Amphibious Thing is another Kindle book that I picked up on sale, though I was uncertain that I’d care much about the life of an early Eighteenth Century person I’d never heard of. Thankfully, the book is well-written and fairly engaging, even while wading through reams of surviving letters and other sources.

This is one of the better biographies I’ve read, as it does a very good job of both focusing on a particular topic, and not bouncing around much in time in order to do so.  If you have no interest in the period, this book won’t engender it, but it does provide a good look at the court of George II, and the ministry of Robert Walpole; and that latter is probably enough to get some people’s attention. Reading it with a little knowledge of the period certainly helped my appreciation of the book.