Andrew Barrow
A Time for Wassailing
This light-hearted, scholarly book offers a multifaceted portrait of Christmas over two thousand years. Rich in facts and trivia, it takes us all the way from the birth of Jesus Christ – only mentioned in two of the gospels – up to the consumerist society of today, when Christmas is celebrated all over the globe by millions not even nominally Christian. In the process, it embraces mince pies, mistletoe, the Christmas tree, Christmas cards, carols, candles, declining church attendance and – on a massive scale – food and drink.
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'"Dutch Light" roots its subject in his local environment, explaining, for example, how an abundance of sand for making glass led naturally to a thriving business in optical instruments in Holland.'
Patricia Fara on the life & work of Christiaan Huygens.
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'We may not be able to shield ourselves from irrational passions such as hatred, anger, envy, mockery and pride, or from the buffetings of circumstance, but we can rise above them by obtaining insight into their nature and their causes.'
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