Greece Books

Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank

Anne Frank

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 633 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Anne Frank Diary 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As a young adult I had read articles on the book. I knew the story. I saw the movie made from the book. However, I had never read the book itself.
The experience of reading the words of Anne as she lived for two year in hiding with her family, and others in hiding, was entirely different than just knowing the story. Reading another persons personal words as they were living the life that inspired them to write is a most intimate experience.
In my adult life I am glad to have had the experience of actually reading Anne Frank's words. I recommend the reading of this book to young and mature persons who wish to understand what transpired in our world history on an intimate level.

Amazing, This is the best book I have ever read... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is truly one of the greatest books ever written. As a reader reads this book, he will see a young girl blossoming into a phenomenal young woman. All in the confines of her family's "Secret Annexe", while in hiding from the Gestapo, and to keep from being captured, and sent to a concentration camp.

As I read this book, I felt Anne Frank was speaking to me. I felt her anger, her rebellion, and laughed when she would tell a joke, or say something harsh about another member of the "Secret Annexe". Her words, so eloquently written, will touch anybody who reads them, and this book will become one that they will never forget, as it has with me. As I read her diary, and connected with Anne, I felt a depressing feeling, because I knew that at one point her diary entries would suddenly stop, and there would be no fitting ending for this masterpiece.

With that said, what Anne Frank has left for us is a memorable diary, which encompasses what she went through. The hunger, and horrible conditions that she, and many Jews were put through is a testament to how cruel, intolerant, and unjustifiably evil humanity can be.

I recommend this book to anybody who likes to read, and even to those who don't.

Editorial Review:

The compelling diary of a young girl on the brink of maturity as her life draws to toward its tragic end -- one of the most moving and vivid documents of the Jewish experience.

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 111 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Awful version of the Meditations 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Here is what Gregory Hays, this translator, wrote:
1. MY GRANDFATHER VERSUS. Character and self-control.
This is choppy. These are sentence fragments.
Here is how Maxwell Staniforth translated the same passage in the Meditations:
1. Courtesy and serenity of temper I first learnt to know from my grandfather Versus.

Heres another verse from Hays:
2. MY FATHER (FROM MY OWN MEMORIES AND HIS REPUTATION). Integrity and manliness.
From Staniforth:
2. Manliness without ostentation I learnt from what I have heard and remember of my father.

Heaven forbid you let a young person read the sentence fragments from Hays. Fortune cookies are more eloquent than Hays.

Editorial Review:

A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus’s insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style.

In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in a generation—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy: never before have they been so directly and powerfully presented.

The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories

Herodotus

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides, a new Landmark Edition of The Histories by Herodotus, the greatest classical work of history ever written.

Herodotus was a Greek historian living in Ionia during the fifth century BCE. He traveled extensively through the lands of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and collected stories, and then recounted his experiences with the varied people and cultures he encountered. Cicero called him “the father of history,” and his only work, The Histories, is considered the first true piece of historical writing in Western literature. With lucid prose that harks back to the time of oral tradition, Herodotus set a standard for narrative nonfiction that continues to this day.

In The Histories, Herodotus chronicles the rise of the Persian Empire and its dramatic war with the Greek city-states. Within that story he includes rich veins of anthropology, ethnography, geology, and geography, pioneering these fields of study, and explores such universal themes as the nature of freedom, the role of religion, the human costs of war, and the dangers of absolute power.

Ten years in the making, The Landmark Herodotus gives us a new, dazzling translation by Andrea L. Purvis that makes this remarkable work of literature more accessible than ever before. Illustrated, annotated, and filled with maps, this edition also includes an introduction by Rosalind Thomas and twenty-one appendices written by scholars at the top of their fields, covering such topics as Athenian government, Egypt, Scythia, Persian arms and tactics, the Spartan state, oracles, religion, tyranny, and women.

Like The Landmark Thucydides before it, The Landmark Herodotus is destined to be the most readable and comprehensively useful edition of The Histories available.

Republic (Oxford World's Classics)

Plato

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 91 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Rhetoric 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Most people know this book by title, not by content. I must admit reading this book is not for the faint at heart. Rhetorics will be thrown in your face as if it is common language and some sense of historical background on the Greeks may help as well.

But this shouldn't hold you back from reading this classic piece, all 450 pages of it. It is not so much the result of all thinking, but the process of thinking itself which makes this a great book. Known as one of the greatest Greek philosiphers of all-time you can get a taste of his way of thinking and the time he was living in.

If you have any interest in history and philosophy you'll love this book.

Editorial Review:

The central work of one of the West's greatest philosophers, The Republic of Plato is a masterpiece of insight and feeling, the finest of the Socratic dialogues, and one of the great books of Western culture. This new translation captures the dramatic realism, poetic beauty, intellectual vitality, and emotional power of Plato at the height of his powers. Deftly weaving three main strands of argument into an artistic whole--the ethical and political, the aesthetic and mystical, and the metaphysical--Plato explores in The Republic the elements of the ideal community, where morality can be achieved in a balance of wisdom, courage, and restraint.

Mythology

Edith Hamilton, Aphrodite Trust, Apollo Trust

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

the gold standard 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Hamilton is definitely the gold standard for retelling these glorious, ancient myths. Her style is engaging and the structure of the book makes it very easy to keep track of such ridiculously branched family trees. This is much more than just a reference book...it's more like a giant Greek fairytale book.

MYTHOLOGY by Edith Hamilton 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Mythology is classicist Edith Hamilton's book on Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, illustrated by Steele Savage (no kidding). The bulk of the work is devoted to the Greek, and the Norse is mentioned only in passing. Myths are arranged thematically, not chronologically (except for the initial creation), which is disruptive to the flow of the work.

Hamilton does several things well. First, she gives history on the authors from whom these stories have descended, and differentiates between their styles. Second, she gives good insight into the character of the people of the time as well as into the character of the mythological figures. She obviously knows the material and cares about it.

Mythology reads like a history book. Many stories get wrapped up too quickly, and quite a few are told too simplistically. Many details are left out. The writing is juvenile at times, and paragraph flow is occasionally an issue. This is almost a Cliff's Notes on mythology. Ultimately, Hamilton makes most of these myths boring. Others, with too many details cut out, the reader will find hard to get into.

Mythology has some good things to offer, but on the whole, this is an inferior way to enjoy the myths. This book may be useful to some as a quick-reference guide, but that's about it.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

Editorial Review:

A keystone of our culture is the body of myth and legend of the ancient Western world--stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity since time immemorial. Hamilton's renowned classic brings this legacy to life anew, with impeccably accurate and accessible retellings of eternally spellbinding tales.

Travels with Herodotus (Vintage International)

Ryszard Kapuscinski

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the renowned journalist comes this intimate account of his years in the field, traveling for the first time beyond the Iron Curtain to India, China, Ethiopia, and other exotic locales.

In the 1950s, Ryszard Kapuscinski finished university in Poland and became a foreign correspondent, hoping to go abroad – perhaps to Czechoslovakia. Instead, he was sent to India – the first stop on a decades-long tour of the world that took Kapuscinski from Iran to El Salvador, from Angola to Armenia. Revisiting his memories of traveling the globe with a copy of Herodotus' Histories in tow, Kapuscinski describes his awakening to the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of new environments, and how the words of the Greek historiographer helped shape his own view of an increasingly globalized world. Written with supreme eloquence and a constant eye to the global undercurrents that have shaped the last half-century, Travels with Herodotus is an exceptional chronicle of one man's journey across continents.

The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery

William Gurstelle

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Science, Nature & How It Works -> Experiments & Projects -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whether playing at defending their own castle or simply chucking pumpkins over a fence, wannabe marauders and tinkerers will become fast acquainted with Ludgar, the War Wolf, Ill Neighbor, Cabulus, and the Wild Donkey—ancient artillery devices known commonly as catapults. Building these simple yet sophisticated machines introduces fundamentals of math and physics using levers, force, torsion, tension, and traction. Instructions and diagrams illustrate how to build seven authentic working model catapults, including an early Greek ballista, a Roman onager, and the apex of catapult technology, the English trebuchet. Additional projects include learning how to lash and make rope and how to construct and use a hand sling and a staff sling. The colorful history of siege warfare is explored through the stories of Alexander the Great and his battle of Tyre; Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Third Crusade; pirate-turned-soldier John Crabbe and his ship-mounted catapults; and Edward I of England and his battle against the Scots at Stirling Castle.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Volumes 4-6)

Edward Gibbon, Hugh Trevor-Roper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Book 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

First one thing: do not, on any account, get the abridged version. If I could take one book to a desert island, it would be this one. That's because it is extremely long, and every word of it is worth it.

Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire remains as relevant as ever. And this is in spite of its hugely ambitious scope, treating of the history of the Roman and Byzantine empires (both considered Roman by Gibbon) from the end of the 1st century AD to the 15th. Gibbon is a modern historian. He is shrewdly selective of his sources, judiciously reserved, and coldly analytical. He differentiates between proximate and ultimate causes. He has a humanistic but impartial point of view. At the same time, he is an 18th century Englishman. While this is reflected in some of his opinions, such as that the extinction of republican freedom was what determined Rome's decline, it makes them no less valid and often the more interesting; it is hard to imagine anyone today being able to treat the early Christian controversies with the same tact and humour, for example.

And Edward Gibbon wrote like an enchanter. I read somewhere that his style was an inspiration to Churchill. No wonder. Every line of this tome of perhaps a million words is a delight to read. You will laugh out loud. His thought is clear and convincing. And there are simply magical moments, such as when he produces that mythical animal that appeared in the Roman circus, an animal no one in Europe has seen since then... a giraffe. Or the dissertation on whether Europe remains at threat of invasion from the Mongols.

The Decline and Fall is full of telling anecdotes, and yet it always holds to a general picture. It is filled with detail and colour but never loses the reader. It is packed with events, and it offers discussion of longer trends - notably those that participated in Rome's decline and led to its eventual fall - political, religious, military, economic. And it is even more impressive when one thinks of the modern tools its author did not have at his disposal, in particular archaeological and numismatic. Approximately half of the book is dedicated to the Roman Empire proper, up to the late 5th century. This is where Gibbon is at his strongest, his research the most thorough. The rest deals with Byzantium, touching heavily on European history up to the fall of Constantinople, and has a broader sweep. His work ends with a description of Rome as it looks today (i.e. in the late 18th century).

I finished reading my copy (after several happy months) in Rome itself, in a little place with a view of the Pantheon. If you have the luck of being able to do that, you will never forget it.

Editorial Review:

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Volumes 4, 5, and 6 of the Bury Text, in a boxed set. Introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper

The Nicomachean Ethics (World's Classics)

Aristotle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Translations differ 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

It would be helpful if Amazon didn't pool together reviews from different translations. Note to Amazon: the customer reviews can be very helpful and have motivated me to purchase many books. But reviews for widely translated books should be specific to the translation. Otherwise they become worthless.

For those who want a theory to excellence 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Aristotle's ethics is a theory of excellence so it definitely spoke to me as a individual. He starts with the claim that the end of all human action is happiness and he claims that happiness requires virtue. He goes on to look at several different types of virtues and he believes they can be perfected through practice. One is to practice at finding the golden mean between excess and deficiency. To use an example from Aristotle to illustrate, one is to act courageously, but it is rash to act with too much courage and it is cowardice to not act with enough courage. Therefore, he supports finding the mean in all human action and this is to lead to happiness. Books 8 and 9 give the best treatise on friendship that I have ever found so I recommend those two books above all of the rest. Overall the whole book is worth ones time though. Aristotle's ethics is a simple and a commonsensical approach to ethics so nobody should be put off from reading this book due to its difficulty.

Editorial Review:

This revised translation of Aristotle's classic treatise contains ten books based on the famous doctrine of the golden mean which advocates taking the middle course between excess and deficiency. Topics that Aristotle treats include the good for humanity, moral virtue, intellectual virtue, pleasure, friendship, and happiness.

Sparkling Gems From The Greek: 365 Greek Word Studies For Every Day Of The Year To Sharpen Your Understanding Of God's Word

Rick Renner

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Sparkling Gems 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I don't understand what you want here. I am enjoying this book because words I read in the Bible come from Greek language and it explains the meaning of them better.

Editorial Review:

Unlock a Cache of Enduring Riches In Sparkling Gems From the Greek, Rick Renner unlocks an amazing cache of rich, enduring treasures mined from deep within the Word to unveil a wealth of brilliant wisdom and sound counsel that will enrich and redefine your life. Sparkling Gems is arranged in a devotional format with more than 1,000 in-depth Greek word studies, crafted into 365 daily devotions that are sure to inspire and provoke you to plunge deeper into your own search for more hidden treasures from God s Word. Three exhaustive indices an English to Greek index, a Greek to English index, and a Scripture Index are also included, making Sparkling Gems a highly effective reference tool for your own personal study library. So let wisdom and enduring riches define your life as you delve into the depths of God s Word with Sparkling Gems From the Greek by Rick Renner. Order your copy today!