In July 2016, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that he was reading a largely forgotten 1929 bestseller: William Bolitho's “Twelve Against the Gods.“
The 89-year-old book delves into the lives of 12 famous — and infamous — historical adventurers, malcontents, and non-conformists.
Musk's endorsement sparked a bit of a frenzied search for copies of the out-of-print non-fiction book. At one point, the work was listed on Amazon for a not-at-all intimidating price of $575.
Well, just recently, “Twelve Against the Gods” was re-released. History buffs can now purchase it on Amazon for $12.78.
But back in 2016, I didn't have that option. I volunteered to find and read “Twelve Against the Gods” because I like historyand old books. The epic title didn't hurt either — to me, “Twelve Against the Gods” sounds kind of like a Hellenistic blockbuster.
I had to do quite a bit of digging before I could get my hands on the rare text. Everywhere I looked online, “Twelve Against the Gods” was either astronomically expensive or unavailable.
Just when I was beginning to suspect that the book itself might not actually exist, it turned up in my local library system.
I was put on the waitlist and, about a month later, finally obtained Bolitho's account of the lives of 12 “wanderers.”
The copy I read was old, with a scuffed, dark red cover and yellowing pages. (It's got that sweet “old book” smell, too.) I was careful to keep it away from the sand when I began to read it on the beach one cold, windy weekend.
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