Christy Campbell (1) (1951–)

This book concerned the life of Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire. It all started out so fascinating. A secret bank box in Switzerland, the princess who kept it, the Koh-I-Noor diamond, and the race to get back a lost Sikh throne. No question, the first few chapters held my interest and had me wanting more. However, the more I read, the more bored I became. Lots of back and forth, lots of things that had nothing to do with the bank box in question, lots of complaining by Duleep Singh. Without a doubt, he was ill-treated by the British government. Tricked into signing away his kingdom and giving up his most prized possession, he had every right to be angry. I just got tired of reading about it for 300-plus pages. Oh, and the ending was a complete let down.

This book could've been so much more. Of worthy note are the parts that deal with Singh and his family life.… (altro)

Honestly: I Was Bored

I love wine, and I have a geeky love of science, so this book seemed perfect for me. When I found myself gritting my teeth at the thought of finishing it (about 3/4 through) – I just skipped to the last chapter to be done with it.

This tale of vineyard woe follows the worldwide incursion of the maddeningly mysterious Phylloxera vavtatrix mite (try saying that five times fast). Campbell’s blow-by-blow account of the ecological disaster is very well-written and is cleverly divided into sections named after the stages of death (On Death and Dying). The different methods employed to banish the mites read like a dossier for Homer Simpson, however, it is about as interesting as a book about insects can be to a layperson (not very much).

I think this subject matter is very interesting, but I would have been satisfied with a Mental Floss article.
… (altro)

This book is the sort of book that makes me glad I'm a reader. Campbell takes you into a fascinating period of British history, the time of the Raj, when Queen Victoria was the Empress of India. Britain doesn't come out looking to good in this account, which is appropriate. Taking advantage of political upheaval in the Punjab, the queen's government manipulates the kingdom away from its eleven-year-old king, Maharajah Duleep Singh, including the Koh-i-noor diamond. But that's okay because the young king grows up to become a real thorn in Britain's flesh. As an adult, he is a sad figure, trying to get a public hearing on the wrong's done him as a child-king and allowing himself to become a pawn in the complex play for power that was Europe in the late 19th century. Who knew? I certainly didn't! In history, compelling stories abound, and this is one of them.… (altro)