Julia
The WH Smith in Athens International Airport got me again – on the way back home from my second trip to Greece this summer, I once more found myself nose deep in another book on Greek history. This time around, the book was How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks by Adam Nicolson. After 30 minutes, I still couldn’t put the book down, so it had to come home with me. Now, this is a rather thick tome, so it’s no quick read, but it is absolutely fascinating!
Nicolson takes us back to Ancient Greece in order to delve into the ‘dawn of inquiry’ and show how the movers and makers of the ancient Greek world were influenced by their surroundings not just when it came to living, but to thinking. Starting as far back as 1200 BC and covering the Ionian coast (modern day Turkey) all the way to Marseille, this book provides a very in depth account of ancient philosophy which is not only interesting in and of itself, but allows for another very in-depth historical perspective on that part of the world.
Even though I am only half-way through the book, I feel as though I have already learned so much more about the Eastern Mediterranean, and that everything I have known about that part of the world and that time period has been blown wide open! This book is one hundred history lessons and philosophy courses combined and to top it off, the writing is super engaging.
If there are any life lessons I can take away at the half way mark, they would be as follows:
- Never stop adventuring
- Observe the world and record your experience of it
- Be involved in community
- Create something of your own and have fun while doing it
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