Book Review: King Solomon's Mines
I decided to take a little trip back... instead of reading today's pulp fiction (e.g. the Da Vinci Code), how about yesterday's pulp fiction?
King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard is a prime example. It outlines the adventures of three Englishmen in South Africa who undertake an arduous journey some thousand miles north to find the legendary diamond mines King Solomon (yes, he of the Bible) derived his wealth from.
And the beginning and the end of the book are fine adventure writing. Unfortunately, the middle is a little tediously bogged down in internecine politics of a tribe they encounter along the way, politics which erupt in outright war.
Still, it made for easy and quick reading. And some fun, too... though I also found the book a fascinating example of the sensibilities of the late Victorian era (1885), particularly the idea of the noble savage who needs just a bit of help from the white man to set everything aright.
Notably, too, this "book" I actually read off my Palm Pilot, thanks to the Gutenberg Project which has recently started making texts available in a Palm-specific format for exactly this purpose. I'll be reading some more books this way -- but it admittedly, is not the same as having the physical book in your hands...
King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard is a prime example. It outlines the adventures of three Englishmen in South Africa who undertake an arduous journey some thousand miles north to find the legendary diamond mines King Solomon (yes, he of the Bible) derived his wealth from.
And the beginning and the end of the book are fine adventure writing. Unfortunately, the middle is a little tediously bogged down in internecine politics of a tribe they encounter along the way, politics which erupt in outright war.
Still, it made for easy and quick reading. And some fun, too... though I also found the book a fascinating example of the sensibilities of the late Victorian era (1885), particularly the idea of the noble savage who needs just a bit of help from the white man to set everything aright.
Notably, too, this "book" I actually read off my Palm Pilot, thanks to the Gutenberg Project which has recently started making texts available in a Palm-specific format for exactly this purpose. I'll be reading some more books this way -- but it admittedly, is not the same as having the physical book in your hands...