Tim Severin writes a ripping good yarn, whether in fiction or as a travelogue involving one of his reconstructed ancient seafaring vessels. This retracing of the journey that medieval wandering monk Brendan is supposed to have taken really makes you feel that you are in the boat with the crew, getting lashed by gales and periodically soaked by rainwater and seawater. The good thing, though, is that history comes to life. And you learn that the ancient civilisations knew a thing or two more about natural products than we give them credit for. Leather, for example, is demonstrably a perishable substance, but by researching ancient texts and using ...  Read the complete review

When it comes to discovery of the Americas, everyone, it seems, wants a piece of the action. The classroom jingle tells us that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and common knowledge certainly has the Genoese navigator down as the discoverer of the New World. But behind him stands a long line of explorers who are continually pushed forward as the "real" first Europeans to find the continent. The English explorer John Cabot also reached America in the 1490s, while China reckons Admiral Cheng Ho found it in 1421 while on a voyage of exploration to bring back loot for his emperor. There is even a story of Welsh Prince Madog ap Owain Gwynedd setting up a ...  Read the complete review