In AD 79, Pliny the Elder was killed while attempting to observe the eruption of Mount Vesuvius at close range. However, before his death he had mined the texts of the classical world for all the information that they contained, and his Natural History, based on his findings, is really one of the world's earliest encyclopaedias. Filled with fascinating digressions on human nature and society, it is both informed and opinionated, and unlike the books of its kind today, it is as much a work of literature as it is a reference book. | Natural History by Pliny Pliny, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters