Category Archives: Book review

EE5BNTGVNBT6 This autobiography describes the author’s Edwardian childhood in Wells and Ely (with summer holidays on her mother’s native Guernsey) and adult life in Oxford and Devon before her eventual return to Oxfordshire. It is also in part a spiritual … Continue reading →

The book begins with a quick summary of Thesiger’s early life before describing travels he made over several years in the late 1940’s in and around Arabia’s Empty Quarter. These were the final years of much that had been a … Continue reading →

This was given to me as a student by an evangelically-minded friend. It’s really ‘Issues facing Christians in the mid-1980’s’. I’m aware that more recent editions have appeared, but there’s some interest in seeing what ethical questions and issues were … Continue reading →

Who might enjoy this book most? I found myself occasionally patronised – I don’t need to be told what ‘euphonious’ means – and some expressions, such as ‘all in the same boat’ and ‘against the grain’ surely need no explanation. … Continue reading →

I’m not going to attempt a systematic review, as those can be found elsewhere and in any case I’m unfamiliar with some of the territory Ross covers in his survey of 20th-century classical music. In the areas I do know … Continue reading →

These stories are typically a few pages long, and as befits a travel writer are set worldwide. A problem with reading the stories in this form rather than in a magazine (where most originally appeared) is the need to check … Continue reading →

We took this on holiday with us to the SW Peloponnese and found it a useful guide to the region. Ancient sites are covered in detail, and as a classicist by training myself I was on the lookout for inaccuracies.  … Continue reading →

If you’ve read Ex Libris by the same author you’ll know that she would like to revive the now rather neglected genre of the short essay, in the tradition of Lamb, who is the subject of one of the essays … Continue reading →

This Routledge course in Spanish was originally published in 1919 and revised in 1931 and 1963. Our copy is a 1991 reprint, purchased in the mid 1990’s. It’s now out of print, for reasons that this review should make clear. … Continue reading →

The Archimedes Codex tells two stories: that of Archimedes himself and his contributions to mathematics, and that of the small battered parchment volume which is our only source for some of his discoveries. The book alternates between these two stories. … Continue reading →