I, Patrick, a winner! Abarta delivering the goods for Paddy’s Day


It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Abarta Audioguides [Website]. I’m also a big fan of Terry O’Hagan & his endlessly informative & entertaining Vox Hiberionacum blog [Blog | Facebook] … so when I heard that they were coming together to create an audioguide to the life of Saint Patrick, I was immediately interested. I was even more thrilled when Neil Jackman at Abarta offered me the opportunity to get a preview listen to it! I’m not going to give a particularly long winded and in-depth review of it – I’m just going to say that it’s brilliant and if you have even the slightest interest in who St. Patrick really was and want to know more about ‘the man behind the saint’, this is definitely for you! I’m no particular scholar of Patrick, but I really found the text (beautifully narrated by Gerry O’Brien) to be open and engaging – no matter your level of knowledge, you will not feel patronised or talked down to in any way … there is no ‘dumbing down’ for a perceived ‘layperson’ audience. Instead, some complex and relatively obscure ideas about the Saint and his world are laid out in an appealing and straightforward way. I have been left with a new appreciation of Patrick and the world he inhabited & I’ll definitely be coming back to this audiobook!

Go buy it from Abarta here or from irisharchaeology.ie here … just go buy it!


While you’re at it, I’d highly recommend reading Terry’s post giving the background to his involvement to Patrick: Six Years A Slave.

If you’re still not fed up with all that, may I recommend a couple of pieces of my own, detailing several adventures in the Saint’s home territories:

St. Patrick’s Gravestone: A Bigger fake!
St Patrick and the tale of the non-disappearing cross | Chapple Family excursions in Downpatrick

And finally … round the lot off with a beautiful VR Tour of the Saint’s putative grave from Voices from the Dawn.

Whatever you do & however you choose to mark or celebrate the day … please stay away from the green beer!

Location: Downpatrick, Downpatrick, Down BT30, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Always remember to draw the swastika turning to the right": Some thoughts on swastika directionality in Early Medieval Irish Art

Image
Swastikas are, for a number of reasons, endlessly fascinating symbols. Like all symbols, they are only invested with the meanings we give them. Otherwise they are just little shapes and drawings that mean nothing in and of themselves. Owing to its long history and brief (if traumatic) association with Nazism, the swastika probably has a stronger resonance than most. You won’t spend long on the internet attempting to discuss the swastika before someone, trying to be helpful, notes that the Nazi version rotated counter-clockwise (elbows pointing left) and was bad, but the good Buddhist/Hindu version rotated clockwise. They may be trying to be helpful, but they are invariably wrong. It’s true that the version Adolf Hitler designed for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei only went one direction: counter-clockwise. What’s wrong is that not all other ( i.e. non-Nazi) swastikas turn the opposite direction (elbows pointing right). Rather than dutifully plod through a debun
Read more

The dreaded first test post!

Image
An irregularly updated blog about archaeology and related madness! ... might just be good! ** I'm always looking for guest writers! So if you have something that you want to say about archaeology, please get in touch! ** [** If you like any of the posts on this blog, please consider making a small donation. Each donation helps keep the Irish Radiocarbon & Dendrochronological Dates project going! **] <A HREF="http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_sw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Frobmchaarc-21%2F8002%2Fb7e77064-bfea-4ba8-954d-a415ec05ad0c&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>
Read more

Three Billboards Outside University College London: A case of approved plagiarism by Prof Andrew Bevan et al.

Image
Introduction The oft-recited adage is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Going by this logic, there can be no higher praise from an academic than outright plagiarism of your work. I have had recent cause to be on the receiving end of just such praise and I can assure you, dear reader, that it doesn’t feel like a compliment at all. In fact, it sucks. I decided that, rather than meekly accept it, I was going to fight back for the recognition due to my work. To this end, I reached out to the two universities involved (University College London and Plymouth University) and the publishing journal (PNAS) and asked them to initiate investigations into the conduct of their employees/authors. I trusted that these institutions would be keen to ensure that their academics adhered to the highest standards and that any deviation would be met with swift correction. I was wrong and my trust was sorely misplaced. Until now I have only really discussed this issue with my cont
Read more