Reddit reviews The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories (Landmark Books)

This edition has been the preference in my Classics department. I haven't used any other translation enough to tell you how the actual text compares (and from what I've seen it's just as good or better); what really makes it stand out is its annotations. You could teach an entire history course just from the content in this version- maps, snippets of other texts, comments on archaeology, paleography, and everything else. It's also quite cheap for its quality.

I have been struggling with the same thing, after years of being what some people might think of as a bit of a workaholic, once I got to “Now I can’t work, what do I do” (After I got done struggling with “Now I can’t work, who am I), this is what I came up with:

 


Exercise: Everything I have read thus far, highly encourages persons with MS to get as much exercise as they can get. All of the stories I read about MS that make you think “I would like to experience what that person is experiencing” start out with “I got MS, and I thought my life was over, but then I got very serious about sleep, diet, and exercise”) This gentlemen just posted a very nice one on this very subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MultipleSclerosis/comments/ca5lem/something_uplifting_after_two_and_a_half_years_i/
One of the challenges for me was as someone who used to be fairly athletic years ago, for me exercise was a way to enjoy the wonders the human body was capable of, and going for a short, shuffling walk at the end of which I was exhausted felt… I don’t know, not great. At that point I went to a talk on MS and one of the doctors that was speaking talked about the importance of exercise, and relayed a series of stories about exercise and MS. One of them was about a gentlemen who had lost the use of everything but his left arm. His words were something like “That arm is one of the most important things going on in my practice, it’s the arm he uses to order food, to facetime with his children…”, and then he went on to describe the stretching and exercise he would do to try to preserve as much function as possible.
Some days of course are better than others, on the good ones I try to get in as much exercise as possible. On the bad ones, well I can do less, but I try to do what I can. One thing that has helped for me is thinking of the MS like a foe. It wants to destroy you, take things away, crippled you (I realize this is silly anthropomorphizing, but I feel like it helps me maintain a good state of mind). On the days I feel good, it makes it easier to go out and do what exercise I can, it feels like I am gaining on my foe. On my bad days, I think “Alright, you got me today, but let’s see how I feel tomorrow, perhaps the MS leaves a hole and I can slip through”. Somehow approaching it this way makes me feel slippery and determined, rather than crippled.

 



Reading: When I was younger I read a great deal, but it fell off as my career picked up. I got to a point where I would only read a handful of books a year. Now with more time, I have been spending more time with a book.
I recently finished Sapiens, and very much enjoyed it: https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316095
I am now working my way through the histories of Herodotus (and am finding them fascinating): https://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories-Robert-Strassler/dp/1400031141/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=landmark+histories&qid=1562946514&s=books&sr=1-1

 


Watching: The wife and I watch some TV together, and we have both been on history kick. We have been watching some of the great courses, and really enjoying the experience. Some of our favorites:
https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/show/the_rise_of_rome?tn=Also+By+This+Professor_0_3 Everything I have seen by Greg Aldrete is good, he seems to conduct creditable scholarship (For example, he calls out when historians disagree on some topic, shares the views of both camps, and THEN shares his thoughts), and he tells a fantastic story.
https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/show/living_history_experiencing_great_events_of_the_ancient_and_medieval_worlds?tn=The+Great+Courses+Plus+Online+History+Courses+_0_70 Robert Garland takes moments out of history and works to make them come alive. I would argue that (at least for me) he succeeds spectacularly in this series.
https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/food-a-cultural-culinary-history The history of food, and history told with an eye to how everything has been shaped by food.
In addition to these, there are countless other good ones. As someone who purchased some great courses in the past (at what were some fairly exorbitant prices even on their sales), I very much like their new subscription model where you pay a fee each month and have access to everything. You can try out a lecture and see if you enjoy the lecturer style.

 


Gaming: Weirdly, being sick has destroyed a lot of the fun of gaming for me. Before I got sick, gaming was a thing I enjoyed “After I did my work”. Now that I don’t have work to be done with, someone how I don’t feel like I have “Earned the right to game”. Not saying this makes sense, necessary, but of course we feel how we feel. I have continued to play EVE Online (which I played before I got sick), albeit at a much lazier pace. I played through much of the latest Zelda with my 6 year old, which was fun, and recently played through FAR: Lone Sails which is a quiet, atmospheric puzzle solving game that involves piloting a vehicle through a post apocalyptic wasteland. Despite that description, I feel like the game is more soothing then it is anything else. It’s beautiful made, it was an enjoyable experience.

 


In addition to this jazz, I have of course been spending time with my wife and children. After my last flare I was spending a lot (almost all) of my time in the house, and more recently I have been making plans to see friends. Because my energy does not last so long, I have been trying to do lunches, perhaps meet a friend on their lunch break at work. The lack of outside the family adult contact once I stopped working has been weighing on me, and having a chat with an old friend has been a real boost.

Soldier of Sidon (reading Soldier of Arete presently)

The Art of Manliness (book exchange gift)

The Histories of Herodotus (gorgeous Landmark edition)

Godel, Escher, Bach

The Enchiridion of Epictetus

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

House of Leaves

Labyrinths (Borges collection)

Through the Language Glass

American Gods

I will also be sprinkling in revisits to all of the best books I read this semester for school, including: The Republic, The Politics, The Prince, Leviathan, The 2nd Treatise on Government, Rousseau, Marx, the Elements of Journalism, the Dao, and the Gita.

I think this list is pretty indicative of the type of reader I am.

The Landmark Histories series are great - full of maps (which is crucial for Herodotus) and lots of footnotes/annexes etc. too. I haven't read the Herodotus yet but can heartily recommend them on the strength of their versions of Thucydides, Xenephon and Arrian (I am going to double back and get the Herodotus at some point!)

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Herodotus is here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories-Robert-Strassler/dp/1400031141/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539290095&sr=8-1&keywords=herodotus+landmark

Egypt I think there are newer editions available.

Babylon

Ancient Israel

And if you are feeling exceptionally adventuresome I would highly recommend Herodotus

I started with the old Penguin translation which unfortunately lacks things like footnotes to explain stuff. I'd recommend the Landmark edition which, despite being massive, has plenty of maps and footnotes galore that will keep you from getting confused. There's also several appendix which explain many things in greater detail. Can't recommend it enough, just that it's probably pricey. Try to find a used one or a sale, or a library.


Herodotus gets a lot of flack for his errors and inaccuracies (and he has a bunch, his entire chapter on Egypt is horrible) and he wasn't writing a history (as we know it) but to preserve heroic acts and also to entertain (his work was to be read out). But he tells a fantastic story of heroes, courage, piety, divine justice. He's the Spielberg of the Ancient Greek world (Livy is the Roman equivalent).

To piggyback on OP, if you are going to purchase a Herodotus translation, I highly recommend the Landmark volume. You will find the extra bells and whistles quite useful.