Gates portrays a mindset most people will never embrace and an era virtually none can conceive. The situations and imagery conveyed here are unfathomable to me and my mind is impotent to divine such a world on its own. Given this mental limitation, I consumed Pressfield's account of what was certainly a unique moment in man's evolution and growth. When the Spartan king lost use of his left arm due to a severed tricep, his shield was strapped to his torso and he returned to the battlefield to fight beside his blood-caked troops. I once stayed home from school for two days because of a festering blemish on the tip of my nose. Like I said, inconceivable to me.