Rumbles: A Curious History of the Gut: The Secret Story of the Body’s Most Fascinating Organ

Richardson (Second Sight in the Nineteenth Century), a historian at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, serves up a piquant cultural history of the stomach. She explains that ancient Greek scholars believed anger, jealousy, and desire stemmed from the gut, and that Christian theologians sought to tame this rapaciousness by including gluttony among the deadly sins. The valorization of restraint led the ruling classes of the Middle Ages to develop strict table etiquette that frowned upon the previously common practice of eating with one’s hands. Tracing how eating habits have evolved, Richardson notes that in medieval times, most people only ate two meals per day, with a large “dinner” falling around late morning. It wasn’t until the rise of industrialized workdays for which workers commuted too far to return home to eat that the modest midday “lunch” emerged. Elsewhere, she discusses how dietary advice has changed over time, describing, for instance, how Russian microbiologist Élie Metchnikoff set off a “yogurt-eating frenzy” in the 1910s by suggesting the food could slow aging. Though the book’s wide-ranging scope can occasionally come across as unfocused, the fascinating history means readers will be more than happy to come along for the ride. This satisfies. Photos. Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (Oct.)