Ghosts of Vesuvius: A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 3/11/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 3/11/2017 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this good-condition hardcover at a local Salvation Army thrift shop, and picked it up for another release copy.
Subtitled "A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections", this book is more about "connections" than anything else. I'd originally picked it up on the strength of the Pompeiian body-cast on the cover, and while there is a fair amount of description of Pompeii and Herculaneum, that's far from the majority of the book. It includes a capsule history of the creation of the universe, for one thing, leading deftly into the causes and natures of volcanos, including specific notable eruptions throughout history (and pre-history). The author speculates that the eruption of Thera in 1600-something BC may have set civilization back by centuries...
The book ties in the Vesuvius disaster to many others, natural and otherwise, not only explaining how they came to occur but the pattern of human nature in tending to ignore the obvious and deny the inevitable. While at times his prose seems to get a bit carried away, he does have a point, and he describes the struggles by some forward-seeing folk to unite many disciplines - including forensic anthropology, paleontology, and volcanology - to gain a better understanding of events that had formerly been the focus of individual disciplines.
All this becomes much more immediate when the author brings in the events of 9/11, and cites his own journal entries in which he found himself "studying Herculaneum-style surge cloud effects against artifacts from my own time"... The later chapters in the book address Ground Zero as an archaeological site - and Herculaneum as a graveyard and memorial instead of a museum. At times it seems too much - too overwritten, too many elements being brought in - but overall it was both interesting and very moving.
Subtitled "A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections", this book is more about "connections" than anything else. I'd originally picked it up on the strength of the Pompeiian body-cast on the cover, and while there is a fair amount of description of Pompeii and Herculaneum, that's far from the majority of the book. It includes a capsule history of the creation of the universe, for one thing, leading deftly into the causes and natures of volcanos, including specific notable eruptions throughout history (and pre-history). The author speculates that the eruption of Thera in 1600-something BC may have set civilization back by centuries...
The book ties in the Vesuvius disaster to many others, natural and otherwise, not only explaining how they came to occur but the pattern of human nature in tending to ignore the obvious and deny the inevitable. While at times his prose seems to get a bit carried away, he does have a point, and he describes the struggles by some forward-seeing folk to unite many disciplines - including forensic anthropology, paleontology, and volcanology - to gain a better understanding of events that had formerly been the focus of individual disciplines.
All this becomes much more immediate when the author brings in the events of 9/11, and cites his own journal entries in which he found himself "studying Herculaneum-style surge cloud effects against artifacts from my own time"... The later chapters in the book address Ground Zero as an archaeological site - and Herculaneum as a graveyard and memorial instead of a museum. At times it seems too much - too overwritten, too many elements being brought in - but overall it was both interesting and very moving.
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Amherst St./101A (See Text For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Saturday, March 11, 2017
GoryDetails at Amherst St./101A (See Text For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Saturday, March 11, 2017
Released 7 yrs ago (3/11/2017 UTC) at Amherst St./101A (See Text For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I plan to leave this book on a bench out side the Pig Tale restaurant on Amherst St. at around 2, while on my way in for lunch. Hope the finder enjoys the book![See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2017 Oh, the Places We Can Go release challenge. ***
