While investigating some recent claims about purported solar eclipses in the Homeric epics this week, I came across a truly astonishing schlockfest of a book, Science and Technology in Homeric Epics (sic; ed. Paipetis, 2008). LET THIS BOOK SERVE AS A WARNING to anyone tempted to take seriously anything that appears in a Springer publication.

About two thirds of the chapters are essays by people in unrelated fields trying to cast Homer as the real inventor of any and every technology and/or scientific finding that can possibly be manhandled into that mould. So for example:

• Homer is an ecologist writing about "the enormous ecological disaster" that the Achaians and Trojans inflict on the environment (Varoufakis, 103ff.).

• The automata in Hephaistos' workshop, and the Phaiakes' self-guiding ships, represent "a leap in technology" that "challenges the Presocratic philosophers to discover the natural 'roots' of self-motion" (Kalligeropoulos and Vasileiadou, 76ff.).

• Homeric shield descriptions "provide indication of very advanced knowledge of science and technology of materials and structures possessed by the Mycenaean Greeks" (Paipetis and Kostopoulos, 180ff.).

• Plato's Atlantis can be re-dated to the early 12th century by "[d]ividing [Plato's 9000 years] by the number of the full moons" in a Metonic cycle, and correlating the result with a hypothesised comet -- a comet "introduces a parallaxis in its orbit with respect to the orbits of the planets and their satellites", whatever that is supposed to mean, "as the myth describes"--; a "domino effect" of earthquakes; and evidence of "burning cometary fragments" (Papamarinopoulos, 341ff.).

• Deukalion's flood and the passage of the Red Sea were both caused by "a Tunguska type explosion over northern Germany", which the historical Greeks called "Phaethon" (Spedicato, 369ff.).

• And perhaps best of all: Hephaistos is shown to be a "comet/meteor god" (Laoupi, 325ff.), something that will come as a great disappointment to those of us who thought all gods were volcanos. (Especially if you bear in mind the irony that Hephaistos actually was sometimes associated with a volcano, albeit only as a late addition to the tradition.)

I actually laughed out loud reading bits of this book. If you want a hearty belly-laugh, or alternatively something to raise your blood pressure, I thoroughly recommend it.

The only down-side is that some genuinely reputable academics got conned into participating in this junkfest. I count five chapters that are actually decent bits of serious work by people with good reputations. I won't name them for fear of embarrassing them. I don't know how they got duped, but I feel horrible for them.

What is a good book on the early economy of the United States?

I was reading this wonderful article on the archaeology of 19th century utopias. The article did not focus on why these utopias failed, but rather whether its members conformed to the ideology. In same cases they followed quite closely and in others they did not. I highly recommend it if you have the free time.

This week I focused a lot Lucy Lippard's account on the formation of (and demonstrations by) the Art Workers Coalition, reading mostly primary source material like their list of demands made in November 1970, which are pretty revolutionary but did manage to create some (I'd argue) minor institutional change.

"The Board of Trustees of all museums should be made up of one-third museum staff, one-third patrons and one-third artists, if it is to continue to act as the policy-making body of the museum... Admission to all museums should be free at all times and they should be open evenings to accommodate working people... At least one museum in each city should maintain an up-to-date registry of all artists in their area, that is available to the public... Artists should retain a disposition over the destiny of their work, whether or not it is owned by them..."

But the really interesting bit, in my opinion, is section B:

"B: UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A MINIMUM INCOME IS GUARANTEED FOR ALL PEOPLE, THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF ARTISTS SHOULD BE IMPROVED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

1. Rental fees should be paid to artists or their heirs for all work exhibited where admissions are charged, whether to not the work is owned by the artist.

2. A percentage of the profit realized one the resale of an artist's work should revert to the artist or his heirs.

3. A trust fund should be set up from a tax on the levied sales of the work of dead artists. This fund would provide stipends, health insurance, help for artists' dependents and other social benefits."

SFMOMA has the text on their website here: http://openspace.sfmoma.org/2011/11/the-economic-position-of-artists-should-be-improved-in-the-following-ways/

Pretty compelling ideas, and I think still relevant today, especially in the United States, where artists receive very little aid from the government. Also worth checking out is the AWC's 1969 document, Does Money Manipulate Art?

One more interesting document was by one of the other members of the AWC, Lee Lozano, when she announced to the Coalition that she was withdrawing from the Art World completely: http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbirz9EkMh1r70t2xo1_1280.jpg

What is a good book for the Order of Battle of the Japanese Army?

Mainly interested in the years 1937, 1941, 1942, and 1944.

Hello all could anyone make any recommendations for books or articles about cooperation between Latin American revolutionary groups and European groups such as the RAF, IRA, and the likes in the 1960s and 1970s?

I picked up Becoming the Tupamaros by Lindsey Churchill last night and am enjoying it so far.

Books on ancient Indian history, say the period before the arrival of Muslim rulers?

I didn't know this was a regular thread but it's exactly what I've been waiting for.

So, I'm looking for a resource on the history of London, particularly the City, from very early (maybe Roman?) times. Ideally a digital resource - a podcast or a book for my Kindle or even a documentary maybe - and doesn't necessarily need to be overly academic. Any recommendations?