Sunday, August 02, 2009

BOOK OF THE DEAD...PLUS

Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child: Being a further tale of the woes of the N.Y. Museum of Natural History, apparently the unluckiest museum in the worl, judging by the series of novels that began with Relic and continues down to this one. Though actually, the books are really about Special Agent Pendergast and his adventures, some of which have to do with the Museum. This one continues the intertwining of Pendergast's twin evil brother and how he's getting revenge on his brother.
But, to digress, the pivotal scene of this book happens on the volcanic island of Stromboli, which I happened to see from a ship while returning home from the Phillippines in 1961. I recall the ship sailing towards this volcanic island, which was smoking at the time, and seeing a flow down the side running into the ocean where it steamed up. Apparently that was the Sciara del Fuoco, the Slope of Fire, where the volcano has been flowing constantly for pretty much the last 3000 years!!
So that was prettty neat, especially at the age of 8, and even thought I didn't really' get it', it sure was cool to see, and strange to run across it in this book read 48 years later.
Small world, eh?

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