Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a...
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Score another hard-to-put-down murder mystery hit for British author Peter Lovesey. The circle of suspects consists of the members of a writers' group, the victim a sleazy publisher - a perfect target for a group of frustrated unpublished writers, and a perfect contained group of potential murderers. There is little-to-no-chance of figuring out the solution - none at all in my case - until the author reveals it in the final pages.
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A well-written, interesting account of an 8-year (for the survivor, 7 for his companion) around-the-world trip to survey the progress of the LMS missions spread around the globe. The difficulties of such a trip in the 1820's were formidible, but nevertheless undertaken with the same courage and perserverance necessary for the missionary effort. As would be expected, the author writes from a positive perspective for these Christian activities and while my personal opinion ranks me nearer the other end of scale on this, I must admit that I had probably narrowed the gap by at least a few points by the end of the trip. Not surprisingly, the travellers found good missionaries and bad, with most falling somewhere between; very successful missions and complete failures, with most in between. Most successful were those missions in the isolated islands of the Pacific whose traditional gods had offered no protection from the imported diseases and deserved to be replaced; least successful those in the more sophisticated mainland Asian cultures where one more foreign god among the millions already in place did not cause much of a stir. Africa - more of a mixed bag - offered some final extreme adventures to the travellers before the survivor was finally able to return home to England.
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This is a very comprehensive and clearly written volume of the British administration of the southern Sudan in the early twentieth century. Although colonialism has received a bad press in the interim, it is obvious from the information presented here that the British were engaged in a very difficult attempt to bring the primitive tribal peoples into the modern world. It is apparent that these people were not prepared for the premature state of independence demanded by the more advanced northern Sudanese in Khartoum, and the almost constant state of civil war between the north and the south since that time simply confirms the stated beliefs of the British engaged in the modernizing process.
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For the purposes of most readers interested in Ancient Egypt this book delivers on at least the first part of the title, being an excellent resource for all of the known pyramids up to the mid-90's: Zahi Hawass has made and published some interesting discoveries at Giza since that time. Photos and diagrams accompany the well written descriptions, and the book is attractively laid out. Whether the book actually solves the ancient mysteries is another question and I would say that the author is indulging in a bit of marketing hype on this count. Still, a valuable addition to your personal library.
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Ken has commented on (4) products.
The Circle by Peter Lovesey
Ken, December 15, 2009
Score another hard-to-put-down murder mystery hit for British author Peter Lovesey. The circle of suspects consists of the members of a writers' group, the victim a sleazy publisher - a perfect target for a group of frustrated unpublished writers, and a perfect contained group of potential murderers. There is little-to-no-chance of figuring out the solution - none at all in my case - until the author reveals it in the final pages.(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
On the Missionary Trail: A Journey Through Polynesia, Asia, and Africa with the London Missionary Society by Tom Hiney
Ken, December 6, 2006
A well-written, interesting account of an 8-year (for the survivor, 7 for his companion) around-the-world trip to survey the progress of the LMS missions spread around the globe. The difficulties of such a trip in the 1820's were formidible, but nevertheless undertaken with the same courage and perserverance necessary for the missionary effort. As would be expected, the author writes from a positive perspective for these Christian activities and while my personal opinion ranks me nearer the other end of scale on this, I must admit that I had probably narrowed the gap by at least a few points by the end of the trip. Not surprisingly, the travellers found good missionaries and bad, with most falling somewhere between; very successful missions and complete failures, with most in between. Most successful were those missions in the isolated islands of the Pacific whose traditional gods had offered no protection from the imported diseases and deserved to be replaced; least successful those in the more sophisticated mainland Asian cultures where one more foreign god among the millions already in place did not cause much of a stir. Africa - more of a mixed bag - offered some final extreme adventures to the travellers before the survivor was finally able to return home to England.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Upper Nile Province Handbook: A Report of Peoples & Government in the Southern Sudan, 1931
Ken, September 11, 2006
This is a very comprehensive and clearly written volume of the British administration of the southern Sudan in the early twentieth century. Although colonialism has received a bad press in the interim, it is obvious from the information presented here that the British were engaged in a very difficult attempt to bring the primitive tribal peoples into the modern world. It is apparent that these people were not prepared for the premature state of independence demanded by the more advanced northern Sudanese in Khartoum, and the almost constant state of civil war between the north and the south since that time simply confirms the stated beliefs of the British engaged in the modernizing process.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries by Mark Lehner
Ken, August 28, 2006
For the purposes of most readers interested in Ancient Egypt this book delivers on at least the first part of the title, being an excellent resource for all of the known pyramids up to the mid-90's: Zahi Hawass has made and published some interesting discoveries at Giza since that time. Photos and diagrams accompany the well written descriptions, and the book is attractively laid out. Whether the book actually solves the ancient mysteries is another question and I would say that the author is indulging in a bit of marketing hype on this count. Still, a valuable addition to your personal library.(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)