I loved this book. But be forewarned - it is nothing but a long stream of factoids. Hundreds of pages of useless trivia. I just happen to love useless trivia.
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Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (French: Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi …
AliCorbin finished reading The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
AliCorbin started reading The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
AliCorbin finished reading The Republic of Plato by Plato
The Republic of Plato by Plato
The Republic is Plato's most famous work and one of the seminal texts of Western philosophy and politics. The characters …
AliCorbin started reading Geoffrey of Monmouth : the history of the kings of Britain : an edition and translation of De gestis Britonum (Historia regum Britanniae) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph (Arthurian studies -- 69)
AliCorbin rated Martin Marten: 4 stars
Martin Marten by Doyle, Brian
"Dave is fourteen years old, living with his family in a cabin on Oregon's Mount Hood (or as Dave prefers …
AliCorbin rated The Tao of Pooh: 2 stars
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff (The Wisdom of Pooh, #1)
The Tao of Pooh is a book written by Benjamin Hoff. The book is intended as an introduction to the …
AliCorbin rated Number one Chinese restaurant: 2 stars
Number one Chinese restaurant by Lillian Li
The Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland, is not only a beloved go-to setting for hunger pangs and celebrations; it …
AliCorbin reviewed At Home by Bill Bryson
“Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.”
Bill Bryson and his …
Review of 'At Home' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
AliCorbin reviewed Pirate women by Laura Sook Duncombe
"In the first-ever Seven Seas history of the world's female buccaneers, Pirate Women : The …
Review of 'Pirate women' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A compilation of everything the author could find about any person, real or fictional, who might possibly have been female who was engaged in any way with anything that might possibly be considered piracy. Written in very plain language. Probably aimed at teenagers.
AliCorbin rated Zookeeper's Wife: 3 stars
Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
The Zookeeper's Wife is a non-fiction book written by the poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman. Drawing on the diary of …
AliCorbin rated Raiders of the Nile: 3 stars
Raiders of the Nile by Steven Saylor (Roma sub rosa)
"In 88 B.C. it seems as if all the world is at war. From Rome to Greece and to Egypt …
AliCorbin rated Being Mortal: 4 stars
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End is a 2014 non-fiction book by American surgeon Atul Gawande. The …
AliCorbin reviewed The poems of Catullus by Gaius Valerius Catullus (The world's classics)
Review of 'Catullus' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I started this book because I wanted to translate some Latin poetry, and I'd read some bits of Catullus in my textbook that were quite sweet.
Unfortunately, those sweet bits are few and far apart among his poems. In the vast majority of his work he is simply nasty. He viciously skewers people without mercy and often drops into obscenity. There were many times when, after parsing out and understanding the Latin, I was at a loss of how to restate it in English. Because I couldn't bring myself to write down the English words that were needed to do this. Hell, in many cases I didn't even know the English equivalents.