This month’s Book Club selection is The Natural History of Pliny the Elder. CHS Kosmos Society members will be focusing on Book 7: “Man” although you can read others as well if you wish.
Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) is a Roman author. His most famous work is The Natural History which consists of thirty seven books on geography, anthropology, zoology and many other different topics. He died during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE and his nephew Pliny the Younger (61–113 CE), an author and a lawyer, who was a direct witness of that eruption, wrote about it.
As always, you can read any translation. Here are a couple of editions that are available free online.
- Translation by John Bostock and H.T. Riley, on Perseus—you can also access the Latin text alongside (or instead!).
- Translation of Wernerian Club based on Philemon, at archive.org (you can read on-screen or download in various file formats)
The discussion will start and continue in the Kosmos Society forum, and the Google+ Hangout will be on Tuesday, March 27 at 11 a.m. EDT—the link will be posted in the forum just beforehand on the day.
Happy readings!
