Absurd Singularity

Spurred on by Frank Miller's quite impressive, but short, comic collection 300 about the Spartan defense at Thermopylae, I also picked up Steven Pressfield's novel, Gates of Fire based on the same event. Excellent, excellent reads. Sure they're both dramatizations and the details are somewhat fictional but they provide a fascinating view of what Spartan life and hoplite warfare might have been like way back when. And provides a good example of a strong and respected leader figure who leads by example that unfortunately, is sorely lacking in this day and age.