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The Book of Science and Antiquities
By the Booker Prize-winning author of Schindler's Ark, a bold, millennia-spanning novel about community, mortality, and what it means to be human.
In a novel of breathtaking reach and inspired imagination, one of Australia's greatest writers tells the stories of two men who have much in common. What separates them is 42,000 years.
Shade lives with his second wife amid their clan on the shores of a bountiful lake. A peaceable man, he knows that when danger threatens, the Hero ancestors will call on him to kill, or sacrifice himself, to save his people.
Over 40,000 years later, Shade's remains are unearthed near the now dry Lake Learned in New South Wales. The sensational discovery fascinates Shelby Apple, a documentary film maker who tracks the controversies it provokes about who the continent's first inhabitants were and where Shade's bones belong.
To Shelby, who will follow his own heroes to the battlefields of Eritrea and the Rift Valley where Homo Sapiens originated, Shade is a messenger from an ancient culture that lived in harmony with the land. And when mortality looms, he becomes a symbol of enduring life.
In a novel of breathtaking reach and inspired imagination, one of Australia's greatest writers tells the stories of two men who have much in common. What separates them is 42,000 years.
Shade lives with his second wife amid their clan on the shores of a bountiful lake. A peaceable man, he knows that when danger threatens, the Hero ancestors will call on him to kill, or sacrifice himself, to save his people.
Over 40,000 years later, Shade's remains are unearthed near the now dry Lake Learned in New South Wales. The sensational discovery fascinates Shelby Apple, a documentary film maker who tracks the controversies it provokes about who the continent's first inhabitants were and where Shade's bones belong.
To Shelby, who will follow his own heroes to the battlefields of Eritrea and the Rift Valley where Homo Sapiens originated, Shade is a messenger from an ancient culture that lived in harmony with the land. And when mortality looms, he becomes a symbol of enduring life.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2018
96 people are currently reading
1295 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Keneally
115 books1,268 followersThomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982, which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. The book would later be adapted to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Often published under the name Tom Keneally in Australia.
Life and Career:
Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.
Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his Schindler's Ark (1982) (later republished as Schindler's List), which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film Schindler's List (1993). Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style.
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).
In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in Our Republic (1993). Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.
Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film The Final Winter (2007).
In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift.
Most recently Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Our Sunburnt Country.
Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.
Often published under the name Tom Keneally in Australia.
Life and Career:
Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.
Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his Schindler's Ark (1982) (later republished as Schindler's List), which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film Schindler's List (1993). Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style.
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).
In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in Our Republic (1993). Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.
Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film The Final Winter (2007).
In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift.
Most recently Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Our Sunburnt Country.
Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
December 13, 2019
Having read and enjoyed "Schindler's Ark" many moons ago, I was intrigued to once again read this author. It pains me to state it, but the author's 33rd novel bored me.
Told in different time lines of Australia's history, it is the tale of Shelby Apple, award winning documentary filmmaker, now in his 80's and battling cancer;and Learned Man, a prehistoric man from 42, 000 years ago. There are reflections on love, death, manhood, and the meaning of life. Maybe I need to be an 80 something white guy to really appreciate the storyline? I just wasn't into it!
A large part of me wants my life back or rather the last three evenings I tried to act anything but passive in my reading experience. I always tell my students "If it doesn't hook you in the first 40 pages, it's not the book for you." I believe I must start practicing what I preach.
Onwards to other books!
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
Goodreads review 11/12/19
Publication Date 10/12/19
Told in different time lines of Australia's history, it is the tale of Shelby Apple, award winning documentary filmmaker, now in his 80's and battling cancer;and Learned Man, a prehistoric man from 42, 000 years ago. There are reflections on love, death, manhood, and the meaning of life. Maybe I need to be an 80 something white guy to really appreciate the storyline? I just wasn't into it!
A large part of me wants my life back or rather the last three evenings I tried to act anything but passive in my reading experience. I always tell my students "If it doesn't hook you in the first 40 pages, it's not the book for you." I believe I must start practicing what I preach.
Onwards to other books!
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
Goodreads review 11/12/19
Publication Date 10/12/19
May 3, 2020
A journalist who covered a paleontologist’s discovery of the oldest fossilized remains of humans in Australia, Shelby Apple, gets his consciousness raised by Aborigine peoples who feel culturally violated by their removal and joins in their efforts to get them returned for interment. We experience this inspiring engagement in the context of Shelby’s more human motivations, such as his doubts about life’s meaning in the face of terminal cancer and his compulsive pursuit of an affair with an eye doctor running an outreach clinic for Aborigenes. In parallel with the contemporary story we are taken back 40,000 years into a projected life of the man who became the bones. Keneally imagines so-called “Learned Man” as an elder to his tribe, Shade. Though the total guesswork on such a life undermined it impact for me, I did appreciate the lesson of the diorama being that people then must have had life careers no less complex or imbued with nobility or selfishness than people today. Overall, I was impressed with the perspective these stories generated about the brevity of “civilized” humanity and continuity of our identity into the prehistoric past. I’d rate it 3.5 stars rounded up (less than for his “Shame and the Captives” and “Napolean’s Last Island”, but better than “Woman of the Inner Sea”).
FYI: The story is based a lot on real events, as highlighted in this article:
Perrottet T. A 42,000 year old man finally goes home. Smithsonian Magazine, Sept. 2019 htm
This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.
FYI: The story is based a lot on real events, as highlighted in this article:
Perrottet T. A 42,000 year old man finally goes home. Smithsonian Magazine, Sept. 2019 htm
This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.
January 26, 2022
This is a book I remember seeing some interesting friend reviews of when it was first published a few years ago, and which I picked up on my last visit to the library. I have now read ten of Keneally's many novels, and for me this one is a little short of his best work - it is full of interesting thoughts and subject matter but for me the two halves of the story never quite coalesced into a coherent whole, perhaps because of the inevitable contrast between the two protagonists whose lives are 40000 years apart. For me the modern story worked better than the ancient one, though the latter was a greater feat of imagination.
August 7, 2019
Synopsis
Narrated by Shelby Apple, a documentary maker, the fulcrum of the story is the discovery of the remains of “Learned Man”, and the issue of his remains being returned to their rightful resting place from Australia’s capital city, Canberra.
This underlying literary premise is not without its own controversy. Thomas Keneally writes an author’s note at the start of the book and states it would be gross fraternal impoliteness for a white fellow to horn in on Aboriginal tales . This is a fictional examination of ancestry origins that traveled across the world, and which speaks to us all from 42,000 years ago.
I am not Australian, and I have not engaged sufficiently in Australian debates about proprietorship and sincere respect. It seemed to me that Keneally was respectful, and that the parts of the story which concerned native Australians were the strongest in the book.
I enjoyed the antiquity bit, I also enjoyed the parts set in Southern Africa, it was the contemporary human story that least convinced me.
Highlights
* Fred Hollows. A central part of the book focuses (pun here) on eye disease, and the high incidence in Eritrea. The fictional character, Ted Castwell, is based on Fred Hollows. (A fact also mentioned specifically in the author’s note). I hadn’t come across Hollows, but what a heroic figure he was. Difficult, cantankerous, but driven to bring science to the afflicted. He gave back sight to thousands.
* War time photo journalism in Vietnam, and then film documentary with the Gurindji people in Australia. The sense of the pioneering quest, and the responsibility of taking pictures to broadcast to the world was well conveyed.
* Hero. The part of the book set at the time of Learned Man worked well enough. It doesn’t challenge Riddley Walker as writing that total immerses the reader in a primitive world, but it’s not a bad effort. Punishment is meted out by reference to elders and an unstated, but understood, set of codes and rules by which the competing villages lived.
Lowlights
Shelby’s life reflections (and he is dying), including trysts with Louisa Wanstap. This struck me as the indulgence of a man in old age imagining that he was some kind of Lothario. Criticism of Keneally’s writing about indigenous peoples could be better directed at his poor writing about women imo.
A chapter featuring misogynist Sergei, and a submersible sub marine was particularly grating.
Historical and/or Literary context
*Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people
* Sandy Blight/ trachoma. a disease of disadvantage (112)
This is a book of history.
Recommend
Thomas Keneally wrote one of the great late c. 20th century books ( Schindler’s Ark )and while former glories don’t justify lesser work, I still felt that this latest book (written by an author in his eighties) gave a decent enough flavour of the traditions of Australia. It’s the proverbial curate’s egg book.
Narrated by Shelby Apple, a documentary maker, the fulcrum of the story is the discovery of the remains of “Learned Man”, and the issue of his remains being returned to their rightful resting place from Australia’s capital city, Canberra.
This underlying literary premise is not without its own controversy. Thomas Keneally writes an author’s note at the start of the book and states it would be gross fraternal impoliteness for a white fellow to horn in on Aboriginal tales . This is a fictional examination of ancestry origins that traveled across the world, and which speaks to us all from 42,000 years ago.
I am not Australian, and I have not engaged sufficiently in Australian debates about proprietorship and sincere respect. It seemed to me that Keneally was respectful, and that the parts of the story which concerned native Australians were the strongest in the book.
I enjoyed the antiquity bit, I also enjoyed the parts set in Southern Africa, it was the contemporary human story that least convinced me.
Highlights
* Fred Hollows. A central part of the book focuses (pun here) on eye disease, and the high incidence in Eritrea. The fictional character, Ted Castwell, is based on Fred Hollows. (A fact also mentioned specifically in the author’s note). I hadn’t come across Hollows, but what a heroic figure he was. Difficult, cantankerous, but driven to bring science to the afflicted. He gave back sight to thousands.
* War time photo journalism in Vietnam, and then film documentary with the Gurindji people in Australia. The sense of the pioneering quest, and the responsibility of taking pictures to broadcast to the world was well conveyed.
* Hero. The part of the book set at the time of Learned Man worked well enough. It doesn’t challenge Riddley Walker as writing that total immerses the reader in a primitive world, but it’s not a bad effort. Punishment is meted out by reference to elders and an unstated, but understood, set of codes and rules by which the competing villages lived.
Lowlights
Shelby’s life reflections (and he is dying), including trysts with Louisa Wanstap. This struck me as the indulgence of a man in old age imagining that he was some kind of Lothario. Criticism of Keneally’s writing about indigenous peoples could be better directed at his poor writing about women imo.
A chapter featuring misogynist Sergei, and a submersible sub marine was particularly grating.
Historical and/or Literary context
*Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people
* Sandy Blight/ trachoma. a disease of disadvantage (112)
This is a book of history.
Recommend
Thomas Keneally wrote one of the great late c. 20th century books ( Schindler’s Ark )and while former glories don’t justify lesser work, I still felt that this latest book (written by an author in his eighties) gave a decent enough flavour of the traditions of Australia. It’s the proverbial curate’s egg book.
December 13, 2019
I hate to say this because I can tell the author put his heart and soul into this book... but wow, I really didn’t care for it.
The premise is interesting: two men speaking about their lives, looking back, one present day and one from 40,000 years ago.
I get that this is one of those “ruminating about life” sort of books, the kind where a character is taking stock on his way out. There’s no such thing as brevity either, so you really have to be in a certain frame of mind in order to tackle it. But I just couldn’t get there. The book goes on forever, is all about the philosophy, and the words after the words after the words. It was so much WORK to process, and eventually I just skimmed the last half. I wish I cared more about ALL THE THOUGHTS, but I just didn’t.
The premise is interesting: two men speaking about their lives, looking back, one present day and one from 40,000 years ago.
I get that this is one of those “ruminating about life” sort of books, the kind where a character is taking stock on his way out. There’s no such thing as brevity either, so you really have to be in a certain frame of mind in order to tackle it. But I just couldn’t get there. The book goes on forever, is all about the philosophy, and the words after the words after the words. It was so much WORK to process, and eventually I just skimmed the last half. I wish I cared more about ALL THE THOUGHTS, but I just didn’t.
May 7, 2019
"Two tales, parallel and yet individual." This is Thomas Keneally's description of this, his latest work. Best known for Schindler's List, Mr. Keneally is a literary force, intensely curious and loving toward the entire world, its histories and inhabitants. Here we have "a story by one old man about the deaths of two other old men," one contemporary, the other, some 42,000 years ago, united by forces of what it means to be human, what is called "flashes of DNA" by one character. Shelby Apple is a documentary filmmaker whose work has taken him from the desert warfare of Eritrea to the bottom of the ocean in a submersible, and even to the outermost reaches of the arctic. Each memory of such travel is presented in counterpoint to his aboriginal counterpart, while each man is coming to grips with the fact of his own mortality. To read Thomas Keneally is a privilege.
December 27, 2019
This book has 2 narrators. Shelby Apple is an 80 year old documentary filmmaker who is dying from cancer. Apple made films about the discovery of the 40,000 year old bones of Learned Man in an Australian lake bed. The other narrator is Learned Man.
Learned Man speaks in perfect, modern day English. I will concede that ancient man had language, but he certainly didn’t have this language. I couldn’t get past the incongruity of this. “Some of the neighbor girls of ours with fancies of their own to marry into the Otherside now run in, hallooing in delicious scorn, hoping to win the benefactions of ancestors and implant themselves enchantingly in the memory of the Otherside wrestlers.” Of course the book isn’t about historical accuracy. It’s two men ruminating (in ponderous detail) about their lives, and “life” and a search for meaning. I’m afraid this book wasn’t for me and I abandoned it. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Learned Man speaks in perfect, modern day English. I will concede that ancient man had language, but he certainly didn’t have this language. I couldn’t get past the incongruity of this. “Some of the neighbor girls of ours with fancies of their own to marry into the Otherside now run in, hallooing in delicious scorn, hoping to win the benefactions of ancestors and implant themselves enchantingly in the memory of the Otherside wrestlers.” Of course the book isn’t about historical accuracy. It’s two men ruminating (in ponderous detail) about their lives, and “life” and a search for meaning. I’m afraid this book wasn’t for me and I abandoned it. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
November 14, 2022
Dual timeline story with the first set in present times and the second in ancient history. The contemporary story follows aging documentary filmmaker Shelby Apple as he looks back on his life. The ancient story takes place 40,000 years ago and follows Learned Man, the oldest known indigenous Australian. Learned Man’s remains were found in New South Wales in the 1970s and Shelby was part of the team that found them, which he documented in one of his films. Shelby recounts several of his experiences in filming. He traveled to Eritrea during the war for independence. He reminisces about his coverage of the Vietnam War, visit to the Arctic, and a voyage undersea. We also follow the life of Learned Man and his various spiritual quests.
There are many parallels between Shelby and Learned Man. I think I understand what the author is getting at – humankind manifests similar qualities throughout the ages. I was not particularly invested in the ancient story and the portrayal of female characters is one-dimensional. It spurred me to investigate the (real) Mungo Man, on whom Learned Man is based. I have enjoyed several of Keneally’s previous books and admire his writing style, but I do not think this is his best work.
There are many parallels between Shelby and Learned Man. I think I understand what the author is getting at – humankind manifests similar qualities throughout the ages. I was not particularly invested in the ancient story and the portrayal of female characters is one-dimensional. It spurred me to investigate the (real) Mungo Man, on whom Learned Man is based. I have enjoyed several of Keneally’s previous books and admire his writing style, but I do not think this is his best work.
June 1, 2019
I should start by mentioning how much I love all things to do with prehistoric civilizations. I don’t think I’ve ever read a Neanderthal story I didn’t like. Or a show for that matter, either. In fact, there’s a great recent PBS one you should definitely check out. So that was the main attractor here. But also I wanted to check out one of Australia’s greatest authors, whom I’ve somehow never read before, although obviously everyone has seen Schindler’s List movie adaptation. So a well respected author, a subject of great interest…this was meant to be a slam dunk and instead it just sort of limply bounced around the court. And I’m not even sure why. I really tried to like it. It is objectively well written. It’s just so…whatever the opposite of lively is. The sentences, well crafted as they are, just sit there. The images, well rendered as they are, just lay there. The book fails to come to life. The parallel stories of both the modern day documentary maker and the Learned Man of some 40000 years ago tepidly intertwine thematically in a slow paced meditation on the nature of life and love and search for meaning. It tackles all the major questions, but does so in such a strangely unengaging way. I’m not sure if that’s typical of the author or something specific to this book, but it just really didn’t work for me. Many reviewers mentioned how unnatural it seemed that the Learned Man thought and spoke in modern vernacular and to me that wasn’t even as distracting and offputting as the fact that this was a story of a prehistoric man and it wasn’t interesting to me. Such a strangely muted delivery on this novel. So yeah, I read it, it read quite quickly, it was conceptually and thematically intriguing, but that seems to only highlight the actual dissatisfaction of the reading experience. Definitely more of an acquired taste read. Thanks Netgalley.
September 22, 2019
On the night after finishing The Book of Science and Antiquities, I dreamt of my father.
December ten years ago my father died from Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
I spent two months at his hospital bedside. During that time, he slipped from sociability into a drug-induced alternate reality. He laughed and told me long stories, but I could only understand a word or two.
This novel about "last things," the story and death of a man in the present time and the story and death of a man who lived 40,000 years ago, reached into my memory and in that dream, I relived a moment when my father was trying to tell me memories, or visions, while I listened hoping to catch his vision.
I consider rereading the novel's ending after my dream. Perhaps when I am ready for a good cry.
****
The novel is dedicated to Keneally's friend who found Mungo Man, and the storyline of this novel is inspired by this history.
The fictional Shelby Apple filmed the finding of Learned Man whose remains were taken for scientific study. Now Shelby works to return Learned Man to his people.
Shel has been diagnosed with cancer and his narrative illuminates his past and his grappling with impending death. Alternate chapters is in Learned Man's voice, telling of his world and life, climaxing with his sacrificial act to protect his community.
Both timeline stories kept my interest, but it was Learned Man who caught my attention early in the book. The imagined society and people are beautifully described. I saw parallels in the human experience of both men, for time nor technology, alter the basic human quest for love, meaning, and community.
Finding that Keneally had prepared for the priesthood and was ordained a deacon as a young man was no surprise considering the novel's conclusion. I relished this existential talk.
Although Thomas Keneally has written fifty books, including the Booker Prize winner Schindler's Ark which inspired the movie Schindler's List, I had never read anything by him.
I was granted access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
December ten years ago my father died from Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
I spent two months at his hospital bedside. During that time, he slipped from sociability into a drug-induced alternate reality. He laughed and told me long stories, but I could only understand a word or two.
This novel about "last things," the story and death of a man in the present time and the story and death of a man who lived 40,000 years ago, reached into my memory and in that dream, I relived a moment when my father was trying to tell me memories, or visions, while I listened hoping to catch his vision.
I consider rereading the novel's ending after my dream. Perhaps when I am ready for a good cry.
****
The novel is dedicated to Keneally's friend who found Mungo Man, and the storyline of this novel is inspired by this history.
The fictional Shelby Apple filmed the finding of Learned Man whose remains were taken for scientific study. Now Shelby works to return Learned Man to his people.
Shel has been diagnosed with cancer and his narrative illuminates his past and his grappling with impending death. Alternate chapters is in Learned Man's voice, telling of his world and life, climaxing with his sacrificial act to protect his community.
Both timeline stories kept my interest, but it was Learned Man who caught my attention early in the book. The imagined society and people are beautifully described. I saw parallels in the human experience of both men, for time nor technology, alter the basic human quest for love, meaning, and community.
Finding that Keneally had prepared for the priesthood and was ordained a deacon as a young man was no surprise considering the novel's conclusion. I relished this existential talk.
Although Thomas Keneally has written fifty books, including the Booker Prize winner Schindler's Ark which inspired the movie Schindler's List, I had never read anything by him.
I was granted access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
November 15, 2020
The Book of Science and Antiquities drew me in with its title and cover...and also the fact that it is written by Thomas Keneally, the author of Schindler's List. While I haven't read Schindler's List/Ark it has been on my to-read list forever and I've heard great things about it.
The premise of THIS novel is the discovery of the 40,000+ year old remains of a man in Australia. The narrative alternates between an elderly filmmaker in current day Australia and the Learned Man (aka the man that died 40k years ago). The writing style is a sort of day-in-the-life stream of consciousness by both characters. I can buy the elderly filmmaker as a character. While his ramblings didn't 100% keep me entertained, at least I found him to be believable. However, the Learned Man was not at all believable to me. His thoughts and dialogue were a bit too advanced.
I wanted to like this more than I did. Perhaps it wasn't a great style match for me. But, I definitely still plan on reading Schindler's Ark at some point in the future.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
The premise of THIS novel is the discovery of the 40,000+ year old remains of a man in Australia. The narrative alternates between an elderly filmmaker in current day Australia and the Learned Man (aka the man that died 40k years ago). The writing style is a sort of day-in-the-life stream of consciousness by both characters. I can buy the elderly filmmaker as a character. While his ramblings didn't 100% keep me entertained, at least I found him to be believable. However, the Learned Man was not at all believable to me. His thoughts and dialogue were a bit too advanced.
I wanted to like this more than I did. Perhaps it wasn't a great style match for me. But, I definitely still plan on reading Schindler's Ark at some point in the future.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
October 3, 2020
A different but compelling story!
It lacks some tension, cohesion, and perhaps could have used some trimming but it is a very compelling story of what it is to be human and what it is to have community.
Shelby, the main character, is a man with one foot in leaving this earth and the other foot planted firmly in his search for dignity and harmony, between the pass, the current and the future. He realizes that his culture has made errors – some very grave; perhaps there was more to learn from his inhabited ‘continent’ that was not empty at all.
The “learned man” has a lot to learn. Their superstitions might seem quaint or even silly to modern man. But how silly would our superstitions and habits seem to our ancestors. Mortality has much to do with the reckoning that the two main characters are faced with. They each have their way of coping
https://wordpress.com/block-editor/po...
It lacks some tension, cohesion, and perhaps could have used some trimming but it is a very compelling story of what it is to be human and what it is to have community.
Shelby, the main character, is a man with one foot in leaving this earth and the other foot planted firmly in his search for dignity and harmony, between the pass, the current and the future. He realizes that his culture has made errors – some very grave; perhaps there was more to learn from his inhabited ‘continent’ that was not empty at all.
The “learned man” has a lot to learn. Their superstitions might seem quaint or even silly to modern man. But how silly would our superstitions and habits seem to our ancestors. Mortality has much to do with the reckoning that the two main characters are faced with. They each have their way of coping
https://wordpress.com/block-editor/po...
January 4, 2020
Thomas Keneally knows how to reach out to a reader and pull him or her right in. Too bad he chose such a wierd title for this book.. Please explain it to me!!
TBoSaA is comprised of two narratives, the lives of two men separated by some 40,000+ years.
Shelby is a documentary film maker and humanitarian by default. Australian.
Learnéd Man is a semi-nomadic hunter who lives in a collection of villages in the Outback of Australia. No nationality, but tribally bound by birth, and a Wise Man at birth by the choice of an Elder.
Keneally's texts are as different in affect as cheese and chocolate, but each lends a serious flavor of the man and the culture in which he lives. Learnéd's texts are NOT grunt and shove, but poetic, sensitive. That was the first thing that struck me. Shelby's mature life is as if related to a grandson-- not perfectly chronological, but shaded with mature understanding over-laying youthful eagerness.
This is a very absorbing read, provocative of thoughts of the place of the ancients in their habitat and in our understanding
TBoSaA is comprised of two narratives, the lives of two men separated by some 40,000+ years.
Shelby is a documentary film maker and humanitarian by default. Australian.
Learnéd Man is a semi-nomadic hunter who lives in a collection of villages in the Outback of Australia. No nationality, but tribally bound by birth, and a Wise Man at birth by the choice of an Elder.
Keneally's texts are as different in affect as cheese and chocolate, but each lends a serious flavor of the man and the culture in which he lives. Learnéd's texts are NOT grunt and shove, but poetic, sensitive. That was the first thing that struck me. Shelby's mature life is as if related to a grandson-- not perfectly chronological, but shaded with mature understanding over-laying youthful eagerness.
This is a very absorbing read, provocative of thoughts of the place of the ancients in their habitat and in our understanding
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May 24, 20194 stars
This book is a philosophical treatise on being human. It is a study of day-to-day life and the inevitable lead up to the ultimate question we all have – death and mortality.
Learned Man lived some 42,000 years ago in Australia, while Shelby Apple is a modern-day documentary filmmaker. Shelby feels a profound connection with this man who lived so long ago. He has traveled all over the world making films. He has experienced much in life and about life.
This story is told with two voices. That of Learned Man and that of Shelby. What bothered me about the novel was that Learned Man thought and spoke in a contemporary voice. Of course, I'm not sure how Mr. Keneally would have made him speak in the language of 42,000 years ago. It would be hard to read a series of grunts, or whatever language was used at that time. Learned Man was wise, perhaps beyond his years and thoughtful in his actions.
All in all this is a very thoughtful read. It made me wonder how life was back then. Very hard I'll bet, but Learned Man and his tribe carried on nonetheless.
I want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for forwarding to me a copy of this deeply fascinating book for me to read, enjoy (think about) and review.
This book is a philosophical treatise on being human. It is a study of day-to-day life and the inevitable lead up to the ultimate question we all have – death and mortality.
Learned Man lived some 42,000 years ago in Australia, while Shelby Apple is a modern-day documentary filmmaker. Shelby feels a profound connection with this man who lived so long ago. He has traveled all over the world making films. He has experienced much in life and about life.
This story is told with two voices. That of Learned Man and that of Shelby. What bothered me about the novel was that Learned Man thought and spoke in a contemporary voice. Of course, I'm not sure how Mr. Keneally would have made him speak in the language of 42,000 years ago. It would be hard to read a series of grunts, or whatever language was used at that time. Learned Man was wise, perhaps beyond his years and thoughtful in his actions.
All in all this is a very thoughtful read. It made me wonder how life was back then. Very hard I'll bet, but Learned Man and his tribe carried on nonetheless.
I want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for forwarding to me a copy of this deeply fascinating book for me to read, enjoy (think about) and review.
September 17, 2021
At the end of the book, Keneally depicts the distrait mental state of a particular character, whose "thoughts do not nest, they have no ledge to settle on". I feel this unwittingly describes a problem that applies to the entire novel: it drifts about, crossing continents and millennia, not quite landing on its mark.
Never is the prose unclear, and the plots and parallels between them are not difficult to navigate. This is a book about reflection, lives well lived, and ultimately death. It contains moments of raw authenticity and penetrative insight into the human condition. Yet it left me cold.
Unfortunately, it is my least favourite of the several Keneally books I've read.
Never is the prose unclear, and the plots and parallels between them are not difficult to navigate. This is a book about reflection, lives well lived, and ultimately death. It contains moments of raw authenticity and penetrative insight into the human condition. Yet it left me cold.
Unfortunately, it is my least favourite of the several Keneally books I've read.
May 29, 2019
First off, I want to thank netgalley.com and the author for giving me to chance to read this book.
Okay, The concept of this book was interesting, but it didn’t really deliver. It was confusing how a human from almost 4,ooo years ago was almost using modern language. Or maybe this book was not my cup of tea.
Okay, The concept of this book was interesting, but it didn’t really deliver. It was confusing how a human from almost 4,ooo years ago was almost using modern language. Or maybe this book was not my cup of tea.
October 7, 2019
I requested this ARC because I was attracted by the blurb.
Even if it's well written the book failed to keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
Even if it's well written the book failed to keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
January 3, 2020
The concept of the book is fascinating, but it took a long time to really suck me in.
did-not-finish
March 28, 2020DNF-ing at 30%. I don't have the patience for this now; maybe I'll try it again in 10 years. At this moment I find this book is too slow and scattered, nonsensical.
July 19, 2021
I found this book brilliant. The author takes us into the heads of people who lived 40,000 years apart yet spiritually connected - and their stories moved me.
January 10, 2020
I had a hard time getting into this story. It bounced back and forth on two timelines. The book appears to be about ancient man and his life as narrated by an 80 year old documentary film maker. But it's more about who owns antiquities. This book is set in Australia but it could be any government. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
February 17, 2020
This is a significant book that effortlessly spans 42,000 years of human history with Keneally’s characteristic economy of style and precision of language. It is an enthralling read that points to hope even in the face of much that is despairing? “Is it theology or biology ?”Shelby asks towards the end of the story- and indeed that remains a question.
September 27, 2019
A man lived 42,000 years ago. When he was found, in 1974 by Jim Bowler, emerging from a lake bed in Australia that has been dry for 16,000 years he wasn’t to be believed. He looked to be a 50-ish year old arthritic man and his skeleton was intact. The oldest intact skeleton ever found and one that pushed the dating of prehistoric man back thousands of years. How do we know? His bones, of course, and he was buried with ceremony. We call him Mungo Man. He was found in the dry Mungo Lake. So was Mungo Lady, found less intact but nearby.
This is all fascinating stuff to me. Mungo Man proves beyond a doubt the Aboriginal People of Australia predate any homo sapiens ever found outside of Africa. And puts It puts Aboriginal People of Australia right at the beginning.
But what does this have to do with Thomas Keneally’s new book The Book of Science and Antiquities?
Keneally tells the story of Mungo Man but in his book he is called Learned Man, found in dry Learned Lake. I didn’t know about Mungo Man when I started this book. It was only when, on the day I finished it, I happened to pick up the September 2019 issue of Smithsonian magazine and saw the article titled The Homecoming that I realized what Keneally did. He considered the story of Mungo Man important enough to put his story right in front of our face.
He gave life to Mungo/Learned Man. In alternating chapters we have the story of Shade and Shelby. Keneally gave Learned Man’s imagined story to us. He gave him life, love, children, purpose, community and ceremony. And he gives him a name, Shade. The author gives us a man in sync with his ancestors and who, he knows, may be called upon by those ancestors to offer himself in sacrifice to his people. You can’t read this and not feel the connection Aboriginal People today feel to their ancestors.
Chapters alternate with the story of Shelby Apple, a documentary filmmaker whose first major film was the discovery of Learned Man. We follow Shelby on his quest, making documentaries of community around the world, not unlike that of Learned Man, as he tries to reconcile his belief in the importance of Learned Man and his repatriation to the Aborigines and in so doing realizes how 40,000 years later we aren’t all that much different.
Keneally’s book so closely parallels the story of Mungo man, Jim Bowler, and the return of Mungo Man’s bones back to the Aborigines after reading the fiction I considered it spirit led to have found the Smithsonian article on the very same day.
This is all fascinating stuff to me. Mungo Man proves beyond a doubt the Aboriginal People of Australia predate any homo sapiens ever found outside of Africa. And puts It puts Aboriginal People of Australia right at the beginning.
But what does this have to do with Thomas Keneally’s new book The Book of Science and Antiquities?
Keneally tells the story of Mungo Man but in his book he is called Learned Man, found in dry Learned Lake. I didn’t know about Mungo Man when I started this book. It was only when, on the day I finished it, I happened to pick up the September 2019 issue of Smithsonian magazine and saw the article titled The Homecoming that I realized what Keneally did. He considered the story of Mungo Man important enough to put his story right in front of our face.
He gave life to Mungo/Learned Man. In alternating chapters we have the story of Shade and Shelby. Keneally gave Learned Man’s imagined story to us. He gave him life, love, children, purpose, community and ceremony. And he gives him a name, Shade. The author gives us a man in sync with his ancestors and who, he knows, may be called upon by those ancestors to offer himself in sacrifice to his people. You can’t read this and not feel the connection Aboriginal People today feel to their ancestors.
Chapters alternate with the story of Shelby Apple, a documentary filmmaker whose first major film was the discovery of Learned Man. We follow Shelby on his quest, making documentaries of community around the world, not unlike that of Learned Man, as he tries to reconcile his belief in the importance of Learned Man and his repatriation to the Aborigines and in so doing realizes how 40,000 years later we aren’t all that much different.
Keneally’s book so closely parallels the story of Mungo man, Jim Bowler, and the return of Mungo Man’s bones back to the Aborigines after reading the fiction I considered it spirit led to have found the Smithsonian article on the very same day.
February 21, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. It made me think, reflect and research further into Australian history and culture, the megafauna (slicer, bounder & dome nose), the dreamtime, Mungo Man, DNA & genetics and idioms that I wouldn't know about living on the other side of the world. Shelby was a bit of an ass, protected by a white bloke's fallacies and notions of superiority.
November 25, 2019
I couldn't get into this at all. The prose is incredibly dense and reads like stuffy, old white man pretentiousness - perhaps fair enough when the protagonist in the modern-day chapters is supposed to be elderly, but it just made it really opaque and difficult to read or understand. And when there are questions about how much prehistoric man would have been able to speak or communicate, it seems ridiculous to use such a flowery style for Learned Man's first-person narrative! Maybe it would have made more sense if I'd carried on, but I honestly couldn't stomach it.
August 24, 2021
An absolutely gorgeous, contemplative novel about life and death.
The novel is split between two characters; Shade and Shelby Apple. Shade is an aboriginal Australian who lived 42,000 years ago and Shelby Apple is a documentary film maker coming to the end of his life. We see how their lives run parallel to each other through alternating chapters.
Shade's portion of the story focuses on his duties as a man of the law and the conflicts he must resolve as such. Shelby's story begin with his first documentary in Vietnam. From there we see the events Shelby experiences from the discovery of Learned Man, and the fight for Eritrean independence. Throughout both of their stories there is a strong theme of the strength of family and doing what is necessary to protect the family unit/tribe.
One element that I most appreciated about this novel was the respect for indigenous people. Shade's portions of the novel are filled with cultural and religious practices that are always handled (imo) in a respectful way. There are repeated dives into ancestor worship and spirituality. I think it confused many other reviewers, but I enjoyed it. I know next to nothing about the indigenous people of Australia except they have cultural practices and oral traditions that date back to the ice age. I don't know how much of what was written was true, but it reminds me I definitely need to learn more.
This book feels like the authors goodbye letter to mankind with Shelby Apple as his stand in. He comes back to the themes of how do we deal with death and how do we live our lives with that inevitability hanging over our heads? He writes about what it means to live a half life. And he is a big believer in the idea of 'planting seeds you will never see blossom.'
It is not a perfect novel. It does start to drag a bit in the second half. It could have used some tighter editing to weed out some repetitive sentence structures. Overall these issues didn't dampen my enjoyment.
I am really glad I wasn't put off by the current rating of this novel. I enjoyed it immensely and it left me with a lot to think about.
The novel is split between two characters; Shade and Shelby Apple. Shade is an aboriginal Australian who lived 42,000 years ago and Shelby Apple is a documentary film maker coming to the end of his life. We see how their lives run parallel to each other through alternating chapters.
Shade's portion of the story focuses on his duties as a man of the law and the conflicts he must resolve as such. Shelby's story begin with his first documentary in Vietnam. From there we see the events Shelby experiences from the discovery of Learned Man, and the fight for Eritrean independence. Throughout both of their stories there is a strong theme of the strength of family and doing what is necessary to protect the family unit/tribe.
One element that I most appreciated about this novel was the respect for indigenous people. Shade's portions of the novel are filled with cultural and religious practices that are always handled (imo) in a respectful way. There are repeated dives into ancestor worship and spirituality. I think it confused many other reviewers, but I enjoyed it. I know next to nothing about the indigenous people of Australia except they have cultural practices and oral traditions that date back to the ice age. I don't know how much of what was written was true, but it reminds me I definitely need to learn more.
This book feels like the authors goodbye letter to mankind with Shelby Apple as his stand in. He comes back to the themes of how do we deal with death and how do we live our lives with that inevitability hanging over our heads? He writes about what it means to live a half life. And he is a big believer in the idea of 'planting seeds you will never see blossom.'
It is not a perfect novel. It does start to drag a bit in the second half. It could have used some tighter editing to weed out some repetitive sentence structures. Overall these issues didn't dampen my enjoyment.
I am really glad I wasn't put off by the current rating of this novel. I enjoyed it immensely and it left me with a lot to think about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2019
An interesting read, perhaps, but one that could have been a whole lot more interesting. We see the world courtesy of a modern documentary director, partly as he reacts to his being condemned to suffer cancer, and partly through the eyes of one of his cinematic subjects – a man whose ceremonial funeral 42,000 years ago was the oldest known in Australia, if not the world, and whom his friend rediscovered. The prehistoric side of things is a lot less clunky that it might read in summary – it is peppered with their names for the animals met, to the extent a bonus scene has to be added in the contemporary storyline for us to know what some of them were – but it rings true as an evocation of tribalism, proto-Aborigine myth and ceremony, and of course universal issues of duty, human coupling and threat of the inexplicable via god-given curses. So no, I didn't mind it was written in English and dropped the C-bomb here and there. It's the modern side of things that lets the book down for me – once we've covered a fair bit of ground regarding the modern resurrection of the prehistoric hero and such, we end up in much less interesting places, such as an eye surgery in Eritrea, a philandering quandary, and whatnot. The director says "it is apparent even to me now that I sought to have other worlds than my normal, suburban one somehow enlighten and enliven me" – that's all well and good, but I didn't think any of it nearly enlightened or enlivened the book, however much the narrators try vainly to justify it all and thematically link everything. Still, I've really taken against the last two or three of Keneally's ("Crimes of the Author", more like), so to actually finish one stands as a minor miracle. I've yet to get to the liking stage.
NB – it's interesting to see this was initially called "Two Old Men Dying" – the change itself is a lesson in our approach to honesty.
NB – it's interesting to see this was initially called "Two Old Men Dying" – the change itself is a lesson in our approach to honesty.
March 9, 2020
The Book of Science and Antiquities was a rare disappointment from Thomas Keneally. I've read many of his novels, starting with his early adventures with modernism which I really liked—and so did the Miles Franklin judges who gave him the prize for Bring Larks and Heroes in 1967 and Three Cheers for the Paraclete in 1968. But by the time he won international acclaim for Schindler's Ark by winning the Booker in 1962, he was writing a different kind of novel... he had become a terrific storyteller, writing novels across a range of engaging and thought-provoking topics in more accessible prose. I have read many of those too. So I was expecting to enjoy The Book of Science and Antiquities but instead I don't really know what to make of it.
The novel moves in two parallel time frames: Shelby Apple's narrative in the present day, in which he looks back on his long life as a celebrity film-maker; and that of Learned Man, who is a fictionalisation of the man we know as Mungo Man whose remains—dated to 42,000 years ago—were found at Lake Mungo in NSW in 1974. Keneally begins the book in an Author's Note by acknowledging that it would be gross fraternal impoliteness for a white fellow to horn in on Aboriginal tales...but he goes on to write the narrative of Learned Man because the Palaeolithic humans from Lake Mungo speak of all our human ancestries, black and white. Mungo Man is, says Keneally, a possession of all humans, a phenomenal treasure, a prophet for us all. Well, make of that what you will...
The creation of Shelby Apple as a documentary film-maker enables the story to range far and wide.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/03/09/t...
The novel moves in two parallel time frames: Shelby Apple's narrative in the present day, in which he looks back on his long life as a celebrity film-maker; and that of Learned Man, who is a fictionalisation of the man we know as Mungo Man whose remains—dated to 42,000 years ago—were found at Lake Mungo in NSW in 1974. Keneally begins the book in an Author's Note by acknowledging that it would be gross fraternal impoliteness for a white fellow to horn in on Aboriginal tales...but he goes on to write the narrative of Learned Man because the Palaeolithic humans from Lake Mungo speak of all our human ancestries, black and white. Mungo Man is, says Keneally, a possession of all humans, a phenomenal treasure, a prophet for us all. Well, make of that what you will...
The creation of Shelby Apple as a documentary film-maker enables the story to range far and wide.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/03/09/t...
March 18, 2020
I have always liked Keneally's writing. For me, he manages the right combination of description, spare language, and character development, and this book is no exception. However, this is not a book for all. Many reviewers have found it lacking something, and I think it might be the unequal development of the main characters. This story is of two men at widely different times on this earth, Learned Man, a 42,000-year-old Australian Aborigine (obviously, long dead), and Shelby Apple, a modern-day documentary filmmaker producing films of war zones and disasters. They are both at the ends of their lives, and for Apple, dying of cancer, his one goal is to have Learned Man's remains repatriated to his home territory of New South Wales. Learned Man's goal is to fulfill the task set him by his Hero ancestors, to sacrifice himself to safeguard his tribe. Apple is an observer much more than an active participant in anything, even his desire to repatriate Learned Man; whereas Learned Man is decidedly a part of life around him. Deeply held beliefs mould his life and give him certainty and peace. Apple's world is one where there is no certainty of peace. We see Apple in Africa, the birthplace of mankind, filming the strife in Eritrea, and know he feels no optimism that it will change. Even the eye surgery project by his friend is doomed. On a shoot in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska he sees the same hopelessness in the eyes of the indigenous there. In some ways, I think this is a story of the purity of the beginning of man contrasted with the blackness and bleakness of today, with Apple being named for the biblical instrument of mankind's downfall. Maybe I am reading too much into it. The book did make me think.
October 19, 2020
This is a novel of huge range and Kenneally does well to enter into the dreams and ritual living of Aboriginal people. I would be interested to know how the book went down amongst contemporary Aboriginal communities, who would have a much better understanding of these things than those of us of European heritage.
I preferred the modern day story because it is easier to relate to.For example the names of animals in the early story are mysterious and you feel frustrated that you're not in the know! But the early one is by far the most profound. There is a quite a good coming together of the two.
There is a good quotation from Pascal on the type of Reason which is unreachable for those who have a tightly-held grasp of Reason. I absolutely agree that many of us have lost that world of the spiritual and intuition in our pursuit of science. Personally I find the rational world rather dull.
It made me think about the rights and wrongs of academics and media crews rushing around the world digging away at historic sites. Yes, it satisfies our knowledge but is it trampling on the sensitivities of ethnic descendants and even mocking the dead. I am glad that Aboriginal Australians are finding their voice and being given some respect after all the abuse they have received.
I preferred the modern day story because it is easier to relate to.For example the names of animals in the early story are mysterious and you feel frustrated that you're not in the know! But the early one is by far the most profound. There is a quite a good coming together of the two.
There is a good quotation from Pascal on the type of Reason which is unreachable for those who have a tightly-held grasp of Reason. I absolutely agree that many of us have lost that world of the spiritual and intuition in our pursuit of science. Personally I find the rational world rather dull.
It made me think about the rights and wrongs of academics and media crews rushing around the world digging away at historic sites. Yes, it satisfies our knowledge but is it trampling on the sensitivities of ethnic descendants and even mocking the dead. I am glad that Aboriginal Australians are finding their voice and being given some respect after all the abuse they have received.
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