More Reading

My reading in February was as good as in January, I am pleased to say. 

I began the month with "Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form," by Michael Sims.  A marvelous tour of the external body -- from hair to toes, and everything in between -- covering the biological evolution of the part and, more entertaining, the cultural and literary responses to the part through history.  It is one of those books where you learn something, sometimes important but often just odd, on every page.

The month concluded with "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford.  This is a tour de force in resurrecting the character and legacy of the world's greatest empire builder from the politically-motivated calumnies of the "Englightenment" that have survived to this day.  The title is fine, even though Genghis himself dies about a third of the way through the book:  the successes and failures of his successors through to Kublai are clearly linked to how closely they modeled themselves on the great man.  Weatherford convinced me in the final chapters that the European Renaissance owed more to the Mongols than it ever did to Greece and Rome.  Excellent scholarship and a good read.