11:45 pm in Europe, history, Paxton, Robert O., social science | No Comments
by Robert O. Paxton (2004)
A rather disappointing newcomer in this notorious field but nevertheless helpful for its up-to-date bibliography and sources.
3:33 am in Europe, history, science, Zimmer, Carl | No Comments
How the secrests of the brain were uncovered in seventeenth-century England
by Carl Zimmer (2004)
An account of how people “first” became aware of the secrets of human brain in the seventeenth century, with particular focus on major players, i.e. Thomas Willis and his contemporaries such as Wren, Descartes, Harvey, Boyle, and Hooke.
9:37 pm in history, Russia & USSR, Service, Robert | No Comments
From Nicholas II to Putin
by Robert Service (2003)
Lucidly written with a lack of political bent and a handful of wry humour, this revised and updated history of Russia is a useful general reference on Soviet past with the main focus on the period of communist government.
5:25 pm in Camporesi, Piero, Europe, food & drink, history, Italy | No Comments
Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Europe
by Piero Camporesi (1989)
An account on how many people in early modern Europe lived in a state of almost permanent hallucination, drugged by their hunger or by bread adulterated with hallucinogenic herbs.