Although daily dangers were many, housing uncomfortable, and the dominant smells unpleasant indeed, life in England at the turn of the previous millennium was not at all bad, write journalists Lacey and Danziger. "If you were to meet an Englishman in the year 1000," they continue, "the first thing that would strike you would be how tall he was--very much the size of anyone alive today." The Anglo-Saxons were not only tall, but also generally well fed and healthy, more so than many Britons only a few generations ago. Writing in a breezy, often humorous style, Lacey and Danziger draw on the medieval Julius Work Calendar, a document detailing everyday life around A.D. 1000, to reconstruct the spirit and reality of the era. Light though their touch is, they've done their homework, and they take the reader on a well-documented and enjoyable month-by-month tour through a single year, touching on such matters as religious belief, superstition, medicine, cuisine, agriculture, and politics, as well as contemporary ideas of the self and society. Readers should find the authors' discussions of famine and plague a refreshing break from present-day millennial worries, and a very stimulating introduction to medieval English history. --Gregory McNamee

The events leading up to King John's setting his seal to the famous document at Runnymede in June 1215 form this rich and riveting narrative that vividly describes everyday life from castle to countryside, from school to church, and from hunting in the forest to trial by ordeal. For instance, women wore no underwear (though men did), the average temperatures were actually higher than they are now, and the austere kitchen at Westminster Abbey allowed each monk two pounds of meat and a gallon of ale per day. Broad in scope and rich in detail, 1215 ingeniously illuminates what may have been the most important year of our history.

The world is full of whatchamacallits - things we ought to know the names for, might even think we know the names for, but when it comes down to it, don't know the names for. That's where The Whatchamacallit comes in. A fun and witty companion to daily life, The Whatchamacallit provides the proper names for more than 100 elusive thingamajigs and doohickeys, complete with the histories, myths, and anecdotes behind them.

The entries collected here are not extraordinary, nor are they the unlikely objects used by specialists or experts. The whatchamacallits in these pages are things that we see, touch, use, or think about every day. Objects that are between our fingers and under our noses--and yet we cannot put a name to them. From achenes to zucchetto, from bobeche to vibrissae, The Whatchamacallit covers the flotsam and jetsum of daily existence. Whimsical, informative, and just plain smart, this useful compendium offers hours of enjoyment for anyone who just likes to know stuff.

The Whatchamacallit will transform you from someone who is occasionally at a loss for words to that far more dynamic person who--in an understated and discreet way--always knows the right word for everything.