The Ancient Library of Alexandria not only served for centuries as a leading institution
for accumulating and disseminating the works of the great scholars of antiquity, but was also the world's first major culture centre. THE SHORES OF WISDOM recounts the history of the Library, its creation, its influence on Western thought, and the men and women whose fame lent lustre to the Library over the 900 years of it's existence.
THE SHORES OF WISDOM gives us the fascinating story of the great Library of Alexandria, created by Egypt's first Greek Pharaoh, Ptolemy I Soter, in 195 B.C. and describes, in a series of biographies, the men and women responsible for the Library's fame, such as Demetrius of Phalerum, Euclid, Callimachus, Cleopatra, Aristarchus. Archimedes and Hypatia, to name but a few. At its peak, it contained over half a million scrolls, including major works of scholars like Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles, Aeschylus and Theocritus.
THE SHORES OF WISDOM reads like a captivating historical novel, and has been written so that the general public can have an idea of what the world's first centre of culture was like, and how it influenced Western thought and culture right up to modern times.
Professional Reviews
Prof.Ahmed H. Zewail, 1998 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Egypt
In The Shores of Wisdom, Derek Adie Flower gives a delightful story of the rise and fall of the Ancient Library of Alexandria - the world's power of knowledge and culture twenty-three centuries ago. Flower tells the story with a unique style, giving us glimpses of the forces which made the place prosper with great philosophers and scientists (Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes...)and the causes of decline when politics and religion became in conflict with rationality. The book is indeed an enjoyable piece to read.
AVVENIRE (Italy)
In a fascinating book,Derek Adie Flower tells of events in ancient Alexandria which influenced the Western wold even more than either Plutarch's Academy or Aristotle's Lyceum in Athens.
The Literary Review (U.K.) Michael Barrie
Derek Flower was moved to write this book by the romantic project of recreating the the library of Alexandria, a sheme as grandiose as The Dome, but less expensive and considerably more appealing. He tells the tale in rolliking style with many entertaining anecdotes.
A Viconian Cycle/ Babylonian Captivity Memory Silence Re-Founding of Southern history out of Dublin GA and the KBPS7 Trial. In psychology this is a Wounded Pride case.
