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This book wanders a bit and I don‘t know that I believe the authors assertion that the specific poem that the book focuses on has as much of an impact as the authors claims, but it is well written and interesting.
The book follows the life of a papal secretary who rediscovered and made available through his copies a book the author claims jump started modern science and thought.
2.5/5 interesting and well written but weak in arguments sometimes

#stephangteenblatt #theswerve #deconstruction

#stephangteenblatt #theswerve #deconstruction

#stephangteenblatt #theswerve #deconstruction

An excellent telling of how the world recovered past knowledge, that ultimately led to an age of enlightenment

Current book pile

Hi @Kaila-ann @Hestapleton @EadieB these are my choices for our group read. Which would you prefer to read? They have all been on my shelf a long time and this will finally force me to read them 😊

Bill Nye‘s book made me think of this quote in relation to a documentary I once watched called “Jesus Camp.” If you ever get the chance to see it, it‘s truly astounding. This boy who is homeschooled by his Uber Christian parents says “I think Galileo did the right thing by giving up science for Jesus. His parents are very anti science and this is what they have taught him about Galileo. No wonder these people also don‘t like history.

5🌟
I didn‘t think I was going to like this one as much as I liked The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, but I was completely wrong. This is a completely different book, with a completely different feel to Adam and Eve, but it is equally as wonderful and amazing. I inhaled it in two days.
(Full review in comments)
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve

This is probably why writers are also readers...and always have been.
#theswerve #stephengreenblatt #readers #writers #thinkers

It‘s amazing how truth stays true, no matter how old it is.
#theswerve #stephengreenblatt #humanhistory

2,100 years after it was written, it is still profound true - possibly even more so.
#theswerve #stephengreenblatt #humanhistory

You can thank the humanists you can read your book (and this post). Prior to humanism‘s focus on the humanities and reading classical literature, writing looked like the first picture. Good luck reading that (yes, that‘s actually words). Humanist script actually looks shocking like like Times font that is still on your computer today.
#humanism #stephengreenblatt #theswerve

This reminds me of that scene on The Handmaid‘s Tale.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #medievaltimes

Christianity and the Rise of Sado-masochism

This is so twisted. God made you and called it good, but that self preservation he gave you to keep you alive in which you avoid things that hurt (because they might kill you), yeah he screwed that up... but he‘s perfect so actually he didn‘t, he just wants us to beat you to make you a good person. 🙄

#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #medievaltimes #theriseofchristianity #thehistoryofspanking

How very Christian of them. Christianity has feared women since Rome took over.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #theriseofchristianity

There have always been female scholars. There have always been badass women.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #womeninacademia

I‘ve heard Christians talk about how the rise of Islam was so violent, so obviously it‘s the devil‘s religion and Christianity is the true religion. No wonder these same Christians are afraid of historians.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #theriseofchristianity

A completely different view of “pleasure” than Christianity.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #medievaltimes

No wonder monks weren‘t always (rarely?) what you would expect. Most of the men there weren‘t there willingly.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #monasteries

Librarians in the late Medieval and early Early Modern periods were not messing around. If this nice curse wasn‘t enough to keep you from stealing a book, some of the monks would “beat an apprehended thief to within an inch of his life.”
And you thought monks were nice, sweet, holy, pious men.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #latefees

Yup, Greenblatt is a Shakespeare junkie. There is always a road back to the Bard. How, you ask? Romeo and Juliet is an exploration or Petrarchan love themes, especially in the way they speak to each other in (and complete each other‘s) sonnets.
#youknowyoureanerdwhen #shakespeare #petrarch #stephengreenblatt #theswerve

Awesome bookish words in the first chapter of this book!!! I think this one could apply to most of us.
I am a proud Bibliomaniac!!!
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #bookishvocabulary #bibliomaniac #proudbiblomaniac

Awesome bookish words in the first chapter of this book!!! Not sure this one applies to many people anymore, but it was probably quite popular in the 1400s.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #bookishvocabulary

@Emilymdxn this may get dangerously close to that other statement we both had issue with, but it doesn‘t go as far. It‘s more that an individual knew their place and without a place they were in trouble (which is kind of the whole point of his first chapter anyway). This is also set in 1417, so the earliest part of Early Modern history as well, sort of that shifting time between medieval and early modern.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #personhood

There are some great quotes here, and I‘ve only read the preface.
#stephangreenblatt #theswerve #quotable

I love when an author gives little hints at the title and what it all means.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve

I think this is why I love Greenblatt so very much. I feel a bit like he gets me.
#stephengreenblatt #theswerve #shakespeare

Taking off with another Greenblatt book. I sure hope this one is as good as the last one. Who‘s ready for another adventure?!
#theswerve #stephengreenblatt

There were parts of this book that were really fascinating, but I couldn‘t keep my mind from wandering during the parts that weren‘t. I think the scope of what Greenblatt is trying to undertake here is interesting, but there were too many tangents (more or less intriguing in their own right) that seemed to drift from the central story.

Monks were serious about not getting their books back in the Middle Ages.

#History #MedievalHistory #GradSchool #Gradly

Day 8: Award-Winning Book
This was the first book I read this year in my endeavor to read more Non-Fiction. This book won the Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction in 2012 and the National Book Award for Non-Fiction in 2011. This book follows Poggio Bracciolini and his discovery of the manuscript “On the Nature of Things” by Lucretius and how it changed the course of history. I loved it!!
#AGameOfFavorites

This book explains what, exactly, caused the Renaissance to happen - the players who stumbled on the ancient artifacts that made the Medieval world construct unsatisfying. It follows a scribe named Poggio, whose singular impact is profound. One person can change the world, and it doesn‘t have to be a great warlord. It can be a humble scholar with a critical eye, a boundless curiosity, and the courage and imagination to think new ideas. Take note.

Interesting history book.

And here‘s the even more fabulous bookmark that came with the book!

Lovely #bookmail today! I belong to a local book club called Turning Pages hosted by the fabulous Writers & Books in Rochester NY. This is the new selection. Can‘t wait to dig in.

First book of 2018: ✅I liked this more than I thought I would. The written word is so powerful, it can transcend time. I enjoyed following Poggio Bracciolini in his quest to bring the ancient philosophers back to life. I think we can all identify with a love for old books, collecting books, and books that changed our perspective. Plus, reading about those naughty Popes was fun too...

"The pope was a thug, but he was a learned thug..."

{About Baldassare Cossa, AKA Antipope John XXIII}
I freaking love this book!

(After his death in 1437, Niccolo Niccoli had strict instructions about what to do with his vast collection of 800 manuscripts) "...He specified that the books would be available not for the religious alone but for all learned citizens, omnes cives studioso (all interested citizens). Centuries after the last Roman library had been shut down and abandoned, Niccoli had brought back into the world the idea of the public library." ❤️?

We're having Christmas at my Mom and Step-Dad's acreage today (with my sister and step-siblings and LOTS of nieces and 2 nephews...) I'm going to sneak in some reading time before everyone else gets here and while my kids are being quiet! Merry Christmas and Happy Everything to you and yours! 🦌🎄 ⭐️

"Ammianus seems to have sensed the impending end. His description of a world exhausted by crushing taxes, the financial ruin of large segments of the population, and the dangerous decline in the army's morale vividly conjured up the conditions that made it possible, some 20 years after his death, for the Goths to sack Rome"

Well, that sounds depressingly familiar...

Started a bit complicated but turned out to be great.

A rather elegant summation of two periods of history - when On the Nature of Things was first written and when an Italian papal scribe rediscovered it - and an ode to the written word. #penmaship

Day 2 of #nonficnov my favorite *really recent* pick is The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Pulitzer prize in general nonfiction and a 2012 National Book Award for Nonfiction, this book has me hooked! I'm listening to it over and over again. The author, Dr Stephen Greenblatt, tells the story of finding a book - In The Nature Of Things- which is the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical text by Lucretius.

👍👍👍👍👍

#AudibleDailyDeal $2.95

Some of our bedroom shelves. #shelfie

Hanging out in my childhood home for the weekend means hanging out with my old favorite reading buddy 💕🐶 #dogsoflitsy

First book for my new book club. Excited to discuss next Sunday!

If you thought library fines were tough, check out this old-school monastic curse on unreturned books! 😆