From the Holy Mountain
a journey among the Christians of the Middle East
by William Dalrymple · first published 1998
100% recommend
In the spring of A.D. 587, two monks set off on an extraordinary journey that would take them in an arc across the entire Byzantine world, from the shores of the Bosphorus to the sand dunes of Egypt. On the way, John Moschos and his pupil Sophronius the Sophist stayed in caves, monasteries, and remote hermitages, collecting the wisdom of the stylites and the desert fathers before their fragile world finally shattered under the great eruption of Islam. More than a thousand years later, using Moschos's writings as his guide and inspiration, William Dalrymple sets off to retrace their footsteps.
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…thought I might learn something and get a feeling of what it's like to be there. I didn't. Not in the same way that I could feel the heat in "Heart of Darkness" (Joseph Conrad) or the sun and the trees in "From the Holy Mountain" (William Dalrymple) or the weight of the world in "Suttree" (Cormac McCarthy). But it's a good ride of a story. 6. "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories" (Delmore Schwartz) I knew this…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗From The Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple https://shepherd.com/book/from-the-holy-mountain I read this in my early 20s and it had a huge impact in changing the course of my life, sending me traveling over a Christmas break,…
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗…for the weird cult thing. - Classic Tom Clancy - Upton Sinclair The Jungle - Seismic impact on my view of the world. - Native Son in high school is something I think about to this day and bothers me. - From The Holy Mountain - Huge influence on me in my early 20s and where I ended up.
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗