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

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. (Feb.)