Saxton Reads! & Reviews

Our Young Adult department has a set of really neat books all starting with the title The 100 Most Influential, published by Britannica. I recently took out The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time edited by Kathleen Kuiper. I love books like this that you can dip in and out of, find lots of neat facts and which spark my curiosity to learn more about someone or something.

There’s some really great and strong women highlighted in this book. Some like Hatshepsut, Cleopatra and Eleanor of Aquitaine, I knew something about. Others like Mira Bai, a Hindu mystic and poet, I had not come across. Her date of birth is given as 1450?, death 1547?. She was a princess, the only child of Ratan Singh, the younger brother of Merta. She married and after being widowed became known as somewhat of a rebel for her religious beliefs and for a lifestyle which did not fit a widowed Rajput Princess. She was a lifetime devotee of Krishna. On one occasion a poisonous snake was sent to her in a basket of flowers. When she opened it she found an image of Krishna and was saved. She belonged to a group of poets who expressed their love of God through their relationships, mother to daughter, friend to friend, etc. Her poems and songs remain popular in Northern India to this day. Who knew?

Each entry is just a few pages, and has black and white images. Other titles that we own include The 100 Most Influential
Inventors
Philosophers
Scientists
World Leaders
Writers

We seem to be missing Painters and Sculptors of the Renaissance and Musicians. I’ll see if I can get our Children’s Librarian to remedy this.

Great for reports or someone like me who just wants a bit of a bio to enjoy over coffee.