Afbeelding auteur

Over de Auteur

Malcolm Day has an academic background in theology and has written and edited books on religion, history, and mind/body/spirit subjects for some fifteen years. He is the author of Great Events of Bible Times, and also wrote The Atlas of the Bible and the History of Christianity. He has a special toon meer interest in the miraculous phenomena associated with the end of the millennium toon minder

Bevat de naam: Malcolm Day

Werken van Malcolm Day

The Ancient World of the Bible (1994) 87 exemplaren
Castles and Forts (2001) 25 exemplaren
1001 Pearls of Bible Wisdom (2008) 5 exemplaren
Looking at Landforms (1987) 2 exemplaren

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Algemene kennis

Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
UK
Woonplaatsen
Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, UK
Somerset, England, UK
Korte biografie
In more than 20 years as an editor and author, Malcolm Day has written on a wide range of subjects for newspapers and magazines, and is the author of several books on history and religion. Since his family moved to Lyme Regis in the 1980s, his interest in Jane Austen and the Georgian period has flourished. He founded a magazine about culture and tradition in England's West Country and teaches courses on the heritage of Somerset and Bath. He now lives in Somerset, on the edge of Exmoor, with his wife and three children. [from Voices from the World of Jane Austen (2006)]

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Gemarkeerd
Mustygusher | Dec 19, 2022 |
Crazy Ladies Book Bingo)

So far so bad......I'm dying here....and so utterly confused, As if I'm gonna remember any of this, and then it's like all these people are related so it's all very incestuous, redundant, and violent (all these Gods & Goddesses killing everyone out of Jealousy,. It is amazing that any of them lived at all)
. I'm so very glad there is no test on this, because you know, I'm not going to remember too much of this information.

Actually,this book got better mid way through. I enjoyed reading about (no sassy remarks here ladies): The Furies, the Gorgons (one of which was Medusa, my Favorite), and the Harpies (you know all my favorite "sisters").

What I found interesting, that most people don't know is Medusa not only had hair of snakes, but she had golden wings, and claws of bronze. However, the book omitted the fact that upon her death, Medusa turned into Pegasus and Perseus (whom killed Medusa....) used Pegasus as a mode of transportation.

Also what I also found strange, is I dabble in astrology, so I'm aware of the Asteroids and their meanings/attributes.....although many of them are named for the Goddesses, not all of the attributes of the Asteroids are the same as those of the Goddesses for which they are named.

So then, as for the book itself: it is well illustrated (lots of color pictures), there are genealogical charts showing how everyone is related, and it is broken down into two main parts; Part I Gods & Goddesses, Part II Heroes. Part I is broken down to include: The Gods of Olympus and The Descendants of the Titans. Part II is broken down to include: Jason & the Argonauts, Theseus & the Minotaur, The Trojan War, and The Odyssey. So in case you miss something in one of the parts, it is sure to be repeated in another. The writing is easy to read and straight to the point with the author actually giving alternate versions of the same story where applicable.

All in all this is a good book, I'm not going to rush out an buy myself a copy, but at least I know I can borrow it from the Library as I desire.
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Auntie-Nanuuq | Jan 18, 2016 |
I am a little reluctant to classify this book as nonfiction. I expected this book to discuss the environment of the biblical world, but the text is primarily a paraphrasing of biblical stories. The book is more like those bibles that contain a section with labeled drawings of artifacts than a book that teaches about biblical culture. I won't assert whether a version of scripture is fiction or nonfiction, whatever that might mean.
The nonfiction in this book is found in the captions of the illustrations, of which this book has many. In fact this book is almost more of an informational picture book, where the scripture (the main text) is the narrative, and the illustrations are of places, things, and types of people, rather than characters or actions. The book uses maps effectively; on the first page is a map of the world with a portion squared in and the caption that all preceding maps will fall in this area. Some of the maps were not particularly illustrative of the text (for example, Lachish is shown on a map but is not mentioned in the text, while Sodom and Gomorrah are in the text but not the map. Some illustrations on the map are repeats from other maps but bear no pertinence to the text. Generally, though, every page has a map to relate the material.
There is also a timeline on the first page to place the stories. I had a bit of a problem with some of what the book asserts. The book is not a revisionist Creationist text that attempts to rewrite science to support scripture, but it does limit itself to that which is in the bible. For example, there are no dinosaur pictures (so no assertion that humans and dinosaurs coexisted in Eden, and likewise, no assertion that dinosaurs and humans lived millions of years apart). I have no problem with that, but the book's factual focus made certain statements misleading. The book describes Noah's three sons as the ancestors of all modern people (scripturally sound) and describes Africans as being from Ham, Europeans and Asians coming from Japheth, etc. (a popular belief in the 1800's but by no means clearly implied from the scripture which scrambles that tribes up pretty well.) I really would have rathered the map on King Solomon put the word "probable" in front of the phrase "route of the Queen of Sheba." Some of the paraphrasing of the scripture deleted phrases that I thought took away from the artistic and literal meaning of the text. The one exception I found was the story of Jonah, which I thought was a beautiful retelling that was made stronger by the historically accurate description of the Assyrians he was supposed to prophesy to. These literary and scientific scruples aside, I thought the pictures were used excellently. Illustrations of actual artifacts from the Middle East put a realistic image to the story (which is what the book is all about). The depiction of what an Egyptian princess or the entrance to Babylon were quite accurate. A peeve of mine with these kinds of books is to make writing the equivalent of squiggles (for example, using random pictures to illustrate heiroglyphs rather than just using actual heirogylphs, and this book's attention to detail admirably avoids that vice. The writing on artifacts is legible and accurate. There is also a table with two alphabets from the period for interested students. One further strength of the book is its illustrations of important cultural material. After reading this book, a student would understand how grain was harvested or limestone quarried, and what impotant plants and animals looked like. Particularly honorable mention goes to the explanation of biblical measurements, which although not deep was very clear and and unconfusing. I have three problems with the scholarship of the book. The New Testament world is not mentioned at all, and nowhere is this scope referred to. There are no references to where the facts in this book come from for someone to check. And finally, there is no description of how biblical scholarship works, which would be appropriate for a book of this scale presenting this material. All this being said, I would not have a problem using this book with a student whose interest in the bible might directed into a more general interest in Middle Eastern history.
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Gemarkeerd
KeithMaddox | Feb 3, 2012 |

Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk

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Statistieken

Werken
24
Leden
526
Populariteit
#47,290
Waardering
½ 3.4
Besprekingen
5
ISBNs
52
Talen
10

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