My dad used to ask why I had so many books about Ancient Rome. I can only explain it using a quote from a Japanese 14th Century Essayist.
“The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known.”
–Kenko
Time travel at its best.
Added 10 Jul, 2011
Like I said…”I love books.”
I remember my father pleaded with me to stop buying books. I think he liked the idea of me being such a book-a-phile, and I would like to point out that we had an entire library by the fireplace in the front room of the house. I am talking from ceiling to floor of various volumes. I think he was just worried about the cost.
I remember I responded with unexpected finality: “I will never stop buying books. I will continue to do so until the day I die.”
He looked at me with surprize and amusement: “All I’m saying is use a library once in a while.”
Added 11 Jul, 2011
I have a kindle. I really do. It’s sitting on my bathroom shelf, and it’s been there for awhile. I have been using it to download ‘out of print’ books on Roman History. After all, its free…AND where would I get a copy if NOT electronically. I still like hard copies, and Nancy and I are a common feature at the book store Barnes and Noble. Anyway, if they don’t know her, they know her drink. It is heavenly to sit there in the cafe, work on our books (yes…aspiring novelists), drink tea (Awake Tea for me, and green tea latte, skim, two pumps, for her) and occasionally browze (and buy) books from the shelves. That is my dream vacation. Others come as well, every day an elderly couple shows up. They both eat their lunch amongst the stacks, drink their coffees, and listen to the conversations about books, stories, magazines and life that swirls about them (he is blind but wants to be at the bookstore breathing in the stacks).
I saw a kindle ad the other day: A woman passes a man reading a kindle and says: “I’m on my way to the library.”
He says something like: “I just downloaded your favorite book on my kindle.”
She says: “Let me look.” She starts to read off the kindle and keeps on reading…hogging it if you will.
He says: ”I thought you were going to the book store.”
Guess what? I would still go to the bookstore.
A bookstore is where can you move along the stacks, have the titles shout out at you, drawings, and photos tease you with their contents. A bookstore is like an Arabian Market, noisy with color and text. Each of the shelves shouting for your attention.
One time I discovered a man, flat on his back with his head propped up on the bottom shelf, with a book open on his chest (he was reading), and he was surrounded by stacks of books on the floor. He had created his own book fort and had planned out his afternoon.
Just try to do that, Kindle.
Added 23 August 2011
I was on the Elevated Train (EL) and I saw a man reading a Moby Dick. The guy was like he was out of the sixities in the way he was dressed. I don’t mean a Don Drapper look (Madmen), I mean in how someone out of the ‘Beat Generation’ might have looked on their way to somewhere very important. He wore tight fitting pants, leather pointy shoes, a dress coast with a pattern, thin tie, and a leather hat — unusual by the way, for in the 60s those hats usually manufactured in cloth, black rimmed glasses (square) on his nose, and a ‘soul patch’ under his lip. He know what I mean – cool.
He sat there engrossed in his book. It just wasn’t the fact he was reading Moby Dick, but he had it highlighted throughout this massive book, lines and passages in bright yellow, and page after page of those GM tape like multi colored page markers. The book was creased, bent, the back broken, and the pages were obviosuly abused in my favorite way, the corners bent.
He had read this book, memoraized it(I’ll take a bet with you on that), referred to it, quoted it, and somehow I could not help to thing lectured on it (maybe?).
Who was he?
Poet? Movie Director? Writer? Teacher (Literature)? College professor? Dreamer?
Rob Cain has traveled extensively through Europe, Italy, and Egypt. He was formerly on active duty with the United States Army. He is a fan of history, and enjoys reading books on the history of Rome. He currently has a podcast presentation on itunes and hipcast. The blog is for the free and open discussion of Ancient Rome based on Mr. Cain's observations noted in his podcast. Most episodes start out with an original dramatic narration written by Mr. Cain. In the podcasts he will include his own unique commentary, and interviews with subject matter experts. Comments are welcome and will be highlighted on the show. 
Episode 10, “Nothing New Under the Sun. Get Over it”, features the book, “The Ancient Guide to Modern Life” written by author, comedian, and TV commentator Natalie Haynes.” Whether political, cultural, or social, there are endless parallels between the ancient and modern worlds. Whether it's the murder of Caesar or the political assassination of Thatcher; the narrative arc of the hit HBO series, The Wire, or that of Oedipus; the popular enthusiasm for the Emperor Titus or President Obama – over and over again we can be seen to be living very much like people did 2,000 or more years ago. It's time for us to re-examine the past. Our lives are infinitely richer if we take the time to look at what the Greeks and Romans have given us in politics and law, religion and philosophy and education, and to learn how people really lived in Athens, Rome, Sparta and Alexandria. 
This is a book with a serious point to make but the author isn't just a classicist but a comedian and broadcaster who has made television and radio documentaries about humor, education and Dorothy Parker. This is a book for us all, not for an elite.
