How to Mellify a Corpse

May 10, 2010
In this delightful follow-up to IX to V, her entertaining look at work in the ancient world, León explores the tangled webs of science and superstition in Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and other ancient societies. With her characteristic deadpan humor, verve, and wit, she brings to life the practices of ordinary folks as they sought practical ways to avoid the evil eye, battle stronger enemies, and understand strange and marvelous astronomical events. Copulating during a strong north wind and ingesting magical potions were believed to guarantee a male child. Greeks and Romans placed gouty limbs on electric eels in order to ease their pain. Scythian warriors dipped their arrows in snake venom, human blood, and feces to ensure their targets would die a slow and gruesome death. Many ancient cultures touted the antiseptic properties of honey, using honey-soaked bandages to bind wounds. Many Greeks attributed the visions of soothsayers and diviners to "mad honey" made from the nectar of laurel and oleander plants. León’s rollicking tour helps us see that the daily lives and worries of the ancients were not far removed from our own.

June 1, 2010
There was some weird stuff going on in the ancient world, as Lens field trip to a long-ago world filled with science, superstition, and the folks who believed in both makes abundantly clear. This is an endlessly fascinating book, full of things that are shocking, unsettling, and, of course, just plain weird. Did you know that the existence of the atom was posited about 2,500 years ago, by a couple of Greeks? That Julius Caesar staged full-scale naval battles, in a man-made lake, using enemy prisoners as his players? That the Egyptians had 900 remedies involving honey? (They also used it to preserve the bodies of the dead, a process called mellifying.) Writing in a lightly humorous style, Len demonstrates that the ancient world isnt so far removed from our own and that, before we pat ourselves on the back for some invention or other, we ought to make sure somebody didnt beat us to it centuries or millennia ago.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)