Christianity

Diarmaid MacCulloch has undertaken a massive task, which is to write a history of Christianity. The result is the large (all 1,161 pages of it) A History of Christianity. While the title may be unimaginative the book itself is very readable.

Like it or not, the history of the Christian Church is the history of the Western World and MacCulloch shows there is a lot to discuss. Especially when your book puts itself forward as a global history of Christianity. MacCulloch discusses the big events in Europe but also looks at Orthodox Christianity, the Church in Africa, the Americas and Asia.

There is a lot to get through in this book but anyone interested in the subject will find a well written book that is a comprehensive look at Christianity. Just don't expect a book that you can just pick up and skim through, the subject and the size does require some effort from the reader.

Short Reviews

• White King and Red Queen - Daniel Johnson. An interesting history of the Cold War played out at international chess tournaments. Looks at how chess became important to the USSR which meant that the USA then had to be good at it as well, international prestige was on the line!
• Battle Cry of Freedom - James M McPherson. A great one volume history of the American Civil War. Something of a classic now and highly recommended. Weaves together political, military and economic history.
• Nekropolis - Tim Waggoner. Matt Richter is a private eye in the city of Nekropolis. He's also a zombie and the town is run by vampires. While this owes a debt to Simon R Green's Nightside series, there is enough humour and atmosphere to set it apart. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
• The Folding Knife - K J Parker. This is the story of a mistake. A mistake made by a great man Bassiano Severus. Parker is a wonderful writer and this story just enforces that fact. Well worth reading.
• Senna versus Prost - Malcolm Folley. An interesting look at an intense sporting rivalry. As a kid I loved watching Senna drive and I really enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at these two very different, yet also quite similar, men. For fans of motor sport.
• Bad Science - Ben Goldacre. I urge everyone to read this book. Goldacre looks at fads, health scares and pharmaceutical companies. Along the way you will learn a lot about running a proper scientific trial and Goldacre will give you the tools and knowledge to spot bad science for yourself.
• Rommel's Desert War - Martin Kitchen. A detailed account of Rommel's campaigns in North Africa in World War II. Marred by the authors problem with the postwar perception of Rommel as a 'military genius'. Goes out of his way to run Rommel down, without taking into account that hindsight is a wonderful thing. Heavily researched and overall well written.
• Hannibal - Theodore Agault Dodge. Recounts the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. Written in 1891 by a veteran of the American Civil War. Fun read even if it is hagiography. Lots of maps and line drawings.

Guadalcanal

Reading first hand accounts of battles is a two edged sword. On the one hand the author has a unique insight into what went on, but on the other can get bogged down in the minutiae of what they did. Robert Leckie in Challenge For The Pacific. The Bloody Six-Month Battle of Guadalcanal never falls into the second of these problems.

As a marine of the First Marine Division Leckie was in the thick of the fighting on Guadalcanal, but he never lets that overpower his enthralling description of the campaign. Leckie gives equal time to Japanese and American Admirals as well as marines and Japanese infantrymen as he builds his detailed picture of what happened in this crucial campaign of the Pacific War.

Overall this book was an amazing read. Leckie has a deft hand and is able to let the facts speak for themselves but is also not afraid to let a dry humour come through as well. After finishing this book I felt that I had learnt a lot about the battle and now realise why it was such a big deal.

(On a separate note viewers of The Pacific may recognise the name Robert Leckie, or 'Lucky' as he was called by his squad mates, as being one of the main point of view characters in the series.)

Star Wars

I know what it's like to be a collector. Comics, games, toys, books the list goes on. Though I've always been limited by space and income, but I understand the urge and attraction to needing the latest thing in your collection. Sometimes though you are given access to a collection that just blows your mind. The collection in question is Stephen J Sansweet's Star Wars collection, which part of is shown in the book Star Wars. 1,000 Collectibles, Memorabilia and Stories From a Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Sansweet has the largest private collection of Star Wars collectibles in the world that he houses in a five thousand foot square converted hen house. At the start of 2009 his collection manager, Anne Neumann, had catalogued 55,352 individual items into the database they are creating, but no one knows what percentage of the collection this represents. (Sansweet thinks its less than half.) WOW! Now that's a collection. The book itself is a series of photos of items in Sansweet's collection with stories to do with how he collected them and sometimes stories about expensive items that got away.

On a personal note it's fun to see items like those I owned as a kid in his collection. Things that came in cereal boxes in Australia as well as action figures and the like. This is a fun book to flick through and just realise how much Star Wars merchandise there really is.

The Ambassador's Mission

Please don’t be put off by the cover of this book. It’s actually a lot better than the generic fantasy painting of a man-in-a-hooded-cloak would suggest. This is the first book in a new trilogy from Trudi Canavan and takes place after the events of The Black Magicians Trilogy. The story itself is interesting, even if you are not totally familiar with the earlier series, and will keep you turning the pages as the tension mounts and the story unfolds. Expect conspiracies, daring-do, and magic. Canavan is good at pacing her stories and makes sure that the story unfolds while still leaving you wanting more. Also Canavan’s writing style means that the reader is never bombarded by words or events, and the reader is never left drowning beneath pointless descriptions and minute detail. All in all I enjoyed reading this and look forward to the rest of the series.
One for genre fans, I just wish Orbit had put a better cover on it.