This book is great for anyone researching the Delphinic Oracle tradition. It also sheds light on a very economically legitimate career path for women in ancient Greece. I used this book for research while writing a young adult historical fiction novel. I was not disappointed.

Mr. Broad does a good job of weaving together the ancient, mystical accounts of the Oracle at Delphi with findings from "modern" excavations starting in the late 1800s up to the 2000s.

Broad's accounting is semi-academic because the content is generally accessible to the average reader. Mr. Broad definitely makes the subject matter interesting and informative. His narrative involves archaeology, geology, chemistry, human physiology, etc. The narrative generally stays on-topic with only a few arguably necessary digressions away from the primary topic.

The final chapter is self-reflective and offers a chance for Mr. Broad to really wrap up this book with a bang. He engages in some general musings, but nothing that makes a lasting impression.

I hesitate to consider this book a must read; however, it is very good overall, especially for those interested in classical antiquity. It is well deserving of 4 stars, perhaps more...

After coming back from Greece and having visited the site of Delphi's Temple of Apollo and Temple of Athena, it was so fascinating to read this book and learn so much of the history of the legends and mythology, as well as read a modern scientific endeavor story about how geology and chemistry can still make an impact in the understanding of what was suggested to have happened there. I wish I had read this book before going to Greece!

The author takes us along on a journey to discover whether the ancient myths about the Oracle of Delphi have any scientific basis. We become convinced that there were indeed gases that may have overcome the oracle and influenced her prophecies. However, Broad abandons his scientific stance at the end of the book to discuss telepathy and other "spiritual" concepts that are unproven and perhaps unprovable. This will appeal to some readers but not to others, and seems out of keeping with the preceding scientific approach.

This was an amazing book. It's about scientific research, but it reads like a leisure novel. It goes over the entire history of the Oracle of Delphi and all of her influences on the world of ancient Greece and the world of today. I originally checked it out from a public library and decided I had to have it in my collection, and I bought an extra copy to send to a friend. That's how much I enjoyed this book.

I purchased this book because I have been to Delphi, and loving Greek and Ancient Roman History I have always read about the Oracle.
This book starts with the entire story of who were the Oracles.How they became Oracles.Plutarc who was a priest at the Apollo Temple describes the frenzies of these young women and later by mature women. How did they go on a trance, were they really prophetic or was it that somebody told them what to say? Were there faults under the Temple that drugged these women?
The French found the response,which later one was found to be untrue.
In this book you will read how a geologist and archeologist teamed together to discover the secrets of the Delphi Oracle.
It is a 5 star book.You learn so much about the Oracles, the Temple itself and most of all the geological sites.Greece is on a plateau of many faults, sliding and rubbing at each other. Constantly moving.Over the centuries the faults have closed, and other very small ones have appeared.Still there are the famous Delphi faults the big ones.I will stop writing so that you will be thrilled when you read of the discoveries.Enjoy your reading,
I am sure that you will enjoy this book.

The ancient Greeks believed that there was a "pneuma" (gas) that came into the Oracles chamber and this is what inspired her "prophecies". This book provides a history of the geological search evidence of such a gas. This is the unique aspect of this book. No other seems to have been written on this aspect of Oracle (unlike the history, religious importance, etc. of the Oracle). Written by the NY Times science editor it provides a good (i.e., not dry) narrative that the layman can follow and still be entertained and amazed by.

The book also provides some background and history of the Oracle but it others do a much better job (i.e., this is not the reason to purchase this book).

At the end the book provides the author's view of scientific "reduction". This is the one weak point of the book (and hence the reason it is given a four star rating) but, fortunately, it is short and is only a long footnote to the geological history which is the essence of the book.

This book rates as one of the most enlightening and enjoyable books I have ever read.

I had visited Delphi prior to reading this wonderful book and was well aware of its stunning setting in central Greece (Its setting qualifies it as the most beautiful archaeological site in the world)

What I was not too sure about was its significance and impact on the ancient world - which as detailed in this book was far reaching and profound.

William Broad writing style is clear and rather engaging to a point that I could not put this book down.

I have no doubt that after reading the book you will either return to Delphi or visit for the first time.

Oracle is a wonderful discussion of the Oracle at Delphi, Northern Greece. In the introduction, the author discusses the evolution of the site as a local center of mystic revelations to one of international renown and influence, and ultimately to an abandoned ruin lying beneath a small modern village ignorant of its presence or of its magnificent reputation.

The main text, and the meat of the work, is the discussion of the collaboration between a sedimentary and structural geologist, Jelle de Boer and an archeologist and historian John Hale. Both men had an interest in the ancient site, and having met by accident, agreed to work together to clear up an underlying confusion regarding the ancient site that had arisen by virtue of an early French excavation of the site.

Author William Board, is not an academic. He is neither a geologist nor an historian. He's a professional journalist, and as I've come to expect of the breed, a well researched individual with a gift for dramatic narration. He creates a sense of place for Delphi and its ancient priestesses, citing a number of ancient historians in doing so. He gives the reader a feel for the expectations and the disappointments of the French archaeologists who uncovered the site and presented their findings--and non-findings--to the world. He also gives background to both of the primary protagonists, de Boer and Hale, presenting the one as a survivor of concentrations camps in Java, and the other as a multitalented historian. Over the years each introduced the other to their own discipline and contributed ideas and objections to the data they compiled. The weaving together of various pieces of the puzzle of the "vapors" of the Oracle makes a wonderful story.

In the final chapter is the author's take on what science misses by reducing everything, including the mystery of Delphi, to simple physical phenomena. While I tend to agree with him, I'm not certain it fits with the rest of the narrative.

The story was virtually tailored to my interests. I have a geology degree and one in history, with interests in classics and in geoarchaeology. I've also been to Delphi, so the scenes as describe resonate in my memory. De Boer's following of the fault system was truly entertaining stuff from my point of view.

A fascinating tale of what collaboration can do.

As a practicing physical chemist for almost 50 years I just could not ignore the volatility/diffusion discussion on page 194. Ethylene has a slightly higher molecular weight than does nitrogen and slightly lower than does oxygen. Clearly diffusion cannot explain the absence of ethylene.

Almost certainly reactivity can explain the absence of ethylene, but I am not an organic chemist.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Oracle. I dug out Betrayers and enjoyed re-reading it.