Price: $32.00 - $21.24 (as of Jul 27, 2024 07:29:01 UTC – Details)
By: David Gibbins (Author)
From renowned underwater archaeologist David…
Reviews
Vik & Deb Petzal –
Twelve shipwrecks opened the world
David Gibbins delighted my curiosity about history in the context of various seafaring nations and contents within wrecked vessels thereof. Well documented and thoroughly investigated, each chapter provides a cross-section of life, events, plagues/disasters unfolding at the time. Tired of bobbing around the Tyrrhenian Sea off ancient Rome or the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey? Then skip ahead to the Viking discoveries throughout Scandinavia or the events of King Henry VIII’s doomed Mary Rose. Each chapter is complete unto itself and indeed leads us from days of Homer’s Odyssey to the sinking of SS Gairsoppa (1941) cargo ship during WW II. The book allows the reader to take history at one’s own pace and provides much to think about. What wonderous things will be discovered about our times in centuries from now?Deborah P.
Andreas Stolcke –
History resurfaced
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history. David Gibbins takes the reader on a tour through the centuries, starting in the bronze age and ending up in World War 2. The concept of the book (and it’s a neat one) is that ship wrecks from various periods of history are used as jumping off points to lay out the political, cultural, and especially economical networks shaping a given period. This makes a lot of sense since ships are the technology that humanity has used to engage in migration, colonization, warfare, and, most of all, trade, establishing material and cultural links among distinct populations around the globe. This expansive, globalist outlook on history makes for a much more interesting and satisfying presentation of historical events, compared to one in which authors focus on particular events in particular places (like a single person, war or revolution). In that respect Gibbins’ rendition of world history is similar to, and equally engaging to read as, “A Splendid Exchange” by William Bernstein.Gibbins is an accomplished archeological diver, scholar and academic on the subject, and can draw the reader in with first-person accounts of visits to most of the shipwrecks and sites he describes. From there, he effortlessly draws back his lens to the historical context and events surrounding each wreck. He also establishes the temporal context of each period, pointing out the developments, sometimes spanning centuries leading up to, and resulting from, each moment in history. The presentation is vivid and engaging, often using the fates of individuals, as reflected in artifacts and documents, to bring an entire historical period to life. No doubt Gibbins’ experience as both an academic and a fiction writer serves him well here.The above was my review of the book on Netgalley, based on an advance electronic copy of the book.The reason I’m giving the book 4 and not 5 stars here is the following shortcomings, which I had pointed out in the Netgalley review, but which were not addressed in the final published version.The log entry from the German U-boat captain quoted in chapter 12 has several misspellings. It should read “dass nach Detonation viele Taschenlampen, insbesondere auf Bootsdeck und Seitendeck” (and there seems to be a verb missing, to the effect of “could be seen”). Almost every word in this passage is misspelled in a way that is not common or typical for German, so the errors must have been introduced in transcribing the passage, which speaks to a certain sloppiness in dealing with the historical material (failure to have it double-check by a native speaker).A far more significant shortcoming is the lack of any kind of maps, or photos of the ships, artifacts and portraits referenced in the book. The only illustrations provided are photographs documenting the author’s dives on the wrecks. That’s all well and good, but a narrative around maritime travel and trade would have been so much easier to appreciate with some low-resolution map sketches outlining the geography of the places involved (as well as the location of the wrecks). Likewise, much of the narrative talks about historical depictions of the ships and people involved — it’s a real pity that no reproductions of these were included in the photo plate section of the book.
David A. Gellatly –
Why no maps and pictures of the ships
This is a highly readable, well written book designed to whet the reader’s interest in underwater archeology, ships of all eras and the eras they inhabited. It has stimulated my interest in antiquity and desire to know more about the Bronze Age. However, it is almost fatally marred by the total absence of maps showing locations and trade routes and pictures/drawings of the various ships (two small pictures don’t count). We are left to our often blank imaginations in trying to picture the Mary Rose, the Uluburun wreck and even the SS Gariposa for which there must be numerous readily available pictures. The “crime” is compounded by the lack of any biliography which can serve as a guide for further research.
Jerry –
The Connection of Wrecks to History Made Well
Best read in several years. This is a scholarly read that I am enjoying very much. I must admit it is a big surprise. I expected to read about
DBC –
very Interesting
A well written book detailing history that few Americans know anything about. Gibbens is a bit too detailed for my taste, but the book was well worth reading. Would love to hear him speak with slides / video
Dennis C . –
Ineresting book.
A must for any one interested in how shipwrecks changed the world. My daughter is a Marine Archaeologistand this is a birthday gift that will be an addition to her extensive library.
Robert Evans –
Great overview using a novel way to link objects and trade through time. Well worth the effort and time.Fantastic
Czarnykot –
A thoroughly interesting book about diving on wrecks and their associated history. But the final two chapters concerning wrecks within the last 150 years are, for me, the most fascinating and almost unbelievable. For the most part a well written book. A good read I recommend.
Vik & Deb Petzal –
Twelve shipwrecks opened the world
David Gibbins delighted my curiosity about history in the context of various seafaring nations and contents within wrecked vessels thereof. Well documented and thoroughly investigated, each chapter provides a cross-section of life, events, plagues/disasters unfolding at the time. Tired of bobbing around the Tyrrhenian Sea off ancient Rome or the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey? Then skip ahead to the Viking discoveries throughout Scandinavia or the events of King Henry VIII’s doomed Mary Rose. Each chapter is complete unto itself and indeed leads us from days of Homer’s Odyssey to the sinking of SS Gairsoppa (1941) cargo ship during WW II. The book allows the reader to take history at one’s own pace and provides much to think about. What wonderous things will be discovered about our times in centuries from now?Deborah P.
Andreas Stolcke –
History resurfaced
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history. David Gibbins takes the reader on a tour through the centuries, starting in the bronze age and ending up in World War 2. The concept of the book (and it’s a neat one) is that ship wrecks from various periods of history are used as jumping off points to lay out the political, cultural, and especially economical networks shaping a given period. This makes a lot of sense since ships are the technology that humanity has used to engage in migration, colonization, warfare, and, most of all, trade, establishing material and cultural links among distinct populations around the globe. This expansive, globalist outlook on history makes for a much more interesting and satisfying presentation of historical events, compared to one in which authors focus on particular events in particular places (like a single person, war or revolution). In that respect Gibbins’ rendition of world history is similar to, and equally engaging to read as, “A Splendid Exchange” by William Bernstein.Gibbins is an accomplished archeological diver, scholar and academic on the subject, and can draw the reader in with first-person accounts of visits to most of the shipwrecks and sites he describes. From there, he effortlessly draws back his lens to the historical context and events surrounding each wreck. He also establishes the temporal context of each period, pointing out the developments, sometimes spanning centuries leading up to, and resulting from, each moment in history. The presentation is vivid and engaging, often using the fates of individuals, as reflected in artifacts and documents, to bring an entire historical period to life. No doubt Gibbins’ experience as both an academic and a fiction writer serves him well here.The above was my review of the book on Netgalley, based on an advance electronic copy of the book.The reason I’m giving the book 4 and not 5 stars here is the following shortcomings, which I had pointed out in the Netgalley review, but which were not addressed in the final published version.The log entry from the German U-boat captain quoted in chapter 12 has several misspellings. It should read “dass nach Detonation viele Taschenlampen, insbesondere auf Bootsdeck und Seitendeck” (and there seems to be a verb missing, to the effect of “could be seen”). Almost every word in this passage is misspelled in a way that is not common or typical for German, so the errors must have been introduced in transcribing the passage, which speaks to a certain sloppiness in dealing with the historical material (failure to have it double-check by a native speaker).A far more significant shortcoming is the lack of any kind of maps, or photos of the ships, artifacts and portraits referenced in the book. The only illustrations provided are photographs documenting the author’s dives on the wrecks. That’s all well and good, but a narrative around maritime travel and trade would have been so much easier to appreciate with some low-resolution map sketches outlining the geography of the places involved (as well as the location of the wrecks). Likewise, much of the narrative talks about historical depictions of the ships and people involved — it’s a real pity that no reproductions of these were included in the photo plate section of the book.
David A. Gellatly –
Why no maps and pictures of the ships
This is a highly readable, well written book designed to whet the reader’s interest in underwater archeology, ships of all eras and the eras they inhabited. It has stimulated my interest in antiquity and desire to know more about the Bronze Age. However, it is almost fatally marred by the total absence of maps showing locations and trade routes and pictures/drawings of the various ships (two small pictures don’t count). We are left to our often blank imaginations in trying to picture the Mary Rose, the Uluburun wreck and even the SS Gariposa for which there must be numerous readily available pictures. The “crime” is compounded by the lack of any biliography which can serve as a guide for further research.
Jerry –
The Connection of Wrecks to History Made Well
Best read in several years. This is a scholarly read that I am enjoying very much. I must admit it is a big surprise. I expected to read about
DBC –
very Interesting
A well written book detailing history that few Americans know anything about. Gibbens is a bit too detailed for my taste, but the book was well worth reading. Would love to hear him speak with slides / video
Dennis C . –
Ineresting book.
A must for any one interested in how shipwrecks changed the world. My daughter is a Marine Archaeologistand this is a birthday gift that will be an addition to her extensive library.
Robert Evans –
Great overview using a novel way to link objects and trade through time. Well worth the effort and time.Fantastic
Czarnykot –
A thoroughly interesting book about diving on wrecks and their associated history. But the final two chapters concerning wrecks within the last 150 years are, for me, the most fascinating and almost unbelievable. For the most part a well written book. A good read I recommend.