georgenaylor

There are four good things about these books by Charles Rivers Editors: 1) They are usually brief, 2) They do provide a good overview of a particular topic, 3) They usually have a decent bibliography and 4) They can usually be got for free.

This book does a good job of describing what the ancient sources say about the Hanging Gardens. It also details the mystery of what the Gardens looked like and whether or not they actually ever existed. The most fascinating part of the book was the time devoted to the theories of Stephanie Dalley, who has postulated that the Hanging Gardens were mistakenly attributed to the Neo-Babylonian city of Babylon but are more likely to have been in the Assyrian capital of Ninevah. I’d never heard of her research and theories before and thought just the brief outline of them presented in the book was intriguing and made for a compelling case.

There are four good things about these books by Charles Rivers Editors: 1) They are usually brief, 2) They do provide a good overview of a particular topic, 3) They usually have a decent bibliography and 4) They can usually be got for free.

This book does a good job of describing what the ancient sources say about the Hanging Gardens. It also details the mystery of what the Gardens looked like and whether or not they actually ever existed. The most fascinating part of the book was the time devoted to the theories of Stephanie Dalley, who has postulated that the Hanging Gardens were mistakenly attributed to the Neo-Babylonian city of Babylon but are more likely to have been in the Assyrian capital of Ninevah. I’d never heard of her research and theories before and thought just the brief outline of them presented in the book was intriguing and made for a compelling case.

There are four good things about these books by Charles Rivers Editors: 1) They are usually brief, 2) They do provide a good overview of a particular topic, 3) They usually have a decent bibliography and 4) They can usually be got for free.

Shorter than usual, this book does lay out pretty well what is historically known about Belle Starr, showing that the reality of the old Wild West figures is usually pretty boring compared to the wild, fanciful tales of popular legend. Starr had hardworking parents and a classical education background. But her various marriages ended up being with men who weren’t the most successful or ambitious of types and who skirted the law more often than keeping it. Starr’s reputation for being an outlaw seems to come mostly from her association with outlaws rather than much criminal activity on her part, although she was convicted several times. The fact that she was the victim of an unsolved murder also undoubtedly fed the legend of her wild ways.

Becky Mellor and her brother Joe are sent to spend the summer at their Uncle Percy’s estate. Expecting boredom, they instead find excitement, mystery, and danger when their eccentric uncle turns out to be a time traveler.

I liked this book quite a bit. It moves quickly and is very engaging. The plot has a lot of mystery, danger, and twists and turns, but overall the story has an imaginative, humorous feel. The characters are drawn with enough depth to get one interested in their story and to care about what happens to them. The villains are drawn in such a way that you know they are dangerous and mean business. Yet, the tone of the story isn’t dark or morbid but hopeful and exciting. I also liked the definite British feel of the story.

As someone with a degree in history and a deep love of it, time travel is always a fascination. But it’s often hard to find stories on it well done and with plausible reasoning. This book is well done, though, and the theory and mechanics of time travel as put forth so far in the series was reasonable and interesting.

To conclude, I can envision reading this book again and again (which is about the highest compliment I can give a book) and I look forward to reading the other books in the series.