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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
I loved this. A Penguin "Condensed" version of Richard Hakluyt's "Voyages and Discoveries" - first hand accounts from Seamen and explorers from 890 to 1595 - condensed, because the original was 1.5 Million words, this edition is a mere 150,000 or thereabouts. But - at the time it was published it was a big deal, and brought the wider world to English shores, informing the literate of the wonders that lay beyond the horizon. So popular was it in it's time that it was quoted and referred to by Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, Tennyson amongst others.
There are the descriptions of far away places - the mention of dragons that lay in wait to feed upon elephants (crocodiles, presumably), The travellers tales and exaggerations, the speculations - John Hawkins (Slaver & Privateer) speculating on the wildlife of Florida where they landed - (Lions and Unicorns mostly he thought); the merchant tales of those far off tribes that would trade gold for iron, diamonds for glass, furs for cloth, not having our understanding of what was rare and precious, the descriptions of said peoples, the spice isles, the cannibals, the descriptions of possible resources and trade items, the custom of occasionally "abducting" locals to inform the King/Queen first hand of the customs and peoples of their land...
The accounts of Miles Philips, Mercator, Francis Drake, Magellan, Frobisher, all first hand in letters or summaries of their expedition, there's Sebastian Cabot's excellent "Ordinances for the Intended Voyage to Cathay"; which outline the rules of the expedition, the height of good sense; the customs of the expedition, that seaman are paid unto death or return, in the event of death the payment is to their widows or children, the non-proselytizing nature of the expedition, there would be no discussion of their own religion, they would treat all tribes and peoples with gentlemanly behaviour, etc, etc. Which contrasts greatly with the later expeditions, focused on Piracy and Privateering; the plunder and burning and ransoming and even complaining - for example; Frobisher's complaining of the ferocity of the invaded people who clearly had good reason to dislike Europeans, the account of James Lancaster - trapped on a river wherein the villagers had floated pitch and fireworks to ignite their ships...
Outbreaks of dysentery on board the ships, scurvy, the tropical diseases, mosquitos, or in the arctic the black flies, noseeums, mutiny, men set ashore and never recovered, there's John Candish's final voyage, vile misadventure upon misadventures, the letters from a failed expedition that read like the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, a cargo of 20, 000 salted penguins turned to slithering worms that infested every deck, piece of furniture, bed, biting and feasting upon the dead, infecting the living who swole up with them in their veins;
I could go on, but this is history written by those who were there.
And the coming together towards the end of all the privateers and slave traders together - John Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake, Frobisher, Sir Walter Raleigh, to with a few ships defeat the entire Spanish Armada making it’s way to conquer England; it reads like a Pirates of the Caribbean spinoff...
Anyways, it hardly needs my recommendation. These are the accounts of men who defeated unsurmountable odds in returning from every voyage, and many made more than one.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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This took me forever to read, mainly because I've read countless others just like it and have long since arrived at the same conclusions and taken the message to heart. The reading, then, a formality; I know the subject well enough to lecture on it myself.
Another one for the Theosophical Library.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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This was a somewhat interesting read, mostly his thoughts on a variety of topics, from God and Religion, the Arts, Women and a whole lot else. Chapters like: "The Indestructibility of Being", "The Will to Live", "On The Vanity of Existence" etc. Some of it's insightful, but conclusions I'd arrived at (or would have, had I thought about the topics with the same investment he had), some of it - well, you can disagree but still take his point of view.
Despite some of his remarkably progressive views I was taken with his views on women, and how they must be humoured and tolerated, a genuinely patronizing tone that simply wouldn't cut it today. Contrast this with John Stuart Mill's, who had a very successful relationship with his muse and was thoroughly in favour of Women being given the right to vote, etc.
Overall a surprisingly easy read for a German Philosopher.
Now to clean up a few other half-finished books so I can enter the New Year with a new reading list.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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Foreword by Guillermo Del Toro.
First of all, the foreword will ruin every story. It betrays the plot, the style, theme and characters, it's presumptuous to say the least.
Secondly, the summary in every footnote again - as my Latin & other languages aren't up to par, don't punish me by spoiling the story.
To the text, as described, a collection of "weird" stories, persuasive horrors that warn you of undiscovered spiritual dangers (and realms) beyond our ken, the vague apprehension or intuition of a world just adjacent to ours, invisible but a touching of the unseen order of things, the antediluvian gods, an inspiration to Lovecraft (Who never quite achieved the same depth of prose), a reaction to the new spirit of scientific enquiry that promises to ban all religion and superstition to the shadows.
Very atmospheric, and I quite enjoyed. The perfect read for a dark, wet and rainy Christmas.
On that note, have you seen the trailer to the New Steven Spielberg film? "Disclosure Day"? It has much the same feel..
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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This was a much needed read, perfectly suited to the short days and long dark nights.
Classic Japanese Ghost Stories, most dating from the late 19th Century and early 20th, they demonstrate the hold the dead have over the living, the power to kill, vindictive, violent, vengeful, no pale shades half-seen in a graveyard, or ghosts walking in abandoned temples, these are full-on malevolent demons, fairies, spirits, that can interact in ways with the living that the Western Tradition generally doesn't allow.
So worthwhile....
(My other books, I mean Shopenhauer, Jack Kerouac, US Anderson, too many more to list, they've rather stalled on me)