A personal review of books, the only link between them is that there is NO LINK!
This book will give the reader an understanding of the tragedy of the French Revolution. A Revolution that failed to feed the population, a Revolution that failed to protect the population from outside invaders, and a Revolution that failed to protect the population from corruption and tyranny. A failure on all accounts.
by Jason Calabrese ISBN: 979-8-9911523-0-3 79 pages Publisher: authorpreneurbooks.com Cover design: Zizi Iryaspraha Subiyarta 5 / 5 Stars A great basketball book , full of good recommendations that are easily applicable and easily trainable. One of the best basketball books I have read. There are 8 chapters, Defense really does win games The Do's and… Continue reading Boost your Basketball IQ
The essential skills for player development
by Paul Lawrence ISBN: 978-0-7459-5532-2 First published: 2012 173 pages Publisher: http://www.lionhudson.com Cover image: Noam Armonn / Spaces Images / Corbis 5/5 Stars A wonderful, well illustrated, well written, well structured and narratively cohesive exploration of the geography of the Christian bible. The maps are well drawn, colourful and easy to digest. However, there are… Continue reading The Lion Concise Atlas of Biblical History
Nero has seized control of Rome and the crown. He is willing to destroy anyone that gets in his way. no one is safe - not even his scheming mother.
In 1839, young army officer Cecil Hambrough was murdered, unleashing one of the most gripping court cases Victorian Britain had ever known.
by A.J.P. Taylor ISBN: 978-0-140-02481-4 First published 1963 287 pages Publisher: Penguin Books Cover photograph: British soldier at Ypres (Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images) 5 / 5 Stars Very interesting book, and a very useful book if you are to visit the battlefields, cemeteries and graveyards of World War in Northern France or Türkiye. And there are… Continue reading The First World War
by Mark Kurlansky ISBN: 978-0-099-28413-0 First published 1999 359 pages Publisher: vintage-books.co.uk Cover illustration by Nikolai Punin 5 / 5 Stars The story of a people that has never had its own nation-state and yet has thousands of years of history. They sailed the Atlantis, not only the Bay of Biscay. They could have found… Continue reading The Basque History of the World
A really interesting introduction to the history of the Cathar movement.
by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund ISBN: 978-1-473-63749-8 First published 2018 329 pages Publisher: sceptrebooks.co.uk Designed by Steven Seighman 5 / 5 Stars A truly ground-breaking book. Momentous in its scale and purview. The world has developed faster than you can imagine. That is the first take-away. The second is that… Continue reading Factfulness
Hans Rosling was a public health educator, speaking at conferences and events across the world. When he found out he had cancer he immediately started the process of gathering his notes and starting an autobiography, which was published after his death in 2017.
Subtitle: Wrath, Ruin, & Reason in The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 by Nicholas Shrady ISBN: 978-0-14-311460-4 First published 2008 228 pages Publisher: penguin.com Cover design: Gabriele Wilson Cover art: The Earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, November 1, 1755 coloured wood engraving The Granger Collection New York 4/5 Stars Lisbon was one of Europe's leading cities… Continue reading The Last Day
by James Harvey Robinson, Ph.D. First published 1902, this version 1925 790 pages Publisher: Ginn and Company Ltd, Queen Square, London WC1 5/5 Stars A history book and a historical book, newly revised to include the Great War, 1914-1918. The book is intact with full colour maps, such as this of Europe after 1815. The… Continue reading Modern Times
by Justin D'Ath ISBN: 978-0-14-378907-9 First published 2019 246 pages Publisher: Penguin.com.au Cover design by Branco Herfst 4/5 Stars A semi-autobiographical account of the devastating bushfires of the 2009 Victoria Black Saturday bushfires. Justin even includes photos of his own burnt down home and possessions. The descriptions of the heat of the fire, how it… Continue reading 47 Degrees
by Alastair Bonnett ISBN: 978-1-78131-257-5 First published 2014 310 pages Publisher: Aurum Press / aurumpress.co.uk Cover image: Egbert L. Viele, David Rumsey - Historical Map Collection 4/5 Stars Interesting book about 'Lost Spaces, Invisible Cities, Forgotten Islands, Feral Places, and What They Tell Us About the World'. There are some sad stories, Twayil Abu Jarwal,… Continue reading Off the Map
by Steven Runciman ISBN: 978-1-84511-895-2 First published 1980 144 pages Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbooks Cover image: Hagios Nikolaos, Mistra Cover image by Vanni/CORBIS 5/5 Stars Take a trip into the past, into the last flourish of the Byzantine culture. The last cultural outpouring of a people that traced their lineage back through thousands of years,… Continue reading Lost Capital of Byzantium
by Steven Runciman ISBN: 978-1-107-60474-2 First published 1958 356 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press Cover image by Savushkin Cover design by Andrew Ward 4/5 Stars Easter 1282 a rebellion broke out on the island of Sicily against the rules of the French overlords. Within a short period all the French on the island of Sicily… Continue reading The Sicilian Vespers
12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson ISBN: 978-0-241-35164-2 First published 2018 368 pages Publisher: Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books Cover design by Lisa Jager 3/5 Stars 2 / 5 Stars downgraded upon review 1 / 5 Stars downgraded upon sequel release. A interesting read, spanning religion and mythology and psychology and… Continue reading 12 Rules for Life
How religion poisons everything By Christopher Hitchens ISBN: 978-1-74175-572-5 First published 2007 341 pages Publisher: http://www.allenandunwin.com 3.5/5 Stars An interesting read.
The events of 1900 laid the foundations for a modern state and any analysis of modern China must first look book at the events of 1900.
The Revolutionary Year By Steve Turner ISBN: 978-0-06-247558-0 419 pages Publisher: HarperCollins Cover photograph: Bob Whitaker / Camera Press / Redux 3/5 Stars A well researched and authoritative book about the magical year of 1966 when the Beatles wrote and recorded their first studio album, 'Revolver'. As special extras, we have a 'Jukebox' playlist from… Continue reading Beatles ’66
A Study of Streetcorner Men By Elliot Liebow ISBN: 978-0742-528963 166 pages Publisher: http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Cover photo: AP/ Wide World Photos Cover design by Jeffrey W. Talley 6/5 Stars An anthropological study, written in a literary style. At its root this is a story, a story rooted in a moment, the year 1967 in Washington D.C. (It… Continue reading Tally’s Corner
By Robert L. Glass ISBN: 0-13-673443-X First published 1998 251 pages Publisher: Prentice Hall / http://www.phptr.com Cover design: Anthony Gemmellaro 3.5/5 Stars An excellent snapshot of software development as it existed in those long-ago days of 1995. Glass has gathered some of the best anecdotes and case studies available for us to study and recount… Continue reading Software Runaways
By Thomas F. Madden ISBN: 978-0-14-750980-2 First published 2012 427 pages Publisher: Penguin.org Cover photograph: Josef Hoflechner 5/5 Stars A super history of a once great city-state. Madden reveals how Venice was formed by refugees of the fallen Western Roman Empire, and was nurtured for most of its long life by the Eastern Roman Empire.… Continue reading Venice – A New History
By Toby Ralph ISBN: 978-0-14-357058-5 First published 2012 135 pages Publisher: Penguin Specials 3/5 Stars An interesting short read into how to run an election in a war zone. Slightly tarnished by Ralph's own pontificating "...typically I'm engaged to manipulate truth for electoral gain", and "... I could still earn four times as much ..."… Continue reading Ballots, Bullets & Kabulshit
A History of the Crusades II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem by Steven Runciman ISBN: 978-0-241-29876-3 First published 1952 385 pages Cover: British Library Board Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics 5/5 Stars If the 'hero' of the first was crusade was Baldwin I, the first King of Jerusalem, then the 'hero' of the second crusade (and the… Continue reading The Kingdom of Jerusalem
By Michael Foss ISBN: 1-85479-674-7 First published 1997 228 pages Cover illustration: Detail from The Fall of Acre, Vie et Miracles de St. Louis Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Limited 3.5/5 Stars An interesting view of the crusades from those that took part in it. Relying on close personal accounts from that time - the author… Continue reading People of the First Crusade
by Rosaly Lopes ISBN: 978-1-85168-725-1 First published 2010 143 pages Cover design by vaguelymemorable.com Publisher: oneworld-publications.com 4/5 Stars A great introduction to volcanoes, that starts with the following words, "we could also compare volcanoes to cats: with few exceptions, they spend most of their lives asleep". For chemists and geologists the author lists the type… Continue reading Volcanoes
The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 by Roger Crowley ISBN: 978-0-571-23231-4 First published 2008 301 pages Cover image: The Naval Battle of Lepanto by Antonio de Brugada Cover design: Gavin Morris Publisher: Faber.co.uk 5/5 Stars The great empires of the 16th century, the Ottomans versus the Hapsburgs, the Spanish versus the Turk, Christendom versus… Continue reading Empires of the Sea
Alps and Elephants by Sir Gavin R. De Beer ISBN: 978-1-59416-124-7 First published 1956 89 pages Cover image: An early colour photograph of the Alps/Library of Congress Design: John Hubbard Publisher: Westholme Publishing 5/5 Stars How did Hannibal get his elephants over the alps? What route did he take? How could he proceed in hostile… Continue reading Hannibal’s March
Life and teachings of Jesus supplementary to the New Testament Edited and compiled by Tim Newton ISBN: 978-11-84529-656-8 First published 2009 179 pages Cover image: Unknown Publisher: Constable & Robinson Ltd. 5/5 Stars A well-written, well-researched and well-thought out description of the beginnings of the canon of the New Testament and the passages, verses and… Continue reading The Forgotten Gospels
by Dwight Jon Zimmerman ISBN: 978-0-8090-5358-2 First published 2012 148 pages Illustrated by Wayne Vansant Publisher: Hill and Wang (Farrar, Starus and Giroux) 3/5 Stars A great introduction to the lead up to the American civil war. Abraham Lincoln is well known, but not so much Frederick Douglass. This is an illustrated parallel biography of… Continue reading The Hammer and the Anvil
Sub-title: Journeys into the Wild by Peter Dombrovskis ISBN: 9-780642-279071 First published 2017 187 pages Cover photograph: Morning Light on Little Horn, Tasmania Publisher: NLA Publishing 6/5 Stars A wonderful journey into the heart of Tasmania. Carefully photographed landscapes fill the book, glorious trees, foliage, cascades, mountain-scapes and sea-scapes. Although Peter does photograph Fiji, Borneo,… Continue reading The Photography of Peter Dombrovskis
by Steven Runciman ISBN: 978-0-141-98550-3 First published 1951 270 pages Cover illustration: Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris Publisher: Penguin Random House, UK 5/5 Stars A drama and narrative that reads like fiction but is based on closely researched historical fact. Runciman brings to life the major players with detailed character analyses; Baldwin I of Boulogne, Raymond Count… Continue reading A History of The Crusades: The First Crusade
by M.T.Anderson ISBN: 978-0-7636-9100-4 First published 2015 383 pages Cover illustrations by Kikuo Johnson Publisher: Candlewick Press 4/5 Stars A horror story. A real-life horror story. A horror that, for residents, seemed to have no end. Leningrad was left to starve intentionally during World War 2. This is the longest siege in the history of… Continue reading Symphony for the City of the Dead
The Eclectic Book Review 