|
-
Hivemind social net
-
News
- Features
- Blogs
- Events
Calendar
- Editorials
- Monthly
Zine
- Offworld
Report
- Our Daily
RSS Feed
- Google Toolbar scifi
- Movie/TV
Reviews
> Recent movies
> Movies by year
> Movies by title
- Book
Reviews
> Recent books
> Books by year
> Books by title
- Home
- Worlds
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Appearances
- Reviews
- Blog
- Community
- Press
- Links
Become
an Advertiser
- Web
Site Directory
- Search
the Net
- StephenHunt.net
- WoodenRocket.com
- Check
your E-mail
- Non Sci-Fi
News
|
Adventures In Unhistory by Avram Davidson
01/02/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Pub: TOR/Forge. 308 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30760-X. Buy Adventures In Unhistory in the USA - or Buy Adventures In Unhistory in the UK  check out website: www.tor.com
Two things are apparent from this book. It's been re-issued after being out of print for a decade and its non-fiction. Well, sort of. The late Avram Davidson was known more for his short stories and this is none of them. What this book does, spread over its fifteen chapters is address the origins and questions related to various subjects. As such, it becomes a mix of history and comment on subjects like where did Sinbad sail, where the Phoenix come from, werewolves, mermaids, dragons, unicorns, mammoths, oh my! There is also a look at people like Aleister Crowley and Prester John. There's also a lot of little meanderings as well where Davidson goes off track with some rambling although I suspect this is due to the nature of man and the way he writes person-to-person. Whatever, he does impart a lot of odd, albeit sometimes useless, information. As with the case of unicorns and mermaids, the misconception of what was thought to be and what really was is also a lesson that can be learnt from today in not accepting second-hand evidence.
This is still quite a fascinating read and if you don't want to get caught by stodgy mythology books that really concentrate on the myth rather than where it came from, this is required reading.
GF Willmetts
|
|
