Introduction

I am sitting in a hard wooden chair, alternately clicking and clacking on this keyboard and looking out the window at the apples ripening upon the tree, the tomato plants bathing in the sun and the fig tree in all its summer exuberance -- and to the woods beyond.

In another room, my beautiful Wife is waiting my return from this computer excursion: She has Saturday chores for me -- and if ever that grates upon me, I must remember how many lonely men there are in the world who pine, if not for chores, at least for the love and friendship of a Woman.

Though I scarcely have time for the blogs I have already begun, yet stubbornly I launch this newest one today. For in my leisure moments, for ten years or more now, I have taken notes on what I read, notes which until now only my eyes have seen. If I die unexpectedly, perhaps those notes will be tossed out on the trash pile. Perhaps they deserve to be. In the meantime, through this blog, I will share them with anyone who is interested.

I will begin, next Tuesday, with a look at The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 1 Part 2: The Early History of the Middle East. That volume discusses the beginning of civilization, from earliest Egypt, Sumer and Greece all the way to the 18th century B.C.