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Revision as of 14:24, 3 November 2009
, 14:24, 3 November 2009no edit summary
[[Category:New Reviews|Lifestyle]]
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{{newreview
|author=Mary Beard
|title=It's A Don's Life
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Professor Mary Beard, feisty Cambridge classics don, keeps an eye open for architectural detail wherever she goes. Even on holiday, she notices the changing urban landscape and records interesting parallels with ancient cities in her sparky blog. She is engaged in writing a detailed history of Pompeii and suddenly realises, whilst perambulating the backstreets of the Mexican city of Oaxacan, that this is exactly what Pompeii must have been like. She observes the low rise shops, dirt tracks across dusty streets and the close juxtaposition of rich and poor. Impressive portals of grand residential properties tower above humble workshops, and this prompts her into imaginative reconstruction. In her blog, from which this intriguing book is culled, she tells us about just how Oaxacan encourages her to ponder again the curious cart ruts of Pompeii. She even finds walls splashed with political slogans that are just like Roman ''dipinti''. Indeed, here in Mexico, the local library displays an edifying message in Spanish which originates in Cicero's speech in his Pro Archia, ''Science and letters are the nourishment of youth and the diversion of old age.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682517</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Dr Aaron Carroll and Dr Rachel Vreeman
