Thursday, February 24, 2011

God's Secretaries by Adam Nicolson

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This year is the 400th Anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. The book shown here, by Adam Nicolson, has been recommended to me by a friend who works in the broadcasting industry here in Northern Ireland. I haven't bought it yet, but I have listened to his other recommendation - a podcast of Nicolson giving an amusing, engaging and informative talk on the subject, which is available FREE here on iTunes.

Here's a short interview that Nicolson gave to PBS about the book.

3 comments:

Steve Florman said...

Mark, I was pointed to your blog by another Scots-Irish lass, Jenny of "A Call to Wings" in Alaska, USA. Anyway, I bought and read "God's Secretaries" when it came out, and my impression of it is that it's good reading for the professional historian but pretty dry fare. I thought it was fascinating in the historical sense and definitely worth the time, but your readers should be warned that it isn't light reading by any means, nor is it engaging, light, amusing, or even particularly deftly written. It's a tough slog in many ways. (Now, it's been a few years, so I may be exaggerating my initial impression somewhat.)

Actually, the KJV is an easier read, but maybe only because it's my standard. ;) I look forward to following your blog.

regards,
--steve

Mark Thompson said...

Hello Steve - thanks for taking the time to place a comment here, and I'm sure my readers will appreciate a second opinion on the book. Are you in Alaska too?

Steve Florman said...

Actually, Mark, I'm in Minnesota - same climate, slightly smaller mosquitoes, no oil money. :) My Scots-Irish ancestors come by way of Tennessee and North Carolina, a family split by the Civil War like so many others here, but stubborn cusses all. I'm still trying to trace them back to the Old Country/ies but since even the aristocratic slaveholding branch were Presbyterians, I'm looking to Scotland and Northern Ireland rather than England.