David Herlihy (1930–1991)

The Lost Cyclist by David Herlihy It's very different reading non-fiction compared to fiction.
 
In some ways the story, plot and ending are already done and all that needs doing is threading it together. Then again in some ways maybe it's harder to write non-fiction because you are bound by the facts and if the facts are not that interesting then....There really were some fascinating moments in this book. Franl Nez's trip through countries and place where white people had seldom be seen and bicycles even less.If you take this book at face value and think that it is about a Lost Cyclist then I guess you will be disappointed. If you read it as an extraordinary adventure of one man on a bike then you might even like it.I do read non-fiction and always look forward to it. I'm finding of late that I'm often disappointed. This book is another one of those disappointments. At the end I thought that maybe the author felt they had to present ALL the facts when I thought that LESS facts better presented would have made a better book. But hey, what do I know?Don't even think about it!… (mehr)

A good, short review (~200 pages) of the Black Death of the late 1340's, written in 1985. Herlihy makes the point that the actual culprit microbe is unknown. It could be Y. pestis, or it could be cholera. Some people spoke of buboes, while others of lenticulae, or freckles.

He also hypothesizes that the plague mothered inventions, including the printing press, brought on a distrust of experts, doctors, and Jews, intensified the use of capital, the use of of Christian Saints' names, ended feudalism and ended medievalism.… (mehr)