Leonardo's Foot: How 10 Toes, 52 Bones, and 66 Muscles Shaped the Human World
Amidst many digressions, Rinzler provides a number of biological and anecdotal tidbits about human feet. The development of theories about how our bipedal stance affected human evolution is treated first, including some scientific missteps. Each chapter is an independent essay ostensibly on an aspect of the foot, but a discussion of clubfeet turns into a rambling, and not always accurate, appraisal of historical attitudes toward birth defects, infanticide, and euthanasia as well as the imbalance in health coverage between the first and third worlds. The book as a whole veers wildly in this manner—from interesting information to highly tangential opinion pieces. An interesting section about the importance of the big toe morphs into anecdotes on how gout changed the world and then a page on a history of dangerous medications. The chapter on desire discusses foot fetishism, Cinderella, which senses are predominant in other animals, Biblical references to feet, foot washing, and suddenly, dissection. Those who enjoy nonsequetorial conversations may find this book entertaining, but the lack of substantiation for many of her statements deprives the reader of solid facts. (June)