Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones & Einstein's Brain: The Remarkable Stories Behind the Great Objects and Artifacts of History, from Antiquity to the Modern Era - Softcover

Rachlin, Harvey

3.68

130 ratings by Goodreads

9780805064063: Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones & Einstein's Brain: The Remarkable Stories Behind the Great Objects and Artifacts of History, from Antiquity to the Modern Era

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805064060 ISBN 13: 9780805064063

Publisher: Owl Books, 2000

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Beginning in antiquity (the Black Stone of the Ka'bah, the Crown of Thorns), moving through the Dark and Middle Ages (Columbus' Books of Privileges), and finally arriving at the modern era (the Enola Gay, the rifle that killed JFK), this unique book pictures and describes the world's most fascinating artifacts, detailing the causes of their fame, recording their past and present ownership, and celebrating their lasting legend. 80 photos.

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From Booklist:

In Rachlin's reliquary repose 50-plus objects, made famous through mysterious origins, like the Black Stone of the Kacbah in Mecca, or through being at the right place at the right time, like the Lee-Grant surrender tables. The bulk of the items have Judeo-Christian or American associations, which endows a devotional aura closely followed by an acquisitive one: the question of where the relic came from and who owned it--its provenance--is the engine of all Rachlin's stories. And as window-shopping history, they are breezily distracting, though no substitute for going into a bookstore (or library) and getting a fuller history, which Rachlin implicitly and fairly acknowledges by providing a bibliography related to each artifact. But first, any casual interest in the Shroud of Turin, the Bayeux Tapestry, the Declaration of Independence, or (gulp) Napoleon's member of reproduction needs to be excited, so to speak, and that goal Rachlin achieves in his summaries, with heads stating "What It Is," "What It Looks Like," and "Location." Obviously history-lite, but harmless fun Gilbert Taylor

From Publishers Weekly:

The Shroud of Turin, George Washington's false teeth, King Tutankhamen's royal burial treasures, a three-billion-year-old Ethiopian king Hammurabi are among the artifacts and relics spotlighted in this entertaining and enlightening survey. Organized in rough chronological order, from the sacred Black Stone revered by Muslims in Mecca to Voyager 2's gold-plated phonograph record for extraterrestrials, the 50-plus objects make up a pageant of human aspiration, achievement, obsession and belief. Some of the artifacts are heartrending (the bed Lincoln died in, Anne Frank's diary); some are momentous (the Declaration of Independence, the Wright brothers' biplane); and others are nostalgic (London Bridge, Babe Ruth's 60th-home-run bat). And some are bizarre, like the Elephant Man or the fake, wood-carved gun that John Dillinger used to bluff his way out of an Indiana jail. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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