"usury and all commercial ventures were suspect because they assumed control over the future, a mortgage of time which was reserved for God."
"One of the most cogent comments about time was made by the humanist Leon Battista Alberti in his dialogue on family life:
Gianozzo: There are three things which man may say properly belong to him; his fortune, his body, ...
Lionardo: And what may the third be?
Gianozzo: Ah! A very precious thing indeed! Even these hands and these eyes are not so much my own.
Lionardo: Incredible! What is it?
Gianozzo: Time, my dear Lionardo."
Robert S. Gottfried
I had picked up this book at Apple Fest at Joanna Furnace a couple of years ago. I think I've already blogged about it, and I seldom reiterate unless warranted. It was two dollars. Having read all of the plague books except for the latest omnibus that The Great Courses, that I completed, is based upon, I figured it would be samey and nearly passed it up for a bean cookbook, Jack. Kelly's The Great Mortality is my favorite, and I love Follett's novel World Without End. About the first plague book, from 1983, (I thought it was earlier), I mistook that I wouldn't get anything new from it. Wrong! Not only are all of the latter books obviously based upon this relatively short book, but I believe it is more concise. Nowadays everything is fake, phony, made-up, hearsay, and opinionated nonsense. History is "reimagined", but it was always a white man's game. Facts and evidence are scrapped. This book not only thoroughly looks into the origin of the plague, Africa, and Asia, it also calls a spade, a spade. It has no false claims. It calls theories, theories and nonsense, nonsense. It cites sources from the time. I'd call it a Ron Paul among books. It's not to be missed. Will I read the latest gigantic omnibus? Probably, I'm obsessed and always have been. I'll find the time. 🕛
