Friday, September 7, 2012

Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers by Robert Ballard

I got this book from Book City on Bloor Street (I also very much like the one on Danforth too). What I like about this book store is the great variety of interesting books you can find. This National Geographic book called Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers; Early Maritime Civilizations is one such book.

All the ancient seafarers this book talks about come from the Mediterranean or Black Sea, the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Minoans, Greeks and Romans. (We do not seem to have a name for the people of the Black Sea.) I have always found archeology fascinating. So it probably is not surprising I find it quite fascinating about explorations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea for old sailing ships. This could help us learn a great deal about the ancient peoples who lived around these two seas.

The book is beautifully illustrated. The story is well presented and they include maps so that you can see what specific areas are being talked about. If you have any fascination for trading in ancient times on these seas, you will enjoy this book.

You can see and hear from Robert Ballard on TED. I know this video is from 2008, but it is a great one. There is a National Geographic presentation of Restore the Titanic on YouTube. There is a very short (3 minute) video called Perfect Byzantine Ship that is interesting. See the full video of 48 minutes called Ghosts of the Black Sea.

There is a video in three parts on Dr. Robert Ballard Rob ship researching the Titanic and antique ships. This is Part 1 then Part 2 and Part 3.

BBC reported on one Genographic (DNA) study that was trying to trace the Phoenicians. See their news item. This is a very interesting and related video.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Ballard. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

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