Case of Curiosities

Allen Kurzweil. Ballantine Books, $10 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-345-38057-9

First novelist Kurzweil presents a diverting melange: a portrait of a young mechanical genius in 18th-century France, delivered along with a gallimaufry of odd and intriguing facts and a rich, lusty picture of society in that time and place. (Feb.)

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