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Time Quest
The Lost Wreck of the Isis
Dr. Ballard visits the Mediterranean to explore a Roman shipwreck site and investigate an active underwater volcano.
- GenresNonfictionArchaeology
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
50 people want to read
About the author
Robert D. Ballard
86 books170 followersRobert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas) is a former commander in the United States Navy and an oceanographer who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology. He is most famous for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998. Most recently he discovered the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2003 and visited the Solomon Islander natives who saved its crew. Ballard is also great-grandson of American Old West lawman Bat Masterson.
from wikipedia.org
see also
http://literati.net/Ballard/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/fie...
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pa...
from wikipedia.org
see also
http://literati.net/Ballard/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/fie...
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pa...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 20, 2021
Terrific book in Time Quest collection. Robert Ballard, a retired Navy officer, and world-renowned oceanographer best known for his discovery of the Titanic in 1985 led his team to explore the Mediterranean depth for the wreck of an ancient Roman merchant ship, the Isis.
This 1989 event was broadcast live to museums in the United States and Canada with cameras attached to a remote-operated robotic-like vehicle. This vehicle also has "arms" to pick up artifacts so they could be brought to the surface.
The undersea photographs are amazing, but there's not much left of the Isis which was a wooden ship. I like the historical fiction part and map of trade routes. Almost two thousand-year-old artifacts like amphoras led archeologists to believe the Isis sank after leaving Carthage (Tunisia) to Ostia (Rome).
This 1989 event was broadcast live to museums in the United States and Canada with cameras attached to a remote-operated robotic-like vehicle. This vehicle also has "arms" to pick up artifacts so they could be brought to the surface.
The undersea photographs are amazing, but there's not much left of the Isis which was a wooden ship. I like the historical fiction part and map of trade routes. Almost two thousand-year-old artifacts like amphoras led archeologists to believe the Isis sank after leaving Carthage (Tunisia) to Ostia (Rome).
August 7, 2020
This book is an interesting account of oceanic archaeology by Robert D. Ballard, best known for discovering the Titanic. Although it is marketed for middle schoolers, it's no easy picture book with its walls of wordy text, and would probably be best for upper middle schoolers and up. Aside from its short page count and frequent photographs, it actually reads more like a book for adults.
The book highlights what events may have caused an ancient Roman vessel to sink, and also recounts in memoir style Ballard's efforts to locate the ship, as he traces his way along ancient trading routes with his team, scanning the ocean floor.
There's plenty of fascinating stuff here, and I absolutely love ancient history and archaeology and shipwrecks, so I was really expecting to like this book.
Unfortunately, I didn't end up enjoying it much. First of all, Ballard begins the book pretty offhandedly, as he writes about searching for the lost ship. In most books of this sort, there is a sense of urgency and longing - excited, frustrated, feverish searching that makes you ache for the narrator to find their prize. There was absolutely none of that here, and I found myself not really all that excited when a crew member announces that they've found the ship.
Then the book flips from memoir to pure fiction, swapping out photographs for drawings of historical characters, and spinning a tale of the ship Isis out on a voyage, and its both likable and unlikable passengers. I understand trying to give readers a sense of what life and voyages of ancient Rome were like, and I feel that the idea could have worked very well, but Ballard's writing style simply didn't carry it across. It felt strange and disjointed, and I was suddenly suspicious of the pure non-fiction parts of the book, wondering if they too had been fictionalized.
Strangely, in the fictional part, a character who we are obviously supposed to dislike, a haughty woman named Claudia, begins talking about how she met a handsome, sexy captain once. She tells her nephew that he was "very hotblooded... Father certainly had his hands full keeping an eye on me..." Okay? Why are we focusing on this?
The book also focuses quite a bit on the technology of the day. As the book was published in 1990, I wasn't exactly awestruck by live-streaming and computers, as it seemed the reader was expected to be. Many of the photos focus heavily on the technology.
All of this being said, this was still certainly an interesting read, and its great to hear about other expeditions made by the man who excavated the Titanic. I loved that Ballard describes seeing the gently erupting volcano of Stromboli, which has acted as a sort of natural lighthouse since ancient times, and then we switch to the fictional portrayal of ancient Roman sailors watching Stromboli's eruptions as well. The actual recovering of the first artifacts from the wreck is also striking, as Ballard wonders whose ancient hands were the last to touch them. Underwater archaeology would be a very difficult subject to make boring, and although I wouldn't say that this book is thrilling, the topic is just too good to mess up too badly. Also, once the wreck excavation began, the rest of the book was fascinating.
Not very well written, but definitely an interesting account on a great subject. Recommended if you're interested in archaeology or ancient history.
The book highlights what events may have caused an ancient Roman vessel to sink, and also recounts in memoir style Ballard's efforts to locate the ship, as he traces his way along ancient trading routes with his team, scanning the ocean floor.
There's plenty of fascinating stuff here, and I absolutely love ancient history and archaeology and shipwrecks, so I was really expecting to like this book.
Unfortunately, I didn't end up enjoying it much. First of all, Ballard begins the book pretty offhandedly, as he writes about searching for the lost ship. In most books of this sort, there is a sense of urgency and longing - excited, frustrated, feverish searching that makes you ache for the narrator to find their prize. There was absolutely none of that here, and I found myself not really all that excited when a crew member announces that they've found the ship.
Then the book flips from memoir to pure fiction, swapping out photographs for drawings of historical characters, and spinning a tale of the ship Isis out on a voyage, and its both likable and unlikable passengers. I understand trying to give readers a sense of what life and voyages of ancient Rome were like, and I feel that the idea could have worked very well, but Ballard's writing style simply didn't carry it across. It felt strange and disjointed, and I was suddenly suspicious of the pure non-fiction parts of the book, wondering if they too had been fictionalized.
Strangely, in the fictional part, a character who we are obviously supposed to dislike, a haughty woman named Claudia, begins talking about how she met a handsome, sexy captain once. She tells her nephew that he was "very hotblooded... Father certainly had his hands full keeping an eye on me..." Okay? Why are we focusing on this?
The book also focuses quite a bit on the technology of the day. As the book was published in 1990, I wasn't exactly awestruck by live-streaming and computers, as it seemed the reader was expected to be. Many of the photos focus heavily on the technology.
All of this being said, this was still certainly an interesting read, and its great to hear about other expeditions made by the man who excavated the Titanic. I loved that Ballard describes seeing the gently erupting volcano of Stromboli, which has acted as a sort of natural lighthouse since ancient times, and then we switch to the fictional portrayal of ancient Roman sailors watching Stromboli's eruptions as well. The actual recovering of the first artifacts from the wreck is also striking, as Ballard wonders whose ancient hands were the last to touch them. Underwater archaeology would be a very difficult subject to make boring, and although I wouldn't say that this book is thrilling, the topic is just too good to mess up too badly. Also, once the wreck excavation began, the rest of the book was fascinating.
Not very well written, but definitely an interesting account on a great subject. Recommended if you're interested in archaeology or ancient history.
April 14, 2018
The photos are terrific, as is the narrative about the actual discovery process. This is written to be accessible for about 8th grade and up --- it's not dumbed down, either --- but it also includes a fanciful account of the lost Roman trader. Which was not named Isis, but the invented backstory kinda works. A fun read if you are addicted to shipwrecks (guilty). Ballard found the Titanic, people, so I am going to always give him props.
February 6, 2020
Aimed at children in middle school. Clear and interesting. Chapters alternate between the modern archaeological crew searching for and then recovering part of an ancient wreck and a historically plausible account of a fictional merchant's son who was on the ancient ship's last journey. My one minor gripe is that more than one amphora are called "amphoras" throughout, rather than "amohorae," but this is a valid style choice, and appropriate given the intended audience.
January 18, 2020
I think this was a good book, but one of the pictures was a little bad
February 3, 2020
it was very interesting and funny
March 24, 2022
Stolen from: Sarah
Aimed at children in middle school. Clear and interesting. Chapters alternate between the modern archaeological crew searching for and then recovering part of an ancient wreck and a historically plausible account of a fictional merchant's son who was on the ancient ship's last journey.
Aimed at children in middle school. Clear and interesting. Chapters alternate between the modern archaeological crew searching for and then recovering part of an ancient wreck and a historically plausible account of a fictional merchant's son who was on the ancient ship's last journey.
May 20, 2008
Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, narrates this reconstruction of a Roman shipwreck. Using the JASON underwater explorer to examine the bottom surfaces of the ocean, his team was able to recover several amphorae and artifacts.
November 29, 2015
I'm not sure how many times I read this as a child, but it definitely had an influence on me. The excitement of discovery never got old, nor did the detective work of piecing together the last voyage of the Isis. Ballard, you're one cool guy!
March 28, 2015
I really liked it.
February 11, 2010
I swear to you, it it's at the bottom of a large body of water, this man will find it for you.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews