Margaret Leslie Davis
This is the interesting story of one Gutenberg Bible and the people who owned it.
Category Archives: Books
“The Spies of Warsaw”
Alan Furst
I like this series of novels so much that I space them out. This one is about French, Russian, German, and Polish spies working in Warsaw in 1937 and is full of character and atmosphere.
“Living With Leonardo”
Martin Kemp
This is an interesting memoir about an art historian’s encounters with Leonard da Vinci’s works. The chapters about authenticity and conservation were especially interesting.
“No Highway”
Nevil Shute
This novel about a stereotypically eccentric English “boffin” was made into the Jimmy Stewart movie “No Highway in the Sky”. The plot revolves around metal fatigue but the resulting story is more interesting – and more character-focussed – than that would suggest.
“Dubliners”
James Joyce
I don’t usually read short stories, but I enjoyed the moving human tales in this collection.
“The Lost Book of the Grail”
Charlie Lovett
I enjoyed this story about a reserved English college professor who is dedicated to a cathedral library and, while searching for a missing manuscript and the Holy Grail, finds love and a degree of faith.
“Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City”
Mark Adams
I like books like this: part travelogue, part history, told with a personal touch. This isn’t so much about the author’s attempt to find Atlantis, it’s more about his encounters with the people who have searched for it in the past and the ones who continue to do so.
“Replay: The History of Video Games”
Tristan Donovan
“Replay” does for video games (which included arcade, console, and computer games) what “Playing at the World did for wargaming and role playing. It’s a serious book covers the well-selected set of landmark games in depth. I only wish there was an updated edition: a lot has happened in the world of games since this book came out in 2010.
“The Future Was Here”
Jimmy Maher
This book, part of the MIT “Platform Studies” series, is an in-depth look at the design of the Amiga computer, the factors that went into that design, and how the design determined what programmers could do with it. I enjoyed it even though I never owned an Amiga.
(Jimmy Maher is the author of the excellent “Digital Antiquarian” blog.)
“The Rebels of Ireland”
Edward Rutherfurd
This book, along with “Princes of Ireland” is typical Rutherfurd: one location and stories about a set of loosely-connected characters through centuries of history. In this case the place is Dublin and the period starts with the last pre-Christian years and extends into the Irish Civil War.
I liked “Princes” a little better. “Rebels” started to drag a bit. They were both good, but not quite as enjoyable as some Rutherfurd’s other novels.