Monday, April 28, 2008

Medicine in the days of the pharaohs by Bruno Halioua and Bernard Ziskind

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks R137 .H3413 2005

Egyptian physicians were considered the best in the ancient world for more than a millennium: their work even influenced Hippocrates. They had an enormous herbal pharmacopoeia at their disposal, and they supplemented their prescriptions with religious practice and magic to address illnesses ranging from adolescent heartache to tetanus. Using CAT scans, ancient papyri, tomb illustrations and mummy autopsies, the authors uncover how Pharaonic physicians understood and treated disabilities, accident victims and congenital diseases.
Clever occupation-based chapters outline ailments common to farmers (serpents!), miners (scorpions!), fisherman (crocodiles!), scribes and even the mummy-making embalmers themselves. Halioua and Ziskind also offer a thought-provoking look at the pathology behind the plagues of the Old Testament. And, yes, they tell us how mummies were made. Enjoy!

Monday, April 14, 2008

The whistling season by Ivan Doig


Recommended by: Millie Marino, STL staff
Call number: Stacks PS3554.O415 W48 2006


In 1909, the recently widowed father of the Milliron family, a farmer of the Montana Prairie, answers a newspaper ad for a housekeeper who "can't cook, but doesn't bite."
What follows is the charming and often humorous story of a one-room schoolhouse, its eloquent and unlikely teacher and an endearing set of characters that practically beg us to go back to those simpler days. These are days when children create scrapbooks from the daily newspaper, call adults 'sir', chop wood and clean stables and roll in mud. Could it be that these children are a bit too good to be true? But how refreshing! Doig 's leisurely paced novel has everything in small amounts: mystery, tragedy, romance, and even a well-crafted villain.