Lost To The West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization
By Lars Brownworth
Ask many history majors when the Roman Empire collapsed and they would likely answer 475 AD, when the last Emperor Romulus Augustus was overthrown.
Such an answer is wrong as the eastern half of the empire lasted until Constantinople was conquered in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks.
The name "Byzantine" is an Italian term.
The people of the Byzantine Empire called themselves "Roman" as their nation was a direct descendent of the Roman Empire, of which only the western half ended in the 5th century. The eastern half lasted a thousand years longer and contributed mightily to the development of western civilization by repeatedly repelling Moslem armies at the edge of Europe. If Constantinople had fallen during the 7th century, we would be now speaking Arabic and praying five times a day in the direction of Mecca.
Lars Brownworth attempts to set the record straight concerning the Byzantines in his book, Lost to the West.
At the time when much of Europe was descending into illiteracy and barbarism, Constantinople preserved the ancient writings of the Greeks and Romans. The people fleeing from the conquest of the city in 1453 took this knowledge to the west which helped trigger the Renaissance.
Much of our legal system is based on Roman law, which was codified by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian. The history of Russia was strongly affected by the Byzantine civilization; in fact, Moscow is often referred to as the "third Rome."
Lost to the West explores the colourful thousand-year history of this forgotten civilization that can be found in the adult non-fiction area of the Bob Harkins Branch. It is also available in audiobook format that can be downloaded to your computer or iPod for free.
-- Reviewed by John Shepherd, former trustee for the Prince George Public Library Board.
I Don't Want To Kill You
By Dan Wells
I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells is the third novel in the John Cleaver horror series. This series tells the tale of a teenage sociopath named John Wayne Cleaver. John is obsessed with serial killers, seeing in them a reflection of his own homicidal urges.
John also has a passion and a gift for criminal profiling, largely due to the ease with which he can put himself into the mind of a killer. John's small town is lucky to have him and his knack for profiling, as this town is plagued by more than its fair share of serial killers, and John uses his skill to hunt and destroy them.
The killers John hunts share one unique feature though, which no one other than John knows: they are actually demons. Having successfully slayed two demons and having "called out" several others at the end of the second novel, this third novel begins with John anxiously awaiting their arrival, using his profiling skills to anticipate when and where they will appear. Yet by the beginning of this novel, it is clear that John is not quite so isolated and anti-social as before. He has begun to form some tentative relationships with his peers, even going to far as to have a girlfriend.
However, these relationships make John newly vulnerable, as the demons arrive and promptly begin targeting his new friends. Can John once more save his town from the evil forces descending upon it? Can he save his friends before they meet a tragic fate? And most intriguingly, will this tin man discover that he actually does have a heart after all?
With a unique blend of real-life evils and supernatural terrors, the books in this series have something for every horror fan, and readers who enjoyed the first two books in this series will definitely not be disappointed in the third.
-- Reviewed by Teresa De Reis, Readers' Advisor at the Prince George Public Library
Scribbler of Dreams
By Mary E. Pearson
Wow. That's all readers will say about this book. It's easy to sit and read it in one sitting. Scribbler Of Dreams is a great book. Anyone would enjoy and it's one that people will want to read again. The author makes readers believe that they are the main character in the book through the vivid descriptions of conflict and emotion. Scribbler Of Dreams was an eye-opener because the things described in the book are possibly happening now or in future generations. This is a book that will go on my list of books to buy.
-- Reviewed by Jodi Alm, member of the library's Youth Advisory Board.
