Posted June 27, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment
Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body
Genres: History,
Non-fiction Pages: 432
Rating: 
Synopsis: The Greek and Roman body is often seen as flawless - cast from life in buff bronze and white marble, to sit upon a pedestal. But this, of course, is a lie.
Here, classicist Caroline Vout reaches beyond texts and galleries to expose Greek and Roman bodies for what they truly were: anxious, ailing, imperfect, diverse, and responsible for a legacy as lasting as their statues. Taking us on a gruesome, thrilling journey, she taps into the questions that those in the Greek and Roman worlds asked about their bodies - where do we come from? What makes us different from gods and animals? What happens to our bodies, and the forces that govern them, when we die? Vout also reveals the surprising actions people often took to transform their bodies - from sophisticated surgery and contraception to body oils, cosmetics and early gym memberships.
You've seen the paintings, read the philosophers and heard the myths - now here's the classical body in all its flesh and blood glory.
First things first: as a physical object, Caroline Vout’s Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body is beautifully done. There’s lots of images included, arranged around the text in a usually sensible manner, and in colour. (I generally don’t ever look at the glossy included pages in books, in part because I wouldn’t retain any impression of the image while reading as I don’t have any kind of “mind’s eye”, so this worked especially well for me.) It’s really well presented in sections that make good sense.
In terms of the written content, I found most of it surprisingly familiar. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprise: I’ve read plenty about the Greeks and Romans, if not directly about their bodies and their perceptions of their own bodies, and I did study classics up to A Level. But still, I’d kind of expected more surprises, e.g. around attitudes to disability… There were some titbits that were new to me, but mostly it wasn’t.
Which doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good summary: I found it an enjoyable read, and as I said, very well presented. Sometimes it felt like it was a little less in-depth than I’d like, and I didn’t (personally) hit that level of “huh, interesting!” that made me want to go and tell my wife about it, which is my real marker for interesting non-fiction, but it makes for a pretty good overview and summary, and is likely more surprising to people who’ve done less reading on related topics.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Caroline Vout, history, non-fiction
Posted June 20, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
This New Noise: The Extraordinary Birth and Troubled Life of the BBC
Genres: History,
Non-fiction Pages: 288
Rating: 
Synopsis: 'The BBC, to my mind at least, is the most powerful British institution of them all, for, as well as informing, educating and entertaining, it permeates and reflects our existences, infiltrates our imaginations, forms us in myriad ways.'
Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian's chief culture writer, steps behind the polished doors of Broadcasting House and investigates the BBC. Based on her hugely popular essay series, this personal journey answers the questions that rage around this vulnerable, maddening and uniquely British institution. Questions such as, what does the BBC mean to us now? What are the threats to its continued existence? Is it worth fighting for?
Higgins traces its origins, celebrating the early pioneering spirit and unearthing forgotten characters whose imprint can still be seen on the BBC today. She explores how it forged ideas of Britishness both at home and abroad. She shows how controversy is in its DNA and brings us right up to date through interviews with grandees and loyalists, embattled press officers and high profile dissenters, and she sheds new light on recent feuds and scandals. This is a deeply researched, lyrically written, intriguing portrait of an institution at the heart of Britain.
The BBC is a British institution, and one which has been agonised over a lot. It sometimes feels like that’s something which happened only in recent years, but Charlotte Higgins’ This New Noise makes it clear that we’ve agonised over the BBC for as long as it has existed — and we’ve never had the halcyon perfect days that I think many people imagine. It’s always been what it is now, and as contentious as it has been now.
At times, I think Higgins tells the story a bit out of order, making references to events she explains properly later. This might work well for someone who has been alive for a bit more of the BBC’s lifespan, but I was not yet very engaged with the news for some of these! I also wasn’t really aware of the various directors-general, so just mentioning their names didn’t really contextualise things.
It’s still an interesting history, especially where it discusses people I didn’t know about at all, whose roles have been forgotten, like Hilda Matheson. She sounded pretty great (though of course it’s easy to make idols of people). All in all, an enjoyable read, and a useful point of view.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Charlotte Higgins, history, non-fiction
Posted June 13, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Hyphen
Genres: History,
Memoir,
Non-fiction Pages: 160
Series: Object Lessons Rating: Synopsis: To hyphenate or not to hyphenate has been a central point of controversy since before the imprinting of the first Gutenberg Bible. And yet, the hyphen has persisted, bringing and bridging new words and concepts.
Hyphen follows the story of the hyphen from antiquity - Hyphen" is derived from an ancient Greek word meaning "to tie together" - to the present, but also uncovers the politics of the hyphen and the role it plays in creating identities. The journey of this humble piece of connective punctuation reveals the quiet power of an orthographic concept to speak to the travails of hyphenated individuals all over the world. Hyphen is ultimately a compelling story about the powerful ways that language and identity intertwine.
Mahdavi - herself a hyphenated Iranian-American - weaves in her own experiences struggling to find her own sense of self amidst feelings of betwixt and between. We meet six other individuals who are each on a similar journey and watch as they find a way to embrace the space of the hyphen - rejecting the false choice of trying to fit into previously prescribed identities. Through their stories, we collectively consider how belonging only serves to fulfill the failures of troubled states, regimes, or institutions and offer possibilities to navigate, articulate, and empower new identities.
Pardis Mahdavi’s take on the Object Lessons series, Hyphen, is part-informative, part-memoir, and it’s a format that works well. I still far prefer the books that focus in on the object in question, but this one alternates the two quite well, using the one to help to illuminate the other. It’s probably one that will make a different kind of sense to Americans, since a good portion of the discussion is about “hyphenated Americans” (a phrasing I haven’t heard before, but which apparently has a history), and it delves into the history around that.
Not that immigrants in other countries don’t have similar stories, but I’d also hesitate to generalise. There are certainly parallels with “hyphenated British” experience, and it’s certainly not better here, just different (though increasingly the same all over, I guess; thanks globalisation).
Anyway, Mahdavi’s take on the hyphen wasn’t perhaps the detailed history of punctuation that I might find fascinating (though I have read a book about hyphens before, if memory serves), but it was interesting.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, history, memoir, non-fiction, Object Lessons, Pardis Mahdavi
Posted June 12, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record
Genres: History,
Non-fiction,
Science Pages: 288
Rating: Synopsis: The fascinating story behind the mission, music, and message of NASA's Voyager Golden Record -- humanity's message to the stars.
In 1977, a team led by the great Carl Sagan was assembled to create a record that would travel to the stars on NASA's Voyager probe. The Vinyl Frontier reveals the inside story of how the record was created, from the first phone call to the final launch, when Voyager 1 and 2 left Earth with a playlist that would represent humanity to any future alien races that come into contact with the probe. Each song, sound and picture that made the final cut has a story to tell.
The Golden Record is a 90-minute playlist of music from across the globe, a sound essay of life on Earth, spoken greetings in multiple languages, and more than 100 photographs, all painstakingly chosen by Sagan and his team to create an aliens' guide to Earthlings. The final playlist contains music written and performed by well-known names such as Bach, Beethoven, Chuck Berry and Blind Willie Johnson, as well as music from China, India and more remote cultures, such as a community in Small Malaita in the Solomon Islands.
Through interviews with all of the key players involved with the record, this book pieces together the whole story of the Golden Record. It addresses the myth that the Beatles were left off of the record because of copyright reasons and will include new information about US president Jimmy Carter's role in the record, as well as many other fascinating insights that have never been reported before. It also tells the love story between Carl Sagan and the project's creative director Ann Druyan that flourishes as the record is being created.
The Golden Record is more than just a time capsule. It is a unique combination of science and art, and a testament to the genius of its driving force, the great polymath Carl Sagan.
I don’t know how it took me so long to get round to starting Jonathan Scott’s The Vinyl Frontier, because the Golden Record (as included on Voyager 1 and 2) is a fascinating topic. I’m glad I finally got to it, because Scott writes a lovely biography of the Golden Record here (and a bit of a eulogy for Carl Sagan, too). He captures perfectly the naive hope of it, along with the genuine hard graft, and the difficult thinking to find ways to portray humanity that might mean something to an alien encountering it when we are gone.
He covers the human part of it as much as the technical side (or more so even), and his portrayal of the relationship between Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan is tender and sympathetic. I’ve no idea if it was as lovely and inevitable as he makes it sound, and I’m sure Carl Sagan was no saint, not even a pothead saint, but Scott’s clear admiration is actually enjoyable to read.
Thinking about the Golden Records does always make me imagine someone finding them. I often imagine, though, it’s more likely to be our own descendents. Regardless, what would they or those alien to us make of it all? I wonder.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, history, Jonathan Scott, non-fiction, science
Posted June 6, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones
Genres: History,
Non-fiction,
Science Pages: 336
Rating: Synopsis: Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, this book is a beautifully designed collection of true stories about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared history
The earliest scientists ground and processed minerals in a centuries-long quest for a mythic stone that would prolong human life. Michelangelo climbed mountains in Tuscany searching for the sugar-white marble that would yield his sculptures. Catherine the Great wore the wealth of Russia stitched in gemstones onto the front of her bodices.
Through the realms of art, myth, geology, philosophy and power, the story of humanity can be told through the minerals and materials that have allowed us to evolve and create. From the Taiwanese national treasure known as the Meat-Shaped Stone to Maltaâs prehistoric âfat ladyâ temples carved in globigerina limestone to the amethyst crystals still believed to have healing powers, Lapidarium is a jewel box of sixty far-flung stones and the stories that accompany them. Together, they explore how human culture has formed stone, and the roles stone has played in forming human culture.
Hettie Judah’s Lapidarium is a really beautifully presented book. Not just the cover (though yes, that’s gorgeous), but with the coloured tabs on the sides of pages, the organisation of it, the colour images, etc. I feel like the only thing is lacking there is more realistic images of the various stones, rather than just one canonical image — and especially images of some of the sculptures and examples the stories refer to.
The text itself varies a bit: some stones are more interesting than others. It luckily doesn’t feel like she’s just shoehorning everything into the same space: some stones get a couple more pages than others, while some are short and sweet.
Overall, it’s lovely to look at and there were some interesting titbits, but I feel like it gets more points for presentation than content! Not that the content is bad, either, but it’s very bitty and disconnected, there’s no overarching narrative, and that makes it a book designed for dipping in and out of more than anything.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Hettie Judah, history, non-fiction, science
Posted May 29, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
A Short History of Tomb-Raiding: The Epic Hunt for Egypt's Treasures
Genres: History,
Non-fiction Pages: 304
Rating: Synopsis: To secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a practice that generated staggering quantities of artifacts over the course of many millenniaâand also one that has drawn thieves and tomb-raiders to Egypt since antiquity. Drawing on modern scholarship, reportage, and period sources, this book tracks the history of treasure-seekers in Egypt and the social contexts in which they operated, revealing striking continuities throughout time. Readers will recognize the foibles of todayâs politicians and con artists, the perils of materialism, and the cycles of public compliance and dissent in the face of injustice. In describing an age-old pursuit and its timeless motivations, A Short History of Tomb-Raiding shows how much we have in common with our Bronze Age ancestors.
Maria Golia’s A Short History of Tomb-Raiding is a slow, thorough thinking through of the different times and political/economic climates in which Egypt’s tombs have been plundered. Often we think of early archaeologists and antiquarians, or even current archaeologists where big institutions are trying to grab and keep priceless, culturally important objects, but Golia begins in the past.
It’s a bit of a dry read, ultimately, but it’s more sympathetic to the Egyptian tomb raiders who raid their own ancestors’ tombs than most accounts. Sure, they destroy context and thus knowledge — but there’s a reason they do what they do, mostly grinding poverty.
I’d honestly expected more commentary on European thieves, though; in one way this really centres the Egyptians themselves, but… European demand is also a huge part of that, and even men like Petrie (who was at least methodical) were digging among the bones of someone else’s ancestors, and not always sharing that knowledge with the descendents.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, history, Maria Golia, non-fiction
Posted May 22, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments
Chillies: A Global History
Genres: History,
Non-fiction Pages: 126
Rating: Synopsis: There are some of us who canât even stand to look at themâand others who canât live without them: chillies have been searing tongues and watering eyes for centuries in innumerable global cuisines. In this book, Heather Arndt Anderson explores the many ways nature has attempted to take the roofs of our mouths offâfrom the deceptively vegetal-looking jalapeno to the fire-red ghost pepperâand the many ways we have gleefully risen to the challenge.
Anderson tells the story of the spicy berryâs rise to prominence, showing that it was cultivated and venerated by the ancient people of Mesoamerica for millennia before Spanish explorers brought it back to Europe. She traces the chilliâs spread along trading routes to every corner of the globe, and she explores the many important spiritual and cultural links that we have formed with it, from its use as an aphrodisiac to, in more modern times, an especially masochistic kind of eating competition. Ultimately, she uses the chili to tell a larger story of global trade, showing how the spread of spicy cuisine can tell us much about the global exchangeâand sometimes dominationâof culture. Mixing history, botany, and cooking, this entertaining read will give your bookshelf just the kick it needs.
I’ve been meaning to pick up Chillies by Heather Arndt Anderson for a while — I love books in the Edible series, which are all a little history of a certain food item, accompanied by colour images and a handful of recipes. I’m a lover of spicy food: nothing silly, with trying to one-up other people etc etc, but a burst of spicy heat is great.
Sometimes these books can end up feeling like a bit too much of a list of dishes that the food in question is used in, and despite the subtitle of all of them (“A Global History”), often they don’t go broad enough. This one was broader than some, with a chapter on the worldwide adoption of chillies that did indeed feel global.
As always, it has references and a bibliography, and is a well-put-together little book. And for once, I’m actually quite tempted to ask my wife to try making one of the recipes!
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Heather Arndt Anderson, history, non-fiction
Posted May 15, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments
The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own the Most Valuable Stamp in the World
Genres: History,
Non-fiction Pages: 224
Rating: Synopsis: An inside look at the obsessive, secretive, and often bizarre world of high-profile stamp collecting, told through the journey of the world's most sought-after stamp.
When it was issued in 1856, it cost a penny. In 2014, this tiny square of faded red paper sold at Sotheby's for nearly $9.5 million, the largest amount ever paid for a postage stamp at auction. Through the stories of the eccentric characters who have bought, owned, and sold the one-cent magenta in the years in between, James Barron delivers a fascinating tale of global history and immense wealth, and of the human desire to collect.
One-cent magentas were provisional stamps, printed quickly in what was then British Guiana when a shipment of official stamps from London did not arrive. They were intended for periodicals, and most were thrown out with the newspapers. But one stamp survived. The singular one-cent magenta has had only nine owners since a twelve-year-old boy discovered it in 1873 as he sorted through papers in his uncle's house. He soon sold it for what would be $17 today. (That's been called the worst stamp deal in history.) Among later owners was a fabulously wealthy Frenchman who hid the stamp from almost everyone (even King George V of England couldn't get a peek); a businessman who traveled with the stamp in a briefcase he handcuffed to his wrist; and John E. du Pont, an heir to the chemical fortune, who died while serving a thirty-year sentence for the murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz.
I am not really a stamp person, but because of my work at Postcrossing, I’ve been exploring the world of postal stuff more generally, and thus came across The One-Cent Magenta, by James Barron. It’s the story of obsession with one particular stamp, which collectors have made the most valuable stamp in the world.
There isn’t, in the end, a whole lot to say about the one-cent magenta in and of itself. It’s a very plain-looking stamp, and it doesn’t have a particularly special story. Barron’s book is more about the people who’ve gone after it, and how that incredible value was created — partly out of rarity (the one discussed is the only one extant, as far as we know) and partly just out of sheer enthusiasm/greed/desire to be the one who owns the thing only one person can own.
It’s interesting to get a glimpse into that world, and also kind of repellent. I’m sure some people who collect stamps are lovely, but the fuss over the one-cent magenta is kind of silly, and the amounts of money spent on it have much better uses.
I also reviewed this book for Postcrossing’s blog! (Not the same text.) I included a picture of the one-cent magenta, if you’re curious.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, history, James Barron, non-fiction
Posted May 10, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Genres: History,
Non-fiction Pages: 416
Rating: Synopsis: Their names still echo down the ages: The Great Pyramid at Giza. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Temple of Artemis. The statue of Zeus at Olympia. The mausoleum of Halikarnassos. The Colossus at Rhodes. The Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Seven Wonders of the World were staggeringly audacious impositions on our planet. They were also brilliant adventures of the mind, test cases of the reaches of human imagination. Now only the pyramid remains, yet the scale and majesty of these seven wonders still enthrall us today.
In a thrilling, colorful narrative enriched with the latest archaeological discoveries, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes walks through the landscapes of both ancient and modern time; on a journey whose purpose is to ask why we wonder, why we create, why we choose to remember the wonder of others. She explores traces of the Wonders themselves, and the traces they have left in history. A majestic work of historical storytelling, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World reinforces the exciting, and nourishing, notion that humans can make the impossible happen.
It took me a while to properly get into Bettany Hughes’Â The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and I’m not quite sure why. In many ways it’s right up my street, after all, telling a bit of a history of Babylonia, Greece, Egypt, and other lands in that area, and the afterlife of their cultures as well. But I think it was just a bit slower and more lingering than I was in the mood for at first — and certainly I came to appreciate it as I got into the pace of the book, and to appreciate that it carefully puts each of the wonders into their context. Rather than just talking about “Ancient Greece”, Hughes is careful to contextualise the different peoples (and the rivalries between them), rather than lump everyone into a big group.
Sometimes it does feel a bit frustrating: could the Hanging Gardens be X? Could they be Y? Maybe they’re none of those things and they’re actually Z? But of course Hughes isn’t to blame for the fragmentary evidence we have, and she does a pretty good job at teasing out the implications of what data we do have.
I do also very much appreciate the time Hughes spent on picking apart the afterlife of the Wonders: what can be seen of them today, what fragments might remain, and the ways later civilisations have copied and reflected them.
So, all in all, a slow read, but a worthwhile one if you’re interested in the ancient civilisations in that area of the world. Of course it misses out many wonders, particularly ones less central to Western imaginations, but that’s because the very premise is based on an ancient and semi-local list. Still, maybe a more focused title would be nice… there’s a lot of “ancient world” that isn’t included in this book at all.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: Bettany Hughes, book reviews, books, history, non-fiction
Posted April 16, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Ten Birds That Changed the World
Genres: History,
Non-fiction,
Science Pages: 416
Rating: Synopsis: For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; venerated them in our mythologies, religions, and rituals; exploited them for their natural resources; and been inspired by them for our music, art, and poetry.
In Ten Birds That Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and intimate relationship through key species from all seven of the world's continents. From Odin's faithful raven companions to Darwin's finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eye-opening, and endlessly engaging work of natural history.
Stephen Moss’ Ten Birds That Changed The World is a style of non-fiction I enjoy very much, where history gets illustrated through a focus on key things like archaeological items or, well, birds. Instead of being a straightforward timeline, such things can give a different view on well-worn events and times: an everyday view, or a less human view.
Much of this focuses on how humans have exploited and endangered birds, as one might expect, from climate change to more direct impacts. There are also interesting discussions about other things, though, like the fact that “Darwin’s finches” have become the focus of a sort of mythology around the figure of Darwin. In reality, the finches played little part in the germination of his theories, and were recognised later as the perfect example of his theories in action.
One thing I found a bit questionable was the focus on ravens as mentioned in what Moss referred to as one of the earliest stories, that of the Biblical flood. He’s wrong. The same story is told in the epic of Gilgamesh, also featuring a raven — and that epic was, of course, written before the Bible. It’s curious that he makes no mention of it, but perhaps it’s not very surprising at all since he matter of factly refers to “the birth of Christ” as a way of marking time (not just through using the term “BC”, but specifically stating that something happens “before the birth of Christ”). There’s a particular kind of framing there, subtle but noticeable, and it raises questions about the depth of Moss’ research when discussing mythological and legendary depictions of birds (at the very least), or about his ideological decisions in writing the book. Definitely a weird moment. Of course one’s beliefs shape how one writes and thinks, but a little objectivity is important when you’re talking about historical fact.
All in all, I enjoyed it, but perhaps not as much as I hoped to.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, history, non-fiction, science, Stephen Moss
