Love history,from the old epics, translations of archives,story traditions like the chinese detective of 3000 years ago captured by van Gulik, or the japanese samurai tradition captured by Mishima, or the director Kurosawa. Enjoy the later day detective styles of Davis, Saylor, Doherty, Doody, who are set in the B.C. period but relate in...more »

Love history,from the old epics, translations of archives,story traditions like the chinese detective of 3000 years ago captured by van Gulik, or the japanese samurai tradition captured by Mishima, or the director Kurosawa. Enjoy the later day detective styles of Davis, Saylor, Doherty, Doody, who are set in the B.C. period but relate in contemprary style.Sujata Massey who takes you to samurai traditions in modern japan.
And there is TERRY PRATCHET. A class of his own!
Secrets of the past turn me on. Not Atlantis, but why wars were lost or won, thoughts of interesting people, development of ideas or religions, commentaries of people on events they lived in ( present or distant past.)
A point of fascination is the Indus valley civilisation. So related in time period, city planning, skeleton type, trade etc with Crete and Babylon. Interesting also is the evolution of the trivial gods of the aryans into the cosmic shaking trinity of the hindu pantheon. It involves so many diversionary paths from the highly developed mohenjodarians to the snake( nag )worshipping forest dwellers. The interaction of the aryan, from working for, to peaceful cohabitation, to outright war and forest burning is a story unfolding much of the flavour of present day India..
We have almost zilch in archival form on this period . Archaeologists and their interpretations rule the roost. Occasionally it is fun to read mavericks like von Danniken who stretch the imagination to paint a picture....true or false, a picture none the less. ( sush, you dull archaeologists you ! )
The present and the future is so much of the past repeating itself.Different props, same scripts. Like theatre, reading the play in advance enhances ones' enjoyment « less