Bøker av William Smyth

Achilles, Aeneas, Rustam...and the Koran (AARK) offers an introduction to classic works from Europe and the Middle East, namely, the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, the Aeneid of Vergil, the Shahnameh of Firdawsi and the Koran. It introduces these texts through the author's educational biography. What did he have to do to study these works when he was young and what good does it do him now that he is old? Were you forced to take Latin in high school?Did naked bodies and monsters keep you from falling asleep?Do you wish you remembered more from those humanities classes you took in college?Have you wondered what happens when you move east from the Mediterranean?Are you looking for an alternative to the History Channel? If you answer 'yes' to any of these questions, then this book is for you! AARK will help you re-visit the western classics and introduce you some Middle Eastern ones. It will explain how the original languages shape all of these works and let you know what you are missing when you read things in translation. And it may help you consider the value of a liberal education.https: //youtu.be/gWOu36UkHXY

During 1834-5 the British naval officer and artist William Smyth (1800-77) and his fellow officer Frederick Lowe (1811-47) went on an expedition to Peru and North-Eastern Brazil. This account of their journey, first published in 1836, combines a travel narrative with anthropological observation. Their objective was to explore the river Pachitea in Peru and investigate its potential as a route from the Andes via the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean that could reduce journey times and benefit Peruvian exports. The tone of the book is typical of early nineteenth-century European travel literature, in that it shows the authors to have been fascinated by the cultures they encountered while retaining a deep mistrust of the indigenous 'savages' some of whom were held to be 'cannibals'. It is, however, full of fascinating details about the rainforest and its inhabitants, the colonial settlers, and their interactions.