Non-Fiction

[Frybabe]

I will have to see if my library has a copy of The Brendan Voyage. Sounds interesting.

[PatH]

Hi, jep142.  It's good to see you back.  That book sounds interesting.  I have an interest in the Norse voyages to North America, but didn't know about St. Brendan.  It's not too surprising that Europeans got there before the Norsemen, maybe more surprising that they managed to get back to tell the tale.
     It would be fun to read the practical details of sailing that primitive boat.  I hope he used modern navigation methods.  Back then you had no way of measuring longitude, and latitude was somewhat crude.  You filled in with a keen appreciation of weather and ocean fauna, so your directions could boil down to something like "go straight to where the whales are and turn left".

[jepl42]

He tried to not use any modern assists. The aim was to see if he could duplicate St. Brendan the Navigator using his text as the guide. It was fascinating both from the adventure side and the history angle. I tend to believe that the monks actually did it. Would love to hear other reactions.

[BarbStAubrey]

A few years ago I read the life of St. Brendan that included the journey - life was so different - I find very little about every aspect of life that was pre-planned - willy nilly at a young age children were sent to monasteries that were not much more than an enclave of stone huts and so much seemed to have happened based on dreams and premonitions or signs in nature.  I doubt navigation tools would have helped - it seems they followed stars and signs till they bumped into someplace new to them where as those who traveled east and south, although sailing on wide rivers they had more of nature to suggest they were safe.

Sort of a wow moment when I realized my family who emigrated to the US before the Civil War all came on Sailing vessels - I never put that together and where navigation and shipping lanes were known still to be on a sailing vessel for days and from the few I was able to identify from records they were not the huge vessels but smaller with maybe 100 passengers. Amazing... and so to be on an unknown sea in a  currach ---

oh just found a photo of Brendan's sailing currach

[PatH]

Now I'm even more impressed.  Such a frail thing for such a long journey.

[jepl42]

Here is a real cold weather book:
"Ordeal by Hunger; the  Story of the Donner Party"   
It's not a terribly well written book but the story is compelling. These poor people did everything wrong you could think of and paid dearly for it. My sister and brother in law lived in Truckee, near Donner Pass  in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and of course the story was big there. Now, near where these poor souls were starving to death are fancy ski resorts. There is a large statue in their memory built to the height of the snow in that terrible winter which was well over 20 feet.

[BarbStAubrey]

oh my - that was a story wasn't it - at least we never got that cold or without food - the sacrifices of those who settle this nation are extraordinary aren't they

[jepl42]

Where are you all? I miss your recommendations and comments.

[jepl42]

One of my latest reads was, "Conquistador; Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs" by Buddy Levy. It was very interesting and I learned a lot but they were quite a despicable lot overall. It was certainly hard to root for anyone in this mess but I guess Cortes would get the most despicable prize (Although human sacrifice was the Aztecs'  horrible contribution to the list of awfuls.) In spite of all this it seemed worthwhile to learn more about this and I would recommend it if you have the stomach for the realities it lays out.

[Frybabe]

Hi jepl42. We've been mostly hanging out in the Library discussion or the Books and Books into Movies discussion lately.

I haven't gotten very interested in Central and South American history yet. My focus is mostly on Roman history, the time period and areas included in what is known as The Great Game era, and the rise and spread of the Central Asians (think Kublai and Genghis Khan, and the Huns), and very early Chinese history and tales.

My most recent non-fiction reads were The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge and Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. Currently I am reading Gladius by Guy de la Bodoyere.