As the earliest piece of English writing (in the sense of first-hand account of life rather than fiction) this book is irreplaceable.
I was quite surprised at the readable quality of the book, compared to other medieval writings. True, the book was dictated to an amanuensis by Margery, but that makes it all the more surprising - dictation generally does not have the flow that one's own writing has.
.
There are some drawbacks ... the book is written with hindsight, and the facts are necessarily clouded by time and memory, but what does come across is that Margery was a sick woman, mentally, physically and spiritually.
She makes it very clear that she abhors the carnal side of marriage, yet dwells upon it at great length, as if 'the lady doth protest too much'.
Her frequents outbursts of wailing and self-abasement come across as an extreme form of PMS or hysteria brought on by self-denial.
Her excessive praying strikes one as an excuse for anything that she doesn't want to deal with normally.

As others have pointed out, she was well-to-do, had a thriving business, was not molested by her husband (apart from his alleged sexual demands, which do not seem excessive) yet spends an inordinate amount of time bemoaning her fate and her husband's demands on her.

Putting that to one side, there is a lot in this book to make one re-think our views of medieval life and the specifically the role of women.
For a woman to have a good business-head; have her own means of support; dictate conditions of marriage to her husband; travel as and when the mood took her; this doesn't sound like your archetypal medieval goode-wyfe...

Maybe this book should be more widely read ???

The Author deserves all the praise he gets.
The novelisation of this true story is handled with depth and feeling, told from the perspective of the girl Frances herself and of her family as they continually try to find trace of her during this terrible, bloody period of US colonisation.

It does appear as though the story is biased towards the Indians, but, given that the author is married to an Indian and the fact that every treaty that the US signed with the Indian tribes was broken, either in word or in deed - it's hardly surprising that the bias is toward the down-trodden.

Mr.Thom is one of those few authors who can generate a world inside one's head, and he does this without overblown descriptive passages - just the right words in the right place.
For example, in just a few sentences, you are taken to the edge of Niagara Falls and stunned by the majesty of its awesome power - and I've never seen it!

Reading this book prompted me to order more of his work.

Patrick Gass's journal is much more readable than that of Lewis & Clark - for a start, his spelling is better; he doesn't resort to overblown, flowery descriptions (the notable and ludicrous exceptions are those added by his first editor); and Ms McGregor's wonderful notes flesh out this rivetting story.

Reading this after the better-publicised Lewis & Clark journals makes you wonder if they were on the same expedition - the Captains' journal is more concerned with who they met, making maps and taking measurements - whereas Gass's journal is full of description of the surrounding country and wildlife (interestingly, Gass rarely mentions anyone but the Captains by name).

The newly-included account-book is very interesting and the list of animals killed for food gives one some idea of the calorie requirements demanded by the intense labour these men went through each day, and also making you wonder if there was anything left for the poor natives after they'd passed through their territory!

The cover of this edition is MUCH better than the one released in UK (which I have)

At first, this lovely book seems to read in a stilted, staccato way - but that is soon forgotten as one is drawn into Nick's life aboard the Endeavour, and how he copes with the difference between his imagination and the reality of the harshness of a sailing ship.

Although the diary is fiction, Nick Young and all that is described is actual fact (I checked in my biographies of Captain Cook & Joseph Banks). But it is the WAY each incident and discovery is described in the 'journal' which sets this apart from those books; this has the freshness of youth, the wondering mind of an 11-year-old, the lack of 'seen-it-all-before' that an adult has. Nick's views on life as he experiences it will certainly set any young mind thinking on similar lines - for the benefit of us all.

I recommend this to anyone over the age of 10, who has a love of adventure and likes to read of real history in the making.

After Nathaniel's Nutmeg, I was expecting more in the same vein, but I was a little disappointed.
There is not the same thread running through the book to give it cohesion, rather, it feels a bit 'cobbled-together'.

That is not saying that it is un-entertaining ... it is FULL of hidden historical details, dark deeds, commercial chicanery, political intrigue, backstabbing and downright incompetence.

It also raises certain people to their rightful place in history, such as Heriot; although eclipsed by the bold Sir Walter, he proved to be the man whose foresight gained what little successes the early colony had. And it shows Elizabeth R. to be both tight-fisted and a spendthrift, depending on who was petitioning or what was the object in view.

What comes across loud & clear is the crass ineptitude of the explorers, planners and the colonists ... they picked possibly the worst place on the Eastern seaboard for their first settlement; had barely enough supplies to set themselves up; ignored the example of the natives; were abandoned for years; etc.

Ultimately, the book is a compilation of stupid mistakes, misplaced trust, unheeded advice, and lack of forethought - all driven by greed for land, wealth and fame.

I enjoyed it, but it would have been better with a central theme binding it all together.

This is a heavy book in weight and price, but definitely not in content. Written in an easy-flowing style, the recipes are clear, concise and uncluttered - the Author obviously loves the food and the country - it includes a potted history of cooking in the Italian peninsula, detailing the influences from France, Arabia, Germany and the New World. There are numerous references to the formative cookery writers of the past, many of whose recipes remain unchanged to this day!

This is the only book I've seen with such a comprehensive list of ingredients (apart from specialist ingredients books) - almost everything available is described in detail. This list takes up nearly half the book, but is an integral part of it, as it gives one a deeper insight to each ingredient and hence the importance of its use in the recipes.

The recipes themselves range from the classic & regional to the obscure & parochial and many are accompanied by delicious photographs that just beg you to try out the recipes.

This is the way cookery books should be ... gets my five stars.

This book is an absolute joy - obviously Sam & Sam really love their food; using all natural ingredients, (but not to the extremes of Crank's) they re-create the recipes they found during a 3-month trip round Spain, Morocco and Algeria, prior to setting up their 'Moro' restaurant in the UK.

They bake their own sourdough bread every day, using their own sourdough yeast, make their own yogurt and somehow find ingredients that most of us have never heard of (but they give a comprehensive list of suppliers at the back).

The recipes are simply described, with lots of practical advice and little anecdotes about their discovery of the recipes in tiny restaurants - for example, queuing up outside a hole in the wall that only sold lentil soup! But what a soup!

Think Spain - think paella (usually a hotch-potch of rice and everything thrown in to produce a gluey mass) - but this book resets that impression with a series of recipes that are light, tasty, unusual and definitely NOT stodgy!

Beautifully illustrated and lovingly written, you really feel the atmosphere of the Spanish/Muslim cookery surrounding you as you get drawn, drooling, into this gorgeous book.

Although the author himself says he is no writer, he is patently wrong - this book is full of wonderful descriptive, poetic passages, which underline this charming man's love of nature and dedication to the truth of scientific study, as opposed to the accepted 'truths' of the day.

An interesting insight into the groundwork that helped to develop the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, it also compares the British and the Dutch methods of colonisation, and controversially comes out on the side of the Dutch - against all current (and our received) perceptions of the Dutch as ruthless, money-grubbing opportunists.

Wallace was also unusual in using geographic and geological features combined with population spreads (human & biological) to support the new theories of continental drift and a world older than the Biblical model.

I'm lost in adsmiration for the way he managed to survive depravation, lack of company, housing, support, money and produce the finest collection of birds and insects that the world had ever seen; make comparative studies of the linguistic traits of all the major tribes; keep a detailed diary of all his travels ... all this in a known area of cannibals and head-hunters with only 3 or 4 assistants and he the only white person for hundreds of miles. Compare this to other explorers like Richard Burton who needed an entourage of several hundred for all their 'essentials'.

This book is a very readable profile of an enignatic Victorian naturalist at a crucial period in scientific history - would that I could have met him!

... but told in a much more stylish and readable manner. I bought this book on the strength of reading about Capt. Herndon's sacrifice in Gary Kinder's "Ship of Gold...". He seemed to epitomise the old-style captain, caring about his passengers, crew and above all his ship, and I was interested to read more about the man.

I was not disappointed; what could have been a dusty tome full of only facts and figures, emerges as a rivetting account of the trials endured during the trip, and vivid descriptions of a land that was as yet virtually unknown to the 'civilised' world, told as a very readable narrative. This easy style is what captured the hearts and minds of the Anmerican (and European) public in a book which went into several reprints of 10,000s (as opposed to the usual Congress print run of 100+!).

It also captured the imagination of a certain Samuel Clemens, who, after reading the book, immediately took steamer from St.Louis to New Orleans to get a boat to the Amazon. Imagine his disappointment when he found no passage ... sitting, bemoaning his ill luck, he hears the cries of the steamers "Mark twain!" - the rest is history.

I have one reservation (hence only ****); during his editing & research for the book, Mr.Kinder deletes a lot of sections that I personally would have found very interesting, such as crops grown, goods & minerals available and costs of trade items. If these had been included as an appendix, I think it would have added to the charm of the book.

Nevertheless, one of the best pieces of historical travel writing I have ever read.

Approaching this subject with a preconception of Newton on a pedestal as a demi-god, I felt both let-down and uplifted...

Let-down by Newton, because the book gives an insight into the devious, underhand methods he used and how he would ride rough-shod over anyone in the way of his ideas.... Also, I fail to understand how such an intelligent man could swallow all the Alchemical drivel of the time - thousands of years of experimentation and still nobody discovered the Philosopher's Stone... that should have rung a warning bell!

Uplifted, because Mr White never lets you become bogged-down in the details of the subject - he injects another perspective at the right moment, letting you see that our 'demi-god' is as fallible as the rest of us. Also enlightening was the fact that Newton was 'in charge' of the Royal Mint at its most crucial point in history.... without his intervention, the British economy could have slid into irrecoverable bankruptcy.

Early on we get a glimpse of Newton's leanings (both emotionally and experimentally) and this is elaborated on to give a rounded profile of the man. Given all the pies he had a finger in; the challenges he set himself; and the physical and emotional deprivations he went through, it's surprising that he didn't end up totally insane. We see him on the brink of it, throwing all his principles out of the window, back-stabbing his 'colleagues' and alienating himself by his strange behaviour.

A damned good read.