Between Two Rivers

AMONG the more-interesting books I have read recently is Paul Kriwaczek's Babylon.

Despite the title - perhaps imposed by the publisher, Atlantic Books - it covers a much longer period of history, starting well before Babylon was founded in about 2300BC.

The book's sub-title, Mesopotamia And The Birth Of Civilization, gives a much better idea of the contents.

As the blurb on the back states: "Kriwaczek tells the story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements around 5400BC to the eclipse of Babylon by the Persians in the sixth century BC."

A faded photo - metaphor for Mesopotamia's glory?

To put the period in context, Kriwaczek points out in the introduction: "If history, as by most definitions, begins with writing, then the birth, rise and fall of ancient Mesopotamia occupies a full half of all history."

Inevitably, in covering such a huge span of time, the author resorts to sweeping generalisations that I imagine would make specialists wince - his observations on the Assyrian military, particularly the superiority of iron over bronze ("cheaper, harder, less brittle ... sharper ... keener"), certainly made me flinch, and I am no specialist.

But there is a lot of interesting reading in the book's c300 pages, and I feel much more informed for having read it.

Chilled Argie-Bargie

WHILE in Mallorca I have had the chance to finish Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia, recently bought from a stall of remaindered books in Spitalfields market, East London.

"Vintage Chatwin," with the stall's £5 price tag still attached

The book, first published in 1977, won literary prizes, being hailed as a "little masterpiece of travel, history and adventure" and "one of the most strikingly original post-War English travel books."

Chatwin tells of the people he met and recounts incidents, many of them violent, from the history of Patagonia, which comprises the southern parts of Argentina and Chile, including the subpolar Tierra del Fuego.

Some of the tales are obviously fantasy, although Chatwin often repeats them as if he believes in the truth of what he is writing, or at least hopes readers will.

I cannot claim it is a book I could hardly put down, but the book is widely regarded as a landmark publication and I am glad I have read it.

Old Salts

AM visiting Mallorca, which is not just about beaches and bars.

At Colonia de Sant Jordi in the southeast are salt flats that may have been worked commercially more than 2,700 years ago for bartering with Phoenician traders.

The salt flats are still commercially exploited today