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Apr. 23rd, 2005 10:18 pmIf you want to read one book in the near future, read "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. It is simply...unbelievable. For a full five minutes after the end I was literally speechless.
This book tells the story of what is commonly considered the greatest military stand in history - the 300 Spartans of Thermopylae against the several millions, yes, millions, of Persians under Xerxes. You don't need to know anything before you read it except the fact that this suicide squad - and it was a suicide squad, no questions about it - managed to hold off these constantly replaced millions for days, allowing the Athenians to gather their forces for the Battle of Salamis which destroyed the Persian fleet. They might have held out longer than they had, actually, if it were not for a traitor of another city-state betraying a 'way around' the gap of Thermopylae.
But all this doesn't do the book justice. It captures Sparta of the ancient past in its pages - or, more accurately, the essence of Sparta shines through it to captivate the reader. You can't help but be in awe of these people, these characters, this unbelievable but nevertheless still true story. As you read it, absorbed more and more as each page is turned, as each chapter is passed, the characters spring to life and you can't help but love them all. Even the ones whom you couldn't find any sympathy for in the beginning are made real - at the end, you may not like them, but you understand them, you know them. And the ones you do like, and they are many, well...
The only piece of advice I can give with this book is the one that I got when I started. Read this book when you have time, because there is no way you'll be able to put it down - and I don't say that lightly. I mean it. Every time you see the cover, half-open on the desk or the bed, your fingers will itch for it. Your eyes will long for its presence before you whenever you do sometihng else. Your mind will try to convince you of all the more important things you have to do, but that persistant little itch in your fingers will still be there. You'll wonder what will happen next; the half-excited, half-fearful anticipation growing to almost painful levels as the pages turn and turn.
Read it when you can afford to lose a day into the times of the ancients. But whatever you do, read it. You won't regret it.
This book tells the story of what is commonly considered the greatest military stand in history - the 300 Spartans of Thermopylae against the several millions, yes, millions, of Persians under Xerxes. You don't need to know anything before you read it except the fact that this suicide squad - and it was a suicide squad, no questions about it - managed to hold off these constantly replaced millions for days, allowing the Athenians to gather their forces for the Battle of Salamis which destroyed the Persian fleet. They might have held out longer than they had, actually, if it were not for a traitor of another city-state betraying a 'way around' the gap of Thermopylae.
But all this doesn't do the book justice. It captures Sparta of the ancient past in its pages - or, more accurately, the essence of Sparta shines through it to captivate the reader. You can't help but be in awe of these people, these characters, this unbelievable but nevertheless still true story. As you read it, absorbed more and more as each page is turned, as each chapter is passed, the characters spring to life and you can't help but love them all. Even the ones whom you couldn't find any sympathy for in the beginning are made real - at the end, you may not like them, but you understand them, you know them. And the ones you do like, and they are many, well...
The only piece of advice I can give with this book is the one that I got when I started. Read this book when you have time, because there is no way you'll be able to put it down - and I don't say that lightly. I mean it. Every time you see the cover, half-open on the desk or the bed, your fingers will itch for it. Your eyes will long for its presence before you whenever you do sometihng else. Your mind will try to convince you of all the more important things you have to do, but that persistant little itch in your fingers will still be there. You'll wonder what will happen next; the half-excited, half-fearful anticipation growing to almost painful levels as the pages turn and turn.
Read it when you can afford to lose a day into the times of the ancients. But whatever you do, read it. You won't regret it.
