The Oracle by William Broad

THIS book focuses on Delphi, the sanctuary of Apollo in ancient Greece, whose oracle – priestess Pythia – sat over a chasm in the earth, breathing in its fumes and answering questions. Archaeologists began investigating the site more than 100 years ago. They found the place where the oracle sat – but no chasm. Broad’s tale is the search for Delphi’s lost secrets, including a giggly session in a garden shed to test the effects of ethylene – the mind-altering gas over which the oracle sat. He has a dig at reductionist science, arguing that we’d be foolish to ignore…