The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library by Edward Wilson-LeeMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
The book was frustrating at times. It meandered and wasn't focused enough. In the places where the focus was retained, such as on Hernando Colón and his some of his projects, the book was fascinating. But it wandered, and at times seemingly for no reason, although occasionally it did add useful context to the biography.
Hernando Colón was the infamous Christopher Columbus's younger son. He also wrote a biography of his father which has been the vital book that created the legacy of Columbus. Yet Hernando's life and projects were quite intriguing: developed a classification system for his huge collection of books and images, his map making, and the collecting of detailed statistics about the towns and cities found throughout Spain. Hernando traveled quite extensively, beginning with being with his father on one of the voyages to the New World.
When he was older everywhere he went he bought books. Once he got going he went on such a book buying spree that he purchased 700 books in month, then 200 in 3 days, then over the next month bought around 1,000. Oh the joy of buying books!
Hernando would have loved Goodreads. He would have loved the modern library classification systems. He would have loved the internet. One of his goals seemed to be the accumulation of all knowledge and to have it organized in a searchable manner.
The problem with the book was it was too broad. I also felt that if I was more seeped in the history of the late 1400's, early 1500's I would have a better time with the book, particularly in the beginning chapters. Despite this, I'm happy to have read this book.
Book rating: 3.5 stars
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment