that is colored by a stout dose of wishful thinking, but he certainly does have some interesting ideas.
Actually, the first book in the series is not bad, but each successive book in the series seemed so much like one of those daytime soap operas. My sister sent me the books when I was deployed during the First Gulf War, so I was reading it in circumstances that were not so good anyway. Maybe my memories of the books are colored, eh?
My big book from my deployment during that conflict was Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I still re-read it from time to time.
I'm currently reading "Roman Republic Moneyers And Their Coins 81 BCE-64 BCE" by Michael Harlan. It has been on my list for a while and I finally purchased it on the recommendation of @dougsmit in this thread. As it usually does, life happens and I ended up getting sidetracked after purchasing it and only just recently began reading it. I will of course post a longer discussion of it in Doug's thread once I finish it and have a bit of time to follow up on some notes I've made(mostly reviewing hoard evidence cited by Harlan) but I can say that so far, I am enjoying the book and based on the 30% or so I've read of it, I do recommend it for those who collect the coinage of this period.
"The Long Ships" by Frans G. Bengtsson is a fantastic viking historical novel. If you are interested in this time period then I highly recommend it. It is interesting, exciting, and actually has a lot of humor once you get into it. John
I often read two books at a time, switching back and forth as my state of mind varies.... "Another man's war" by Sam Childers the Machine Gun Preacher. and.... "Seeing God" a modernization of Jonathan Edward's eighteenth century treatise on recognizing spirituality in people and organizations.
I have always studied history. Coins have expanded my interests. My brother suggested SIX FRIGATES by Ian W. Toll. My 22 years in the Navy find this reading even more informative. One of the things I have learned is the politicking back in the late 1700's, early 1800's between the Federalists and Republican, if not more so, was as volatile as it is today.
I have this one on the shelf and plan to read it soon. You might also like To the Shores of Tripoli by Whipple. It's a great account of the Barbary Wars and the politics of the time.
"In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. A great read about the 1930's pre-war Nazi Germany. How many were lulled to complacency about what was actually going on prior to WW.II and makes one think about how uninformed we are even today.
Just finished 'Pompeii' by Prof. Mary Beard and have started 'SPQR' by the same author. Absolutely riveting reading. Makes me want to go back to Pompeii again. Been there twice, As good as Leptis Magna and Timgad!