About the Book
"Really good" Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla Motors "An adventure of bucking established practices in pursuit of greatness" T. Randall, Bloomberg Twelve Against the Gods is the story of adventure and interpretation of the full-spectrum of "adventure" types through the lives and life lessons of Alexander the Great to Casanova, Mohammed to Isadora Duncan, Seraphina to Woodrow Wilson. It was originally written under Brit-born, South African William Ryall's nom de plume, William Bolitho, known to his fellow friends as "Bill." These friends included fellow adventurers and writers Ernest Hemingway and Noel Coward. Just a year after achieving enormous recognition with "Twelve Against the Gods," Bolitho died at age 39; ironically from appendicitis (vs. lion or tarmac impact). Many, including Elon Musk, consider it one of the "really good" books. Why? It's entertaining, yes, but it's also instructive to budding iconoclasts that want to glean operative knowledge through reading "the adventure of bucking established practices in pursuit of greatness" (source: T. Randall, Bloomberg) We've taken Bolitho's original text and added new photography, illustrations and graphics, while updating a few (now) archaic words, and cleaning up the original layout to better present Bolitho's original work. A work that is still as relevant today as it was 90 years ago, but better appreciated today through a fresher, more contemporary presentation. There are also a few hidden bonuses in this edition, you'll have to find them yourself. However, none of the original writing was changed (ideas, opinions, phrasing). Note: While we corrected some (minor) grammatical & type-setting errors in the original text, and "translated" some of the language that was outdated, to make the text less confusing (e.g., (e.g. "Mohamet" to "Mohammad"), we've preserved all of Bolitho's more "creative" English (neologisms) to maintain the character and flavor of the original.
About the Author :
William Bolitho Ryall (1891-1930), aka William Bolitho, was a South African journalist and writer who was a valued friend of the eminent writers Ernest Hemingway and Noel Coward. Before enlisting in the British Army, he had gone to seminary in Gordonstown, South African and become a deacon in the Anglican Church. His soldiering ended after he was buried alive with fifteen other men in a mine explosion, after which he enlisted as a journalist, first as the Paris correspondent of the Guardian. Twelve Against the Gods was published in 1929 and was an instant bestseller, being written in a ribald, journalistic style. Bolitho argues that they were "all adventurers who battled convention and conformity to achieve fame or notoriety" and sees "human endeavor as a duality between conformity and non-conformity," adding: "We are born adventurers, and the love of adventures never leaves us till we are very old; old, timid men, in whose interest it is that adventure should quite die out. This is why all the poets are on one side, and all the laws on the other; for laws are made by, and usually for, old men." Ryall died before becoming one of these old, timid men, at the age of 39, felled not by adventure, but sadly, appendicitis. Ren Moulton has served as a copywriter, designer, and product developer (Coppola, Goodby, Frolick), before serving as Chief Product Architect and President for several years; currently focusing on commercial invention to IP targeting for F500s (Egg) & as writer for GloryGirl, a graphic novel series based on real lives of heroic women from around the world ("an alternative to repurposed super-heroines Ms. Marvel and Ms. Thor, through real women from Ireland to India...from physicist motorcycle racer to diva CIA spy...real women, real challenges, real entertrainment," WM, 2016). Originally trained at New England Writer's Workshop, Harvard (Physics), CC (creative writing), and Babson (MBA & MA Product design & development), he's won several international product design awards for his work (IDSA IDEA, et al), has been interviewed on CNN and in Business Week, and holds over a dozen patents (ranging from self-righting ambulatory devices to seamless spherical VR capture). He now lives in Brooklyn with his wife (Maura), two children (Renny & Ella), and Jack Russell ("Murphy"). He's also naturally humble, but likes to be as accurate as possible.
