Fred Jenkins > Recent Status Updates

"The only thing that stayed the same was her expression, which was exactly what Jess would've expected. She looked like something had crawled up her butt and died in 1953 and she'd never gotten over it."

And why 1953?

In the exercises we find this charming bit (Luschnig channeling Thucydides?):

βιβλίον ἀγαθόν ἐστι κτῆμα εἰς ἀεί.

(a good book is a possession forever)

This would be a better book if there were more Pompeii and less Zuchtriegel.

"The downside of collecting is that what people accumulate eventually proves to be a burden."

"Perhaps," said Ana. "But is he a villain, or simple political swine? It is often hard to tell those two apart."

The third declension! Mark Twain would probably rather decline three Greek (Φιξ) beers instead!

"As they'd been in there for nearly three hours and there'd been no alarm yet, I assumed all was safe, or at least as safe as a bank with boxes of severed heads could possibly be."

My Latin students used to complain that Latin indirect discourse was too complicated. Greek makes it look pretty straightforward.

"Civilization is often a task that is only barely managed."

"But I am reluctant to assume maliciousness when incompetence is a better explanation."

The joys of the aorist!

"Yes, every member of the student body is - how do I say it delicately? - someone with the potential to destroy the world three times over, and still have time for a good long brunch,"

A couple of the chapters are close to unreadable as they are pack with summaries of various cultures from the seventh to the early fourth millenia, full of minor variations of pottery, burial patterns, and many, many abbreviations. It is important information, but just too much small detail packed into too little space. Here it is clearly more a book for specialists, people who already have a handle on it.