Biology and Chemistry of the Cruciferae

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As Apsley Cherry-Garrard states in his introduction to the harrowing story of the Scott expedition to the South Pole, "Polar Exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised." Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World is a gripping account of an expedition gone disastrously wrong. The youngest member of Scott's team, the author was later part of the rescue party that eventually found the frozen bodies of Scott and three men who had accompanied Scott on the final push to the Pole. These deaths would haunt Cherry-Garrard for the rest of his life as he questioned the decisions he had made and the actions he had taken in the days leading up to the Polar Party's demise.

Prior to this sad denouement, Cherry-Garrard's account is filled with details of scientific discovery and anecdotes of human resilience in a harsh environment. Each participant in the Scott expedition is brought fully to life. Cherry-Garrard's recollections are supported by diary excerpts and accounts from other teammates. Despite the sad fate of Scott, the reader will grudgingly agree with the closing words of The Worst Journey in the World: "Exploration is the physical expression of the Intellectual Passion. And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.... If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg."

Book Description

Cherry-Garrard, who accompanied Robert Falcon Scott to the Antarctic on the explorer's doomed quest for the South Pole, recounts the unforgettable journey across forbidding, inhospitable terrain. He was also a member of the search party that ultimately discovered Scott's frozen body along with his last notebook entries. With an introduction by the author, this tale of adventure stands out as a literary accomplishment as well as a classic of exploration.

Customer Reviews:

A story of extraordinary courage and grace in adversity.......2007-04-28

Young Aspley Cherry-Garrard was rich enough to buy himself a space on Robert Scott's journey to the Antarctic in 1910. The trip ended badly for Scott, as everyone knows, but it was also a deeply life-altering experience for survivors of the expedition. Returning to England many were loudly criticised for not pressing on in their search for Scott, who as it turned out, died of hunger and cold not so far from where the rescue party turned back. Cherry-Garrard took the criticism very much to heart. Deeply sensitive, he wondered if he could have done more. Years later he wrote his recollections of the expedition in prose so strong and lyrical, yet so measured and insightful, that it illuminates the pages. The "worst journey" of the title is a metaphor for the entire expedition, which ended so badly, and also a literal description of a quixotic side trip that Garrard and some companions took in the middle of a bitterly cold Antarctic winter to retrieve an egg of the Emperor penguin. Mistakenly, as it turned out, one of the scientists on the trip felt that the penguin embryo held some crucial clues to evolutionary history. The little band on that dreadful journey returned to base camp, but after they had been through the most extraordinary privations. Yet though it all, says Garrard, they never forgot their pleases and thank yous. Gentlemen they were, and so they remained even at the point of death.

The expedition was composed of such men and Garrard was certainly among the bravest and best. And how he could write! He put his soul into this book, which has been described (by a well-known travel author) as the best travel book ever written, and perhaps one of the best books ever written. It really is enough to make one proud to be human. And yet the book is not the least self-serving - Garrard was too honest for that. His portrait of Scott, a man dogged more by bad luck than bad management, is required reading for anyone interested in that amazing polar expedition.

Though the book ends with Garrard's return to England, the remainder of his life was rather sad. Plagued with depression, afflicted with ulcerative colitis, he never quite forgave himself for not being able to pull off the miracle needed to save Scott and his companions. Though he was a only a junior member of the expedition - in the end crucial decisions were made by others - that seemed not to have comforted him much. And unfortuately he has not been well served by the biography "Cherry" by Caroline Alexander - she seems basically out-of-sympathy with her subject. In the end Cherry-Garrard's book stands as his legacy, and what a legacy it is.

Can you review a book that you did not entirely read?.......2007-04-21

I read about 50 pages and had to quit. Time was, I would never do that. I'm older now, and if the writing is way too verbose and stuck in irrelevant details that do not lend anything to the story, I quit. I really like adventure books and was surprised that this one wouldn't grab me. I don't think it is the story (from other reviews, the story is a good one); seems that the author and I just don't mix.

Maybe I will pick it up again at some time and give it another shot. Looking at the size of this book, it is unlikely. If I do, I will give it a fair review.

To put this review in context, I happened to have LOVED the story of Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Go figure.

Truly great........2007-04-11

I read quite a bit, and this is one of the best books I have read.

Antarctic journeys.......2007-01-10

This book has a rather heavy text but nevertheless is an excellent read.

Gripping story!.......2006-08-04

This is an inspiring, suspenseful story full of rich detail about what life on The Ice was like for these brave men who spent almost 3 years there in the early years of this century, when sails were still used on ships. The beauty, richly described by Cherry; the torturous conditions at times, how they kept busy and sane during the long long dark winter....I was completely enthralled even though I knew at least the rough outlines of the story before I began. I highly recommend it.

The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13

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An Odyssey
Worst Journey - best book
One of the best Antarctic adventure tales
Epic tales of survival and discovery in Antarctica

The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic, 1910-13
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Manufacturer: Trans-Atlantic Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0330335855

Customer Reviews:

An Odyssey.......2007-09-20

Apsley's journey through the darkness of the stormy Antarctic winter to where the Emperor penguins stood with their eggs was one of the most moving journeys I have read about. Apsley tells the story with great humility and this endears him to the reader. This book would be worth buying simply for this story, but it also tells of Robert Falcon Scott's journey and the death of all of the party who made the final push to the pole. Apsley and the others who were not chosen to make the final push to the pole doggedly searched for their companions and friends and finally found them frozen. Apsley quotes Scott's journal detailing Scott's last moments and the fate of the others. This is harrowing, but inspiring reading. Apsley Cherry-Garrard is one of the more forgotten heros of Antarctic exploration. I use the work hero with trepidation, but it is apt in his case. He truly would lay down his life for his friends and he cared deeply for those he called friends.

Worst Journey - best book.......2000-12-15

Apsley Cherry-Garrard's amazing tale of life in the Antarctic as the youngest member of Scott's fatal expedition. I was gripped from the very first line of this book; "Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised." He describes wearing clothes for 6 months with no dirt building up on them, or it being 'more lonely than London' and later he talks of his later experiences in the Great War (1914-18) where the polar explorers felt, considering what they had been through, the trenches were a relatively comfortable alternative. In short Cherry-Garrard has a simple way with words that I loved.

This Antartctic trip lasted some three years and ended with Scott's heroically-futile death - painfully close to supplies and help. Cherry-Garrard was one of those left at the base camp so he survived the trip - but don't think that his lot was much easier than those that struggled to the Pole. The book is as much about the Antarctic and the terrible hardships as about the people of the expedition. Cherry-Garrard's writing and his character seem to personify the stoic, good-humour of the men around him.

The book is very long and I have to admit that I needed extra maps to make sense of where they were - even though there are maps throughout the book. This is not a book, I think, for someone who is not interested in reading further about exploration in the Antarctic, but it makes an excellent start point to read others.

On a purely aesthetic note, the hard-cover version from Picador has the most wonderful cover and comes with a little ribbon to mark your place. It feels really lovely to read it.

One of the best Antarctic adventure tales.......1999-05-01

One of the members of Scott's last expedition to Antarctica was the author of this book, who at the time was one of the youngest members of the group. Cherry-Garrard recounts his personal adventures as part of the expedition, as well as the fate of the small group who trekked to the South Pole with Scott (they died on the return journey). However, Cherry-Garrard, with two other expedition members, made a journey that was far more harrowing than Scott's trek to the pole -- a journey of some weeks across the Antarctic ice shelf in winter! Walking in the near-total darkness, Cherry-Garrard's group man-hauled their heavy sledges, almost lost their tents in a gale(without which they would have perished), and endured extremes of temperature that not even Scott experienced -- all in pursuit of the rarest of prizes -- the eggs of an Emperor penguin (in order to study the animal's development). Unfortunately, in later years Cherry-Garrard would suffer from repeated nervous breakdowns, partly due to his war experiences and partly to his (misplaced) conviction that he might have been able to save Scott and his polar party. Cherry-Garrard was the last person to visit the farthest supply dump, called One-Ton Depot; Scott and his group would die a mere eight miles from this depot. However, at the time Cherry-Garrard visited the depot, Scott and his men were much farther away than this -- they also weren't expected to arrive back yet for some weeks. Although his expedition comrades in later years would try to make it clear to him that it would be absolutely impossible for him to have saved Scott, he was never entirely convinced. Of all the polar adventure books I have read, this will always stand out to me as one of the most thrilling.

Epic tales of survival and discovery in Antarctica.......1997-07-31

Apsley Cherry-Garrard recounts the heroic stuggle for survival during the exploration of Antarctica early in the 20th century. Much of the text was collected from the diaries of the explorers, and includes excerpts from Sir Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated journey to the Pole, and Cherry-Garrard's deep winter trek across the Ross Ice Shelf to obtain an emperor penguin's egg.

Book Description

The Worst Journey in the World recounts Robert Falcon ScottÂ's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Apsley Cherry-GarrardÂ—the youngest member of ScottÂ's team and one of three men to make and survive the notorious Winter JourneyÂ—draws on his firsthand experiences as well as the diaries of his compatriots to create a stirring and detailed account of ScottÂ's legendary expedition. Cherry himself would be among the search party that discovered the corpses of Scott and his men, who had long since perished from starvation and brutal cold. It is through CherryÂ's insightful narrative and keen descriptions that Scott and the other members of the expedition are fully memorialized.

Customer Reviews:

One of the Best!.......2006-12-27

This book is the author's account of his own journey to find the Emperor penguins nesting grounds in the Antarctic winter, set into the context of Scott's final journey to the South Pole.

As should any really good book, it opened doors to new learning, as it informed about a subject about which I previously knew little, with interest level to match.

What struck me most is reading about unusual Antarctic ice melt conditons nearly 100 years ago, when human-induced 'global warming' could not have been an issue, at least so far as vehicle (and aircraft) pollution is concerned. I could be wrong, of course, but I began to see a bigger picture. That global warming is real and that polluting is bad are givens; that we can do much about the former is likely a conceit.

Also fascinating were the accounts of the nature of killer whales: Prior to this, I had assumed all killer whales were the loveable scamps shown in marine theme parks. Now? I give them a wide berth.

Apsley-Garrard's high regard for his fellow explorers and his gift for description make this book a joy to read. I only wish the editor/publisher had included (preferably inside the front or back cover) a proper map or graphic listing the place names mentioned in the text. The reader has to keep guessing, flipping or seeking out another map source to follow the journeys.

National Geographic ranks this book first on its list of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time. Also, see the DVD March of the Penguins, for the excellent 53-minute film on the making of the movie. This will give some idea of current challenges on a Winter Journey.

An Adventure book Inside a History Book.......2006-04-07

In 1911-1912 the author as a young man was part of the ill fated
Robert Falcon Scott British Expedition to be the "first" at the South Pole. The larger history of that effort's limited success and the stories of the lives lost is a well told as historical fact. Within the book lies the Chapter about the author's effort with two other companions to travel in a winter journey for the purpose of observing Emperor penguins in their nesting rookeries. This is the coldest journey "on record" with howling winds at -70 degrees f under total darkness climbing between open crevasses that were endlessly deep to retrieve a few unhatched eggs for scientific research. Once you've read this author's rendition of that "worst journey" no other adventure travelog can compare. Good reading and most unforgettable.

The Worst Journey in the World (Audiofy Digital Audiobook Chips)

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The Worst Journey in the World (Audiofy Digital Audiobook Chips)

Manufacturer: Audiofy/Blackstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards
ASIN: 1599127385

Product Description

This Audiofy audiobook chip packs Robert Whitfield's full 20.5 hour reading of "The Worst Journey in the World" on a tiny memory card. A single Audiofy audiobook chip, hardly larger than a stamp, holds a complete digital audiobook, and saves the last listening position automatically, unlike CDs. With an SD memory card slot or low-cost adapter - like those for digital cameras - this Audiofy audiobook chip can be played on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh desktop computers or laptops (Microsoft Windows XP/2000/Me/98, or Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above) or transferred to Apple iPod media players. Audiobook chips also move seamlessly to most Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld PDAs with SD expansion slots, as well as Treo and Windows Mobile "smartphones" (Palm OS 5.2 or Windows Mobile 2002 and above)... In 1910, Robert Falcon Scott hoped to be the first Englishman to reach the South Pole. This gripping story of courage and achievement recounts Scott's last fateful expedition, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard.

The Worst Journey in the World, Volumes 1 and 2: Antarctic 1910-1913

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The Worst Journey in the World, Volumes 1 and 2: Antarctic 1910-1913
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Manufacturer: Echo Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1406845345

Book Description

First published in 1921.

The Worst Journey In The World. Penguin Travel and Adventure No 100. Volume 2

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The Worst Journey In The World. Penguin Travel and Adventure No 100. Volume 2
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IYSC9O

THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. TWO VOLUMES.

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THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. TWO VOLUMES.

Manufacturer: Geo. H. Doran.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
ASIN: B000FLHVFQ

The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910-1913

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The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910-1913
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000L9PZP0

The Worst Journey in the World (Unabridged)

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The Worst Journey in the World (Unabridged)
Apsley Cherry-Garrad
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B00026WUTG

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The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910-13

Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HJBEZY

Product Description

Penguin Books 100. Paper cover with dustjacket.

Amazon.com

Arthur Evans leapt into the public imagination with his 1900 discovery of Crete's Palace of Knossos, interpreted as the lair of the mythical Minotaur. Though his findings were a crowning achievement of archaeology's golden age, then, as now, questions have been raised about Evans's excavations and the conclusions he reached. In the richly detailed Minotaur, Joseph Alexander MacGillivray, who has himself excavated Crete, suggests that the man who gave us the very term Minoan provides a prime example of "how archaeological discovery occurs first in the mind." By examining Evans's life and work through his actions and correspondence, MacGillivray shows that Evans's evidence was "fully, even exaggeratedly exploited" but rarely reviewed. Adventurous, energetic, and highly observant, Evans also displayed "single-minded arrogance," "pomposity and manifest racism"--traits that invited misinterpretation, MacGillivray writes. The book also incorporates an interesting history of war-torn Crete and the Balkans as well as Evans's involvement in the region's politics. It finally outlines modern theories on Minoan civilization, though the "Palace and surrounding buildings are crumbling as fast as Evans's intellectual reconstruction," so that solid proof of any thesis is increasingly problematic. Fascinating as a portrait of the man who "gave the world a new chapter in its ancient history" and for its portrayal of the developing discipline of archaeology, Minotaur also poses some important questions about whether archaeologists are ever impartial observers. --Karen Tiley

Book Description

The intrepid Englishman who shaped the way we think about Europe and the Middle East.

Sir Arthur Evans was the diminutive, fiery archaeologist who, at an excavation in Knossos in 1900, discovered what he called the Palace of Minos and presented to the world his stunning re-creation of Minoan civilization. This is the first biography of a flamboyant and very influential man--written by a scholar with unparalleled expertise in the archaeology of Crete.

When Evans went to Greece after a mediocre career as a journalist in the Balkans, Heinrich Schliemann had recently uncovered what he claimed were Troy and Mycenae, famed cities of Homer; Evans, too, wanted to verify the factual basis for the myths that meant most to him. He found what he was looking for in Crete: he believed he located the origin of "tree and pillar worship," at the heart of Teutonic mythology in Europe but somehow linked to an early cult of the Greek god Zeus.

Joseph Alexander MacGillivray shows that Evans in fact anticipated what he found. Evans's Minoans were perfect Victorians: a peaceful, literate, aesthetic, just society where wise men held political office and powerful women ruled the people's hearts. Yet Knossos was not simply a lucky find, and MacGillivray shows Evans was a heroic figure struggling with many central themes concerning the origins of civilization. He concludes with his own assessment of our current knowledge about ancient Crete.

Customer Reviews:

Revenge of "Modern" Archaeology.......2005-08-25

Minotaur by Joseph MacGillivray

This book presents itself as a readable biography of one the great Archaeologists, Sir Arthur Evans, instead of a thoughtful biography the book is really a prolonged attack on Evans (and 19th century archaeology) by an author of dubious credentials and makes for extremely painful reading.

The book is tolerable journalism when its sticks to the factual events, but it is so filled with hostility towards Evans, that the reader is quickly bogged down in a long winded and poorly researched series of ad hominen attacks and innuendo of wrong doing that the thrill of Crete and Minos is completely buried.

The central claim of this bad book is that Evans created Minoan archaeology and did not discover anything. The attacks are unrelenting. The author claims variously : Evans is unscientific and concerned only with objects, stole antquities, horded valuable linear B scripts, was a repressed homosexual, took too much credit for his finds and harmed nearly all of his colleagues, was shrewd and calculating to excess in his business dealings, was a racist because his disliked Turks and personally favored European and Greek religion and culture, was a spoiled wealthly aristocrat of no ability but gifted merely by birth and social standing- who also ate very well, etc etc etc

That the author has issues with Evans is an understatement and parrying all of his attacks (most of which are the authors own unsubstantiated suspicions or irelevant details) is a waste of time.

Evans- the gentlemen and scholar who devoted his 90 years of life to classics, beauty in art and history, who spent his fortune to dig Knossos and who developed new theories of myth and civilization: in short a person whose name will be recalled as long as history-minded Western man is revered- is not present in this book. This book is the product of a modern academic archaeology resentful of its romantic past, that prefers digging with toothbrushes, hates coin collectors, believes antiquities dealers are evil and wishes that British, Germans and French had left everything in the ground for them to sniff about with white gloves and a microscope.

That the author is an academic feather-weight is evident in the opening pages, where he attempts to work out his own crude thesis: Evans was not an archaeologist but a myth maker motivated by sexual demons. His analysis is so bad, reading his turns of phrase are like chewing on sand: "Archaeologists are the progenitors as well as the midwives at the birthing process we call excavation." Ugly writing quickly leads to bad analysis such as this delphic prose: " ...we must start with Evans himself, the product of his genes and his life experiences." These experiences include the alleged homosexuality of Evans which the author tries to awkwardly weave into his book perhaps hoping to increase sales, but he cannot find much and we are left with a few sentences of inane writing worthy only of a freshman trying to impress a bored teaching assistant. He writes that he suspects Evans was driven to pursue his career because of the "repressed 'beastliness' of his homosexuality..." His efforts degenerate further a few hundred pages later with innuendo about a young man Evans adopted and his association with Baden Powell and the Boy Scout movement.

The author has no wit and his style wears the reader down. He makes no effort in the biography to educate the reader about the civilization of Crete and takes the excitement of the past away completely. I know of no other book on archaeology that deadens its subject matter to such a degree. The author is all over the place with his own insipid thoughts and at times contradicts his own thin analysis.

For example the author continually harps on the fact that Evan's sister titled her biography of him, "Time and Chance". The author writes "Nothing could be further from what I believe about how Evans discovered Knossos..."(p.6) In his effort to bring Evans down from his perch the author continually paints Evans as simply a digger with money. At the end of his book, the author returns to this theme: "Arthur Evans did not stumble upon Knossos by some happy circumstance. He set his mind on acquiring the rights to a well-documented site.... he secured the expertise he lacked in the person of a site foreman, architects, and conservators..." (p.308) Ok this attack may work in hindsight, but on page 175 the author himself writes: "they all faced the risk that within a few hours they might have removed only a thin layer of eroded soil and exposed a solid rock outcropping scattered with worthless pot shards... Evans might learn that he had chased off the other suitors only to find the bride barren of promise and her dowry worthless. These are the risks excavators take." Which is it? Did Evans simply walk in and dig up what everyone knew was there or did chance play a role and did he finally locate the fabled city of Knossos after three and a half millenium? Clearly this writer is a moron.

A good graduate student should set things right and demolish MacGillivray's shoddy research on Evans, a student of history with a sense of the classical- not one inspired while waiting to use public tennis courts in Manhattan as MacGillivray says he was. Surely some inspiration can still be found in the stones of ruined cities, a brilliant gemstone or winds of the Mediterranean.

The author, in writing this extended effort to libel the dead, succeeds only in diminishing our native appreciation of history, and our myths. That is the end point of modernity.

Reception Theory and Victorian Psychosis by Example.......2000-10-12

Sandy MacGillivray's in depth analysis of the life and times of pioneer Cretan archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans was a pure joy to read. The author's own experiences as a professional in the field on Crete add great weight to his arguments as he finds himself coping the Evans' legacy on a daily basis. I really got the sense that the author knew Evans, both the man and the scholar, through close attention to and extensive research on the amply available primary sources. This is a wonderfully scholarly, yet very readable and highly interesting book to both the professional archaeologist and interested armchair amateur.

In Search of Knossos : The quest for the Minotaur's labyrinth

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In Search of Knossos : The quest for the Minotaur's labyrinth
Giovanni Caselli
Manufacturer: Peter Bedrick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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How Would You Survive As an Ancient Greek? (How Would You Survive As An Ancient Greek)
Black Ships Before Troy
The Wanderings of Odysseus
The Last Quest of Gilgamesh (Gilgamesh Trilogy, The)
The Revenge of Ishtar (Gilgamesh Trilogy, The)

ASIN: 0872265447

Book Description

The legend of the Monitaur - the bull-headed monster slain by the Athenian hero Theseus - has captivated people since ancient times. Archaeologist Arthur Evans was determined to find out if there was any truth behind the myth. Digging on the island of Crete, he unearthed the magnificant palace of the ancient Minoans. In Search of Knossos tells the story of Evans's discoveries. Superb illustrations invite the reader to share his excitement at unearthing an ancient civilization, and through this to learn about the everyday life of the Minoan people.

The thread of Ariadne; the labyrinth of the calendar of Minos

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Herberger Builds on "Thread" in "The Riddle of the Sphinx"
The Most Important Discovery Yet About Ancient "Minoan" Crete

The thread of Ariadne; the labyrinth of the calendar of Minos
Charles F Herberger
Manufacturer: Philosophical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Herberger Builds on "Thread" in "The Riddle of the Sphinx".......2006-08-23

Here is a word about Herberger's 1979 follow-up work "The Riddle of the Sphinx: Calendric Symbolism in Myth and Icon" (NY: Vantage Press---Standard Book Number 533-03500-7; still available for ex. at ABE). Like "Thread of Ariadne," this book teaches more "directly" from the ancient Cretans than any other. Herberger builds upon his carefully-documented discovery that the Minoan "Bull Leaper" Fresco displays the ancient Cretans' lunar/solar calendar, harmonizing human life with the "dance" of moon and sun, and the cycles of nature. In the process, from understanding the Minoans' prime symbol Labrys or the Double Axe, we gain an important tool for further analysis in multiple fields. In "Sphinx" Herberger broadens and deepens his understandings of Crete, and then applies his finds to further historical, cultural, literary and ultimately spiritual problems; and, most often his broadly-informed analyses show us the tremendous legacy that in fact underlies (literally) layer after layer of the "nightmare" of Western history and spiritual bankruptcy. What is the Minoan Labrys doing on the vestments of the Catholic Mass, how was it "borrowed in disguise" multiple times, what has it meant to people? How is it related to (for ex.) the "sacred secular space" of today's international Olympic Games, in which competition is only part of a larger sense of relationship? If we perish without ever recovering our fact-based, harmonious heritage we have no one to blame but ourselves for not embracing it. Make "Thread" and "Sphinx" your first guide to the labyrinth of early Western studies. Comprehensive, rigorous, packed with soul food. A priceless social and spiritual heritage for the must-read shelf of every school and library.

The Most Important Discovery Yet About Ancient "Minoan" Crete.......2006-08-17

A calendar is a society's daily diagram: it reckons cosmic cycles of nature, and reveals what its people hold sacred. This book teaches more "directly" from the ancient Cretans than any other. Dr. Charles F. Herberger (Professor-Emeritus, Nasson College, Maine) rigorously demonstrates that the famous "Bull-Leaper Fresco" from The Labyrinth of Cnossos is a special work of art at the foundations of Western civilization. In short careful chapters ranging from myth to ecology, Herberger reveals a consistent, complex, elegant calendar of a year mathematically measured in cycles of moon and sun. The rectangular border of this fresco displays lunar phases and "tracks" that represent days of the solar year. Compute with them as Herberger shows, and eight circuits of this counting-border produce a "Great Year," whose ninth year perfectly matches the Winter Solstice/New Moon and Summer Solstice/Full Moon (signifying birth and death or renewal of "King Minos")---harmonizing human life with the "dance" of moon and sun, and the cycles of nature. Imagine that: a "king" with sociopolitical limitations, a leader of rituals other than war. Notably, as the eight years pass, the calendar allows for leap days, differences in cycles, multiple festivals and anomalies. Like a maze, it ends where it began (and vice-versa). The years also trace the shape of Crete's prime symbol, the labrys or double-axe, within the rectangle, and we understand it as never before. As an historian who has studied, published and lectured on Minoan Crete for 26 years, I have no doubt that Herberger's clear, specific, reasonable analysis (including plentiful illustrations, charts etc.) rings true across the whole of Cretan evidences. We see for ourselves that this fresco articulates and expresses the soul of Minoan Crete---its unmatched, attentive delight in nature, and its fierce devotion to the sacred-celebratory dance of male and female as complementary equals. (No wonder Crete was the longest continuous period of Western development on record: Herberger reveals their goal was harmony.) I know his related works including "Riddle of The Sphynx" in detail. Make these your first guide to the labyrinth of studies. Comprehensive, rigorous, packed with Western culture's most deeply-spiritual and positive legacies: pure soul food. A priceless social and spiritual heritage for the must-read shelf of every school and library.

The Minotaur of Knossos (A Journey Through Time)

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A Waste of Time

The Minotaur of Knossos (A Journey Through Time)
Roberta Angeletti
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195215575

Book Description

Luca is in his room with his dog Pip, finishing his homework on the ancient civilization of the island of Crete. Tired of the strenuous report writing, the little boy falls asleep, only to wake up perched on a curious alabaster seat in a hall surrounded by pillars and wall paintings of griffins. A friendly voice explains that he is in the palace of the great King Minos, ruler of the Cretans, and tells him some fascinating facts about this ancient people. It turns out that the voice belongs to Sir Arthur Evans, the famous archaeologist who discovered the remains of the palace. Luca wanders around the building in search of his dog, and finds something that looks like Pip's leash. Pulling on it, he brings out the terrifying, angry Minotaur--a monster with a bull's head and a human body. Shocked, Luca falls to the ground, but a second later finds himself back in his room with Pip by his side. A three-page appendix at the end of the book goes back through the ages to tell us more about the ancient inhabitants of Crete, the hero Theseus, Ariadne's thread, and the Minotaur.

Customer Reviews:

A Waste of Time.......2001-08-14

I was expecting this book to give an account of the story of King Minos and the Minotaur. I was sorely disappointed. Although there are a few pictures that depict some of the frescoes and sculptures of the time (the only reason it received one star), this book told nothing of the story whatsoever. It's a story of a little boy who falls asleep reading (because he hated doing homework) the story of Ancient Greece and wakes up on a throne in what is supposedly King Minos' temple. He runs into a man whom he figures out to be Sir Arthur Evans and begins to be chased around by a couple of kids (who you never do find out who they are). He's running around these ruins looking for his dog and when he finally finds the dog's leash, he pulls on it to find the Minotaur and wakes up. There's no historical lesson here at all except for a narration at the end of the book that is pretty good. I would not recommend this book unless you're just looking for a story to introduce the Minotaur. If you're looking for a good historical accounting of Minos and the Minoan culture, don't waste your time.

A Cretan Cycle: Fragments Unearthed from Knossos

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A Cretan Cycle: Fragments Unearthed from Knossos
Marilyn Coffey , and Lekakis Coffey
Manufacturer: Bandanna Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0942208145

The Minotaur of Knossos (A Journey Through Time Series)

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The Minotaur of Knossos (A Journey Through Time Series)
Roberta Angeletti
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKJB9C

Customer Reviews:

Good old fashion advice .......2007-09-03

Hamm's Drawing Scenery book was published in 1972, yet it is still full of useful advice to the artist today. As an author, he makes no assumptions about the reader's drawing skills, and gets right down to basics. This book is broad enough to be written for the general artist, whether you are an illustrator, commercial artist, or fine artists. While it has a slight comic book artist feel about it, the tips and advice are not limited to just comic book art. I've only taken one star off for its unusual layout - but then it was written BC (before computers).

Classic good instruction.......2007-08-22

Hamm's How To books are really good. They dissect the shapes of things and show clear ways to draw them.

Wonderful!.......2007-08-15

I have loved Jack Hamm's books for years! As an artist, I am constantly looking for new books to try to hone my skills with. And while Jack Hamm's books aren't new, they have been a pivotal part of my self teaching in my skills. I have checked the books out of the library for years, and I would keep them until I HAD to take them back! (Darn!) So, I finally decided that it was time to buy a copy of "Drawing Scenery" for myself! I love it, and I will use it frequently! I love his style of teaching, he breaks it down for you in simple terms and shows you how it CAN be acomplished. I love this book!

Kelly Ganson

Content-packed bargain!.......2005-09-17

Jack Hamm's three books "Drawing the Head and Figure," "How to Draw Animals," and this volume together form what I consider a complete course in commercial illustration but for color theory, which you can find in many other art books. Drawing well is the basis for every other art form especially in illustration.

This is the most difficult of those three volumes. Prepare to spend some time reading and studying it. I felt like I was back in college, and progressed through it one page at a time doing sketches on index cards with a soft pencil to test the ideas and theories he put forward -- and unlike many other art books I've read or classes I've taken, concepts like composition, balance, light and perspective made sense to me after studying this book. It's not a light read but it's so rich.

Jack Hamm's style is engaging but it's very content-dense. His books are the peak of the example-heavy content-rich concise style of art instruction. Step by step projects and long personal essays on technique and feeling aren't what Jack Hamm is about, although his style is engaging he doesn't seem to have the ego that many art instruction writers do. He doesn't claim his methods or compositions or styles are the best. He describes as many different ways to do things as they are and constantly encourages imagination, originality and personal style.

He distinguishes realism from artistic exaggeration and explains effectively why you can't just rely on a photo or even on what you see to create a good believable picture. I'm a writer who has spent a lifetime trying to learn self-illustration and his explanations have successfully broken some mental barriers like overdetailing, lack of focus, bad composition, inconsistent lighting. He encourages boldness and daring.

He has specific examples and details of everything I'd need to use in a scene, from clouds and waves to rocks and trees and houses. Most of all he shows how to create drama within a scene, no matter what the subject is it can be rendered a little bolder than life, it can convey emotion and tell a story.

I'd recommend this without reservation, order all three of them if you don't have them. All of these books have one quality in common. Even after they're read, they are great permanent references with examples of trees, waves, houses, styles of clouds -- the cloud chart pages are great -- so if I'm doing a drawing I can flip to the right section and get ideas for how to handle the sky or what I can do to make the gnarled tree look like endurance.

These books are the kind that will wear out from constant use and need replacing if you're at all fond of drawing, because there's always something new and interesting to find for any future artwork. This is why these classics are still in print. Check out the other two and consider his cartooning book as well if you have any interest in cartooning.

Brilliant.......2004-07-15

I couldn't agree more with Mari Lamar's comments. Absolutely a must have for any art student.

Drawing Scenery: Landscapes, Seascapes and Buildings (The Art of Drawing series)

Average customer rating:

Drawing Scenery: Landscapes, Seascapes and Buildings (The Art of Drawing series)
Giovanni Civardi
Manufacturer: Search Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Specific Objects | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Still Life | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1903975107

Book Description

Learn how to create tone, texture, light, shade and atmosphere, exercises, step-by-step demonstrations and a gallery of inspirational pictures showing trees, mountains, lakes, skies, boats, buildings, and more.

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