Edwin Murphy

A good, scholarly contribution to an often neglected book of the oft-neglected Diodorus of Sicily. His translation is smooth and true to the original text, and his footnotes are illuminating. Diodorus often exaggerates his descriptions and narratives of the history of Asia, and Murphy does well to point out when and how he does. Where the book falters, however, is in his citation. I would have liked to follow up where he obtained much of the information he provides in his footnotes, but his citations are few and far between. This takes away from the work as a valuable piece of secondary literature on the subject, which is a shame. Moreover, his bibliography, while impressive, lacks many articles and in-depth studies, and tends to focus more on general readers and translations of other primary sources--a plus for someone just getting into the field of ancient history, but for a scholar, this is disappointing.… (meer)

This book took me a long time to read because I had to keep stopping and share stories with my friends and coworkers. Did you know that Roger Williams's corpse was eaten by an apple tree and all that was left was a Roger-shaped tree root? (Suspicious of that story, I asked my father, a PhD botanist, if such a thing could happen. He assured me it could.) Did you know that Dorothy Parker's ashes sat in a filing cabinet for years because no one could decide what to do with them? This is an amusing, eye-opening and not at all depressing book.… (meer)