horizons classics elevator janissary

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9 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Picador, 2008

Impressive
I liked it very much, very well crafted and beautifully written, Goodwin was able to bring Istanbul of 1830s into one's mind with amazing clarity. To me it is a cross between "The Name of the Rose" by Eco Umberto and "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk. Ordered The Janissary Tree. Only complaint is that the book is too short.

On Foot to the Golden Horn

5 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Chatto &Windus, 1993

Intriguing, gritty portrait of Central Europe
Jason Goodwin has produced a wonderfully inventive travel book, one in which Istanbul is the ultimate goal. Wanting to have some sort of experience of what was it was like to visit such a distant goal in the past, as well as to tour Central Europe, he and two friends walk there! They journey on foot (only very rarely accepting short rides) from the northern Polish port city of Gdansk all the way ...

Time For Tea, A: Travels Through China and India in Search of Tea

2 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Knopf, 1991

OUTSTANDING! Grab a teapot & BUY THIS BOOK!
This book is WONDERFUL! Be forewarned, however: you WILL begin to guzzle litre after litre of tea during the reading of this book. Mr. Goodwin gives an absolutely wonderful first-person account of his often hilarious travels investigating the tea trade, from its' beginnings in Canton to the present day. A MUST for anyone who loves tea - and I'd rate Mr. Goodwin's writing style on a par with ...

A Journal of the Plague Year (Modern Library Classics)

12 reviews
Daniel Defoe

Modern Library, 2001

History will repeat itself
Defoe, Daniel, A Journal of the Plague Year. 1722. Penguin Books, 1966. Now that we're all reading up on bird flu, the flu pandemic of 1918, and even the Black Plague, it seems appropriate to revisit Daniel Defoe's account of the London outbreak of 1665. The author cleverly spins a fictional world based on the real one which struck England when he was only five. Using real statistics and first ...

The Janissary Tree: A Novel

41 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Picador, 2007

Introducing Yashim!!!
What a lovely character he is! Goodwin is a fine writer, a historian of great caliber and is just top-notch in this first offering. This book is a must - read! There isn't a single page in the book where you feel bored or want to skip a page or two. I think that's a great achievement. I will read Bellini Card later since it is bit expensive, meanwhile I will be starting to read Boris Akunin who ...

Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire

22 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Picador, 2003

delightful, fascinating, and deep
This book offers a stark contrast to Kinross' The Ottoman Centuries. Kinross' book is dry, stuffily pedantic, and laden with the details of obscure territorial skirmishes. While I learned the outlines of Ottoman history in Kinross, it was this book that gave me a true flavor for that vanished world - who the people were, why they acted the way they did, and how things appeared in the context ...

Lords of the Horizon: A History of the Ottoman Empire

98 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Holt Paperbacks, 2000

Exquisite writing, paints broad strokes very well
This is an excellent book. For his style of writing alone, which is masterful in its ability to extemporize information and draw in the reader, this book deserves the highest acclaim. I, too, get frustrated when what passes for history these days is too often devoid of facts and too centered on the plight of the common man such that the reader does not obtain an understanding of the grand scheme ...

The Travels of Marco Polo (Modern Library Classics)

31 reviews
Marco Polo

Modern Library, 2001

The Size of the World
It has been a pleasure to revisit the travels of Marco Polo. I was transfixed by these stories of travel and adventure when I was a child, and never questioned the veracity of the narrative. I know today that the narrative has been corrupted over the centuries, that "The Travels" can scarcely be used as an historical reference, and that a more tantalizing and complete manuscript has probably been ...

The Bellini Card: A Novel
Jason Goodwin

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009

Istanbul, 1840: the new sultan, Abdulmecid, has heard a rumor that Bellini?s vanished masterpiece?a portrait of Mehmed the Conqueror?may have resurfaced in Venice. Yashim, our eunuch detective, is promptly sent to investigate, but?aware that the sultan?s advisers are against any extravagant repurchase of the painting?decides to deploy his disempowered Polish ambassador friend, Palewski, to visit Venice in his stead. Palewski arrives in disguise ...

THE GUNPOWDER GARDENS

1 review
JASON GOODWIN

Unknown, 1993

A Time for Tea
This book was also published in paperback in the United States under the title A Time for Tea: Travels Through China and India in Search of Tea (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991). Informed and entertaining, the book is a combination travelogue-history; the author visits China, India, and a few other tea-related places (Boston, as in Tea Party), all the while telling us how tea is grown, ...

Otis: Giving Rise to the Modern City: A History of the Otis Elevator Company

3 reviews
Jason Goodwin

Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2001

Better than I expected
I've worked for Otis for nearly 30 years. I thought I knew how the company started and grew, but I was wrong. This book, produced by United Technologies, Otis' parent corporation, could have just been a promotional piece, but to the credit of the author I found it to be a well researched, well written chronical of Otis' humble New York beginnings in 1853 through today's global presence. It is a ...

Chemins de traverse
Jason Goodwin

Phébus, 1995

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