Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review: Gavin Weightman, The Industrial Revolutionaries

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Sean Redmond

As familiar as the outlines of the Industrial Revolution are, no one will be surprised to learn that every steam-powered invention has a murky history of rivalries, precedents, and counterclaims. However unsurprising it may be, it is still fun to … Continue reading →

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Review: Garry Wills, Martial’s Epigrams

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Sean Redmond

Even to those who know Roman poetry, Martial is more often known than read. This may be attributed, as you like, to the lightness of his over 1,500 epigrams, their sheerly daunting number, their honest filthiness, or the dependence for … Continue reading →

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Review: Ian Tattersall, The World from Beginnings to 4000 B.C.E.

Posted on February 11, 2008 by Sean Redmond

The hominid fossil record begins some seven million years ago with species that are like humans but not human. But on what basis do we identify members of our own family and say that they are not merely humanlike but … Continue reading →

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Review: Speke’s Journal

Posted on September 1, 1997 by Sean Redmond

John Hanning Speke’s career as an explorer began inauspiciously in 1855, when he and his commander, the swashbuckling Richard Burton, were nearly killed by marauders on the beaches of Somalia. Less than a decade later, and amidst a terrible public … Continue reading →

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