Rate this book

The Ancient Guide To Modern Life (2011)

by Natalie Haynes(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1590206371 (ISBN13: 9781590206379)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Overlook Hardcover

review 1: Superbly interesting, entertaining and accessible, Haynes combines thorough scholarliness with a light touch - funny and clever. This is a great introduction to the Classical world, and Haynes frequently relates it to the modern. Her guide is part overview of the Classical world, part manifesto for the joys and merits of studying the ancient Greeks and Romans, and part comparison with the modern world, showing us where the ancient has perservered, where the ancient is strikingly similar to our world, and where the ancient is an alien world for us.Here are three slightly random things that have stuck in my head from this book:"Who guards the guardians" ("quis custodiet ipsos custodes") was written by Juvenal and is fabulously misquoted in the modern world. Rather than being... more worried about a police state, it turns out that the misogynistic Juvenal wrote this in his sixth satire, a scathing criticism of women. This quote was about the impossibility of keeping immoral women chaste - you can lock them up, but that won't stop them seducing the guards. The TV series The Wire is in the finest traditions of Greek tragedy. Stringer Bell is a particularly tragic character, because no matter how hard he tries, he cannot escape his destiny.Another one from Juvenal, quite philosophical this time: what should we wish for? Don't pray for specifics, because the gods know better than we do what's best for us.
review 2: I gave it 4 stars, but it's actually a 3.5. On the one hand, the classical history overviews and anecdotes about this or that figure from the past are striking, funny and fascinating. On ye other hand, the "comparison of these societies with ours" parts of this book are preachy and sometimes feel forced, and while the author does raise some interesting questions, most of it felt really subjective and opinionated - opinions with which I often disagreed. less

Download links for: The Ancient Guide to Modern Life

Advertising