A personal review of books, the only link between them is that there is NO LINK!
by Wu Cheng'en ISBN: 978-0-241-75240-1 First published: 16th Century 104 pages Translated by Julia Lovell Publisher: Penguin Archive part of http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com 6 / 5 Stars A wonderful short extract from the longer work "Monkey King : Journey to the West". It has been compared to both Don Quixote and the Canterbury Tales. What makes the… Continue reading Monkey King Makes Havoc in Heaven
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
by Seichō Matsumoto ISBN: 978-0-241-43908-1 First published 1958 149 Pages Publisher: Penguin Cover illustration: Japan Government Railways Poster 1937 by Munetsugu Satomi 5/5 Stars Any book with a map, you know it is going to be good. But train times and schedules? And using them to solve a crime of murder? A great story by… Continue reading Tokyo Express
by Ursula K. Le Guin ISBN: 978-0-241-95687-8 First published 1968 167 pages Publisher: PENGUIN Fiction Designed by Edward Bettison 5 / 5 Stars Ursula K. Le Guin started with a map, before writing. The titular hero of the book then visits many of these islands. The world Ursula creates is one where ocean covers most… Continue reading A Wizard of Earthsea
A really interesting introduction to the history of the Cathar movement.
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
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
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
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
Travels in the Southern Peloponnese by Patrick Leigh Fermor ISBN: 978-0-7195-6691-2 First published 1958 310 pages Cover design: John Craxton 4/5 Stars Ostensibly a travelogue of the Mani peninsula at the tip of the Southern Peloponnese, it is actually a homage to the lost age of Byzantium, and all Greek culture through the ages. Patrick… Continue reading MANI
The Eclectic Book Review 