Glassmakers: An Odyssey of the Jews : The First Three Thousand Years [Hardcover]

Samuel Kurinsky (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 434 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books; 1st edition (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870529013
• ISBN-13: 978-0870529016
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #610,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 400 pages of speculation as fact, September 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Glassmakers: An Odyssey of the Jews : The First Three Thousand Years (Hardcover)

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This appears to be a very well researched book. But, as they say, appearances can be deceiving.

Throughout the book Mr. Kurinsky passes off numerous cases of his speculative theories about ancient glassmaking as absolute facts, rather than as the theories they actually are. In addition to this he apparently has very little idea about how glass is actually made, in spite of the fact that he claims absolute knowledge of why it could and could not have been made in various areas at various times in various ways. His description of the prerequisites for glassmaking on pages 36 - 42 is so far off the mark as to be almost laughable, if it were not for the fact that many uninformed readers may actually believe it. Knowing how wrong this description is makes me wonder how many other things in the book are equally incorrect. (I make glass for a living so I have some firsthand knowledge about this. Yes, that's making glass itself from the raw materials, as well as making things out of that glass.)

This book has some interesting theories and speculation about the origins of glassmakimg. Unfortunately, Mr. Kurinsky's lack of objectivity, and the "facts" he states that are flat out wrong, taint all the rest of the information contained within.

3.0 out of 5 stars An adventurous and intriguing speculative history, December 8, 2004

By 

'probabilist - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glassmakers: An Odyssey of the Jews : The First Three Thousand Years (Hardcover)

I read this book from beginning to end, and enjoyed it. But it left me wishing I could find a more thoroughly documented, and more objective, work on the same subject. Even though I wanted to believe the author had a solid basis for his theme that he had discovered the true history of glassmaking before the Middle Ages, I didn't find his sources and his reasoning to be convincing.

I had the same feeling when I had finished this book as I had when I finished John J. Robinson's speculative history that attempts to connect the origins of Freemasonry with the suppression of the Knights Templars in the early 1300s. It was an inspiring and attractive tale, but I couldn't go along with several of the key leaps of interpretation that were essential to its central theme. Too much speculation and too little solid evidence.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant and fascinating work., December 11, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Glassmakers: An Odyssey of the Jews : The First Three Thousand Years (Hardcover)

There are many reasons to recommend this work. I know of no other book that attempts to address some rather obvious problems in history. Whether or not all of these ideas are vindicated is to be determined, but I am delighted with the care and intelligence that this book demonstrates. Thank you.

Michael Wahrman