It is very much a young man’s book, written as it was when the author was still in his early twenties

From Trying to Please by John Julius Norwich.  Page 184.  Small events with big consequences.

During the cruise Paddy talked fascinatingly about things Byzantine—of which I knew almost nothing—and recommended a book which, he said, would provide a first-rate introduction to the subject: The Byzantine Achievement, by Robert Byron. This book, it hardly seems too much to say, changed my life. It is very much a young man’s book, written as it was when the author was still in his early twenties; but it filled me with a fascination for Byzantium and the whole Byzantine world which I have never lost. From that moment I read everything I could find on the subject, and determined to go to Istanbul at the first opportunity.