The Shakespeare Miscellany is that rarity, an educational work that is also wonderful entertainment. This book will be a great boon for beginning students of Shakespeare as well as seasoned “bardolators” (a word coined by George Bernard Shaw in 1901)…
Tag: nonfiction
A review of A Month Of Sundays by Julie Mars
So often memoirs can be maudlin or portray the author as an innocent victim of circumstances. This is not the case in A MONTH OF SUNDAYS. The author mixes tears and humor and is not afraid to show herself or…
A review of Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel
What Maisel presents here is a primer on how to live a life worth living. If you’re a blocked artist, Coaching the Artist Within will certainly help you get to the root of what is troubling you, while always spurring…
A review of Pharaohs and Kings by David M. Rohl
Forty-three years later, David Rohl published Pharaohs and Kings. Rohl, an eminent Egyptologist, spent twenty years examining the basis for the four pillars (or known dates) in Egyptian history. Benefitted by recent archaeological research, particularly by a catch of mummified Apis bulls (considered the sacred dwelling place of gods by the ancient Egyptians and carefully mummified when they died) Rohl and others constructed an unbroken line of dates intermeshing when the bulls were alive with the pharaohs who reigned when the bulls lived.
Cataclysm! Compelling Evidence of a Cosmic Catastrophe in 9500 B.C. by D. S. Allan and J. B. Delair
In the 1940s, a very well educated psychoanalyst, Immaneul Velikovsky, from his own studies of the human mind, felt these ancient myths weren’t 100% fictional after all. They had some similarity to what he was hearing from some of his patients who had suffered from overpowering fear. He studied and compared myths from cultures all over the world, Middle East, Mediterranean, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec, Inca, and others. They all seem to describe the same events. Velikovsky, therefore, thought the planetary orbits had been disturbed during historical times, causing havoc on earth and frightening people who, not knowing better, thought the planets were gods.
A review of Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey
As one would expect from an author who can write well about anything, the book is full of the kind of detail which makes for good travel writing: setting, character, anecdote, and scenery descriptions, but this is much more than…
A review of Weeds in the Garden of Words by Kate Burridge
Like a true gardener, Burridge’s love for language is never so strict or pompous that it excludes admiration for what is truly beautiful or unique, even if it is as pernicious and destructive as a weedy plant. Like her very…
A review of The Well-Fed Writer Back for Seconds
Bowerman clearly loves what he does for a living, and not just because it keeps him well-fed. These days all writers need to be cognisant of audience, and willing to sell their talents in one way or another. Although Bowerman…
A review of Putting It On Paper by Dawn Josephson
While the book is targeted towards book authors, much of the advice is useful for any writer who needs to promote themselves (that is, for any writer). Writing good press releases, cover letters, bios and self-promoting articles are the keystones…
A review of A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The whole book converges on one point: that all life is one, on Earth, and in the wider universe, and that life is a miraculous thing and not something to be taken lightly. Put into the context of this large…