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My Life in Ruins
My Life in Ruins | Adam Ford
4 posts | 1 read | 5 to read
Part memoir, part potted history of civilisation, My Life in Ruins is the account of a life lived in uncovering the past. Adam Ford is an archaeologist. Not only has he been on expeditions to unlock the mysteries of the past in the Caribbean, British Isles, Jordan, Syria, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Australia, he's also had heat stroke, hypothermia, and dysentery; been chased by camel spiders; walked on by scorpions and pestered by bugs big enough to ride. In more than 20 years roaming the globe, he's lived in some of the most remote locations in the world and suffered the back-breaking and soul-destroying monotony of shifting tonnes of dirt with a shovel. From Cold War bunkers in England to Bronze Age cities on the Euphrates, remotes caves in the Jordan Valley, shipwrecks in Western Australia and burials in Barbados, Adam has dug, dived, abseiled and trekked his way into history. Part memoir, part potted history of civilisation, MY LIFE IN RUINS is the story of a life lived in uncovering the past.
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Texreader
My Life in Ruins | Adam Ford
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If you ever wanted to be an archaeologist then this is a must read, if only to learn you really don‘t want to be an archeologist. 😄 Ford tells enthralling anecdotes about his experiences in the field, literally, and they could be torturous and humiliating affairs. He often lacked basic shelter, edible food, and more than a bucket for a toilet and in turn, faced death down at least twice. I was fascinated by these stories and his discoveries. ⬇️

Texreader Sadly, I read this because LibraryThing had it incorrectly tagged for United Arab Emirates. Ford archaeologizes (yes, pretend word) in #Jordan, #Syria, #Oman, as well as Australia, Scotland, England, so I‘m still using it for #readingasia2021, just not the country I intended. @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB (edited) 3y
Blueberry Wow, glad I changed my major in college. 3y
Librarybelle Stacking this one! 3y
65 likes4 stack adds3 comments
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Texreader
My Life in Ruins | Adam Ford
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The author of the tagged book is deathly afraid of this “camel spider,” which is extremely aggressive. It‘s closer in family to the scorpion. Ugh.

Photo courtesy of https://spider885135661.wordpress.com/camel-spider/

GingerAntics WARN A GIRL!!! That is terrifying!!! That should be like 100 points right there!!! 3y
Read-y_Picker Umm really. I'm gonna need a minute to recover now! 3y
mjdowens OH HELL NO! I would just burn my house down and ask to go to spiderless jail 😲😫 3y
See All 11 Comments
marleed Oh no no no. I don‘t need spiders chasing me! 3y
TheLudicReader Dear LORD, noooooooo. 3y
rabbitprincess *burns down iPad that is being used to read Litsy* 😱😱😩😩🏃🏻‍♀️ 3y
Texreader @Read-y_Picker @GingerAntics @mjdowens @marleed @TheLudicReader @rabbitprincess I‘m sort of sorry for y‘all, except your reactions are hilarious! I had to even show your comments to the husband because I was laughing so hard. The author really had the same reaction when one was piercing chunks out of his leather boots. He said he still wakes up in fear when he dreams about them. I‘m glad I didn‘t go into archaeology 3y
GingerAntics THEY CAN BREAK THROUGH LEATHER BOOTS?!!! 🥾 That is a horror story in and of itself!!! I know what I‘m having a nightmare about now!!! 3y
Texreader @GingerAntics You‘re welcome! 😉🤪 No, it didn‘t break through the 🥾-one of the locals managed to whack it dead before it did too much damage. His story about waking up to a cockroach eating the dead skin off his lips in the desert, again, made me grateful I am not an archeologist. It sounds exciting but in actuality it‘s got to be one of the hardest and lowest paid “intellectual” pursuits. Extreme temps, poor or no living quarters, bad food... 3y
GingerAntics @Texreader I‘m suddenly VERY glad I chose history instead of archaeology. *shudder* 3y
StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Scrolling through, and that pick gave me the heebie-jeebies. Lol. 3y
37 likes11 comments
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Texreader
My Life in Ruins | Adam Ford
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Sitting here in my hotel room (for work) not wanting to miss the early bird points for #scarathlon, so here‘s the best I can do right now for my tbr list. 50 points #teamslaughter. @Clwojick @StayCurious

Clwojick Woohoo!! 3y
43 likes1 comment
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Texreader
My Life in Ruins | Adam Ford
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I just went on an audible shopping spree to fill in some gaps for #readingasia2021 and #letterA for #litsyatoz

My Life in Ruins (#UnitedArabEmirates)
The Astonishing Color of After (#Taiwan)
How We Disappeared (#Singapore)
Lost in Shangri-La (#NewGuinea)

Librarybelle Great selections! 3y
64 likes1 stack add1 comment