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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Book Review: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Columbus arrived in the Western Hemisphere, it was a nearly empty land with only a handful of people who hadn’t been there that long and had not done much in that time, right? 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann shatters narrative we learned in high school textbooks.

Throughout the book Mann tackled the familiar talking points, if not myths, of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and continual European contact. Over the course of 414 pages of text, Mann goes over the findings of scientists from multiple disciplines that reveal that at the time of contact the Americas were a highly populated area with numerous complex societies that had developed longer than previously thought and in a different way than those in the Old World. Yet it was how Native Americans shaped the land of both continents and all environments—especially the Amazon basin—that really made this a must read as Mann went into detail about the finds scientists had found. While Mann explored all these new finds, he does present the minority opinions among scientists who have issues with them yet the amount of evidence supporting this new conscious is very convincing. There might be comparisons with Jared Diamond and while Mann does mention some of Diamond points that he agrees with, but some of the evidence he presented refutes other of Diamond’s points though Mann never actually says anything to that affect. The one issue I had with the book was all the mistakes that a proofreader should have taken care of, especially since I was reading a second edition that Mann had added more content to.

1491 is a fascinating look into the Americas before continual European contact and the picture Charles C. Mann reveal through new scientific findings—at the time of publication—that do not look like what high school textbooks said they did.

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Book Review: Lore Olympus Volume Three by Rachel Smythe

Lore Olympus: Volume Three by Rachel Smythe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A goddess beginning her time as an eternal maiden and the king of the underworld have a complicated relationship and they’ve just met, what’s going to happen next? Oh, and things aren’t what they seem. Lore Olympus Volume Three by Rachel Smythe finds the two protagonists once again finding themselves together this time thanks to the machinations of Hera whose plans of everyone else including Persephone and Hades.

Covering episodes #50-75 of the webcomic finds Hades and Persephone combatting the gossip by different means, mainly by doing things that are toxic to themselves or hiding away from the truth as well as staying away from one another. However, when Hera selects Persephone as Olympus’ representative for an intern exchange program with the Underworld, things once again are complicated between the two protagonists. Yet Smythe begins branching out the story with subplots featuring Eros, Minthe, and planting the seeds for others as the series while slowly pulling away layers of the protagonists’ stories including a mysterious event in the past. The art’s quality is excellent and Smythe shaping of the story is engaging, dominated by character-driven narrative but with a mix of worldbuilding and humor.

Lore Olympus Volume Three by Rachel Smythe continues the quality storytelling that she had established earlier and that the story is about to expand in a natural way that makes the reader want to know what is going to happen next.

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Book Review: The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, what happens when a humorous writer from the West Coast joins a bunch of East Coasters tourists on a tour of the France, Italy, Greece, the Holy Land, and Egypt in 1867? The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain is a humorous travelogue detailing the author’s five month “pleasure excursion” on both land and sea.

Noting his observations and critiques of not only his adventures, but his fellow passengers, those locals that he’s met, and his expectations, Twain took everything to task so likely to the frustration of his fellow passengers. Twain’s humor isn’t over-the-top instead it is subtle and slowly builds thematic jokes until hitting the perfect one to finish the thread on then letting it go—unlike some comedians that can’t think of new material. This narrative nonfiction account has it all with minute detail of how the trip begins, excitement on finally getting to a foreign location, annoyance with everyone tell you the same nonsensical factoid all the time, watching our fellow travelers taking souvenirs by breaking pieces off stuff, realizing all the money you spent of travelogues to let you know what to expect would have been better in your pocket, and not caring one bit what happened on the way home because you just want to get there. As my previous Twain reads were short stories in high school or the serious historical fiction Joan of Arc, I didn’t know what to expect going in and I came out very happy after reading it.

The Innocents Abroad is a humorous look at a journey from the United States to Europe and the Holy Land from the viewpoint of Mark Twain. Upon finishing it you’ll realize why it was Twain’s bestselling book during his lifetime.

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