Book Review: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today we live in a globalized society that some accept and attempt to enter while others fight against to save their local culture and way of life, but what if it turns out our global society hasn’t just happened but been around since a man called Columbus arrived in the Caribbean? 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann is the follow up to his previous bestseller 1491 in which he shows the changes around the world that the ‘Columbian Exchange’ created.

Mann argues that Columbus, referenced as Colón based on untranslated surname, created the path to the homogenocene—the global homogenization of (agricultural) species, diseases, and tools brought about by the migration and transport that set in with the discovery of the new world. This homogenization includes “invasive species” that the modern world relies on for food and has allowed for the number of humans living on the planet. Throughout the book Mann not only studies the environmental impact of this global exchange but also the impact on humanity through food, diseases, migration (both voluntary and the slave trade), and on society. While much of the “story” of history of the Americas after Columbus focuses on Europeans, it turns out Africans were way more impactful not only in the future United States but everything south of the Rio Grande especially as Europeans were vastly outnumbered by Africans and their descendants for centuries. Mann brings out the history of Indian, African, and Asian populations in the Americas that created the Western Hemisphere a melting pot way before it became associated with the U.S., but also how Africans and Indians banded together against Europeans to create mixed societies or allied societies that main life difficult for colonial masters. Through 521 pages, Mann explores how one voyage created the world we live in today and ramifications everyone has had to deal with for over half a millennium.

1493 can be read after or independently of Charles C. Mann’s 1491, it is full of facts that are communicated well with connected with one another in a very understandable way that makes to see today’s world and history in a new way.

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Book Review: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An old sailor with a secret map, the adolescent boy who finds it, and the voyage to find the buried treasure with ship filled with pirates who had helped take it, the classic tale that has inspired daydreams for centuries. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is the quintessential pirate treasure adventure story that has been a staple in pop culture since it was published.

As a kid I watched several adaptations of this book, but it turns out they never really followed the book—at least from what I can remember of them. Upon finishing this book, I instantly knew why it became such a classic and secured a place in the cultural zeitgeist. While I could really nitpick various things like I do other books like it’s something that annoyed me, honestly it wouldn’t affect my rating so I really don’t know if I should but the fact that after Jim Hawkins was able to steal the ship back from the pirates and everyone thought less of him because “he didn’t do his duty” because he left the fort, I mean he took the ship back while they were scared in the fort—jealousy hiding behind “duty” it looks to me. Anyway, this is a classic book that holds up for me and frankly if you haven’t read it yet don’t wait and do so.

Treasure Island is a classic coming-of-age adventure with pirates(!) that I needed to have read sooner in my life.

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Book Review: The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Second Nilfgaardian War continues as the Northern Kingdoms attempt to push back Nilfgaard while the search for Ciri by everyone concerned with her politically and magically continues, but it’s a certain Geralt of Rivia who is doing it out of love. The Lady of the Lake is the final book of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher saga and penultimate book published in the series featuring the end of the story of Geralt, Yennifer, Ciri, and everyone else the reader as followed over the course of the series.

After the previous book, I came into this one without high expectations and so wasn’t disappointed but after finishing really didn’t feel satisfied. The entire book is framed as a story told by Ciri to Galahad—from the King Arthur mythos—that makes sense when we learn how they’re able to interact in the first place though not so much when it comes to the multiple point-of-views from the decisive battle of Brenna and any other point-of-view that isn’t Ciri, unless the entire series has been told by Ciri which seems a stretch. If there is a huge bright spot it’s Sapkowski’s writing of Brenna that decisively ends the Second Nilfgaardian War with multiple points of view spread throughout both sides. The main plot that deals with Ciri is an interesting arc showing off why everyone is looking for her as well as explaining why she’s talking with Galahad. The last quarter of the book felt like a very long anticlimactic wrap-up with the big event not really a surprise given how the book was opened, it felt like a lot of padding honestly especially the sections on Peace Conference which could have been handled with less text. Overall, this book was like the main series was for me, peaked in the middle with a meandering start and finish.

The Lady of the Lake completed The Witcher story arc, but honestly except for short sections of writing I wasn’t really into Andrzej Sapkowski’s work. While there is a full length prequel book still to be read, I’m overall impression of the series is meh.

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Book Review: The Age of Louis XIV by Will & Ariel Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume 8: The Age of Louis XIV by Will Durant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The near three-quarters of a century from the end of the Thirty Years War to the death of Louis XIV saw the promise of French greatness being achieved then squandered allowing Britain to rise. The Age of Louis XIV is the eighth volume of The Story of Civilization series written by Will & Ariel Durant looking into the reign of the Sun King and how the politics and intellectual though rotated around him and France.

The book centered around France with the Netherlands, England/Britain, and the intellectual revolution for most of the text as well as the interaction between all of them over the course of the decades the Durants wrote about. While the rest of Europe is discussed, especially the continual rise of Russia during the reign of Peter the Great, the Durants give a good but brief synopsis of each location when not connected with the main portions of the book. The political, religious, and cultural developments of France and England were gone over in detail not only for their own history but how it affected the rest of the world. Yet for the Durants, especially Will, the portion of the book that the reader can tell they enjoyed writing and having a hard time holding back is the intellectual revolution in science and philosophy in the latter half of the 17th century and early 18th century. Not only are there chapters dedicated to Newton, Spinoza, and Leibniz but all the English political philosophers that have had influenced thought were covered in detail as well. A thorough reader of this series can tell that there is excitement and dedication to the intellectual revolution like that of the second volume of the series, The Life of Greece.

The Age of Louis XIV sees Will and Ariel Durant detailed not only the man who dominated a Europe undergoing an intellectual revolution but how he led his nation to disaster to the benefit of Britain.

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