The Classics: All You Need to Know, from Zeus's Throne to the Fall of Rome

By Caroline Taggart

It's no myth: this lively refresher course fills in all you need to know about ancient studies-from Zeus's throne to the fall of Rome-in pithy little quips. It covers the impressive advances made by Greek and Roman societies, from language to medicine, from art to architecture. You'll learn:
The Greek alphabet, from alpha to omega The history and characteristics that define Greek and Roman architecture and its influence on modern building Greek and Latin words, which make up more than 30 percent of the words in the English language, and how you can build your vocabulary by learning the roots The Greek and Roman gods, the mythology surrounding them, and the part these figures play in our culture Almost 1,000 years of Greek and Roman history, from the birth of democracy to Caesar's empire The philosophies taught by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and what their ideas have contributed to the world we live in today How modern cultural staples such as the Olympics were formed by classical literature written by authors such as Homer and Cicero
A fascinating introduction to the world that became the foundation for Western Civilization, The Classics puts the same information from stuffy textbooks at your fingertips in one entertaining read. Make this and all of the Blackboard Books(tm) a permanent fixture on your shelf, and you'll have instant access to a breadth of knowledge. Whether you need homework help or want to win that trivia game, this series is the trusted source for fun facts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Readers Digest
• Release date: Oct 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9781606522806

Caroline Taggart

Caroline Taggart worked in publishing as an editor of popular non-fiction for thirty years before being asked by Michael O'Mara Books to write I Used to Know That, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. Following that she was co-author of My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?), and wrote a number of other books about words and English usage. She has appeared frequently on television and on national and regional radio, talking about language, grammar and whether or not Druids Cross should have an apostrophe. Her website is carolinetaggart.co.uk and you can follow her on Twitter @citaggart.

Reviews for The Classics

[rosetyper9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book starts out kind of slow. It starts out by talking about the classical languages. I won't be able to remember any of it, I read it though. The next chapter is much better going into brief detail about the Greek Pantheon. I love to learn about the Greek Gods and Goddesses and Ms. Taggart throws in a tad bit of humor within this section to keep you reading. The next chapter covers events happening in Crete and include some pretty funny asterisk (comes from the Green for little star, see I am learning) comments. The next chapter is also a bit stiff going into Ancient Greek history but she keeps it light and quick in order to keep the reader interested. She covers everything Alexander the great to some of the great Greek historians. Continuing in this manor the author goes over the history of Ancient Rome, this chapter was more interesting and compelling that the one on Greece surprisingly but I always liked to learn about Cesar and such.

I will leave the rest of the chapters for you to discover but each one gets better and funnier than the last. I loved this nice mix of facts and humor that Ms. Taggart created. The following chapters will take a look at some literature (my favorite), the arts, and a few other things I will leave to you. I enjoyed this brief informative jaunt through history. You probably will too.

[musicformovies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fun, and short, romp through everything you wanted to know about the ancient classics, but were afraid to ask, or attempt to remember. Don't know your Aeneid from Aphrodite? Nil desperandum; this book is for you.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From my book review blog Rundpine:Fun and educational, The Classics: All You Need to Know from Zeus’s Throne to the Fall of Rome makes for an intriguing trivia book, refresher, or an introduction to the material. Taggart covers some heavy material expertly and with wit and enthusiasm for the topics beginning with the classical languages; Greek and Latin and ending with the Olympics, while in between are eight chapters covering the beginning of Ancient Greece, Rome, Classic Literature, Architecture and Art, Math and Science, and Liberal Arts. My favourite sections, if I had to choose would have been the in-depth over-view of mythologies and the mathematics and science sections. Overall, Taggart has compiled a book that classics lovers and trivia buffs alike will enjoy. My family and I had a lot of fun discussing many of the topics and making up our own post hoc propter hoc scenarios, that is the type of family we are. The Classics is well-written and delightfully fun as well as informative. I would recommend The Classics to anyone. JH/Rundpinne/2010

[joemmama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Caroline Taggart has written another fun and fascinating book, "The Classics". The author of "I used to Know That", has pulled together "All you need to know from Zeus's Throne to the Fall of Rome".Gods and Goddesses, architecture, law, math, literature are all explained, in an easy to understand format. The Mythology section was so interesting as well as the section on the section on words given us by he ancients. I am such a sucker for words!The Iliad and The Odyssey, classical theater in a semi circle for better acoustics, logic, and so many IDEAS, came from the the people of Rome and Greece. Ideas we are still using today.The Hippocratic Oath, even our calender,, Democracy, and Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns can be attributed to the wise thinkers of ancient times.A refresher for us older folks, and a wonderful taste for students, this book is for anyone who has an interest in our past, and where things/ideas come from!I received this book from Julie at FSB Associates for review. Thanks so much!

[meggyweg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Both amusing and extremely informative, this is a sort of Reader's Digest Condensed Version of classical history (that is, Greek and Roman, with a bit of Persian and Egyptian thrown in). You learn about the philosophers, the language, religion, math and architecture in addition to straight-up history. Fans of Vicki Leon's books on ancient history will enjoy this as well, as it's written in broadly the same style. I only with the bibliography had been a little more extensive.