"A World Lit Only by Fire" by William Manchester.
This book is about the deterioration of civilization, the church’s corruption, (and boy was it ever...) and the accomplishments of many sailors like Magellan despite the hardships that lay ahead for them during the middle ages.
This is a fascinating look into what it was like to live in the middle ages.
Great stuff!
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Return to “What are you currently listening to?”
- Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:07 am
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: What are you currently listening to?
- Replies: 60
- Views: 7717
- Thu Feb 11, 2010 1:08 pm
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: What are you currently listening to?
- Replies: 60
- Views: 7717
Re: What are you currently listening to?
I neglected to post the authors name of "Scurvy" which happens to be Stephen R. Brown.
Some of the particulars of Scurvy are so horrifying as to make a Hollywood horror movie appear comical, i.e., formerly healed wounds come open, formerly healed broken bones become broken again in the precisely the same manner they were originally damaged. There's more horror than that, but I think that a sufficient introduction as to why Scurvy was such a menace on the high seas.
The hunt for a cure for Scurvy is an incredibly interesting read.
To vastly oversimplify, the preventative and cure for Scurvy, namely Vitamin C, provides for that which holds the body together, namely collagen, without which we start quite literally falling apart.
If you have any medical science history interest this is a book for you.
Some of the particulars of Scurvy are so horrifying as to make a Hollywood horror movie appear comical, i.e., formerly healed wounds come open, formerly healed broken bones become broken again in the precisely the same manner they were originally damaged. There's more horror than that, but I think that a sufficient introduction as to why Scurvy was such a menace on the high seas.
The hunt for a cure for Scurvy is an incredibly interesting read.
To vastly oversimplify, the preventative and cure for Scurvy, namely Vitamin C, provides for that which holds the body together, namely collagen, without which we start quite literally falling apart.
If you have any medical science history interest this is a book for you.
- Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:53 pm
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: What are you currently listening to?
- Replies: 60
- Views: 7717
Re: What are you currently listening to?
Now listening to:"Speech Less: Tales of a White House Survivor" by Matt Latimer, former speech writer for G. Bush.
Very entertaining.
Very entertaining.
- Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:06 am
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: What are you currently listening to?
- Replies: 60
- Views: 7717
Re: What are you currently listening to?
"Scurvy"
This is an audio book on the history of what took more lives during the era of sail, that any war, storms, or other diseases.
This is the history of how often the discovery of vitamin C, as the cure for scurvy, was found and lost and finally found again.
I generally prefer audio books over music.
Lately, though I've been listening to a little of Al Green and the Fleetwoods.
This is an audio book on the history of what took more lives during the era of sail, that any war, storms, or other diseases.
This is the history of how often the discovery of vitamin C, as the cure for scurvy, was found and lost and finally found again.
I generally prefer audio books over music.
Lately, though I've been listening to a little of Al Green and the Fleetwoods.