Customer Reviews

A Traveller's History of Cyprus

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When I borrowed this book from the public library and read it I knew I had to own it. My goal is to visit Cyprus in 2009 and this book has increased my desire to do so. I not only learned of the great history of Cyprus, but also of the world from my favorite periods, The Ptolemic times to the middle ages, to many events in history that I look at today and wonder where that stems from. This book really opened my eyes to how the history of not only Cyprus relates to the rest of the world, but how the world is conjoined together. I love what the author did and I wish every travel book could do the same.

Reading this book was painful. I am so excited about visiting Cyprus next month, and wanted to get a better understanding of the broad sweep of history on the island. This book does not provide that.

The first and most painful problem is that the author can't write. He writes as if English is his second language, and a barely acquired second language, at that. So many awkward phrases. So many obvious errors in diction and structure. Really, couldn't the publisher have hired a reasonably competent copy editor? The second problem is that he doesn't present cultures or movements or characters in a dynamic way. Instead, it's factoid, factoid, irrelevant event, and then on to the next era.

Oh, what a waste! Cyprus has played a key role in the development of so many cultures. This book doesn't do Cyprus justice; it is an inadequate traveler's history.