This book struck my personal resonant frequency. I found the anecdotes witty and engaging, the conclusions often insightful, and the underlying premise -- that life can best be appreciated as a motley collection of random events, the shape of which can be estimated with varying degrees of confid...
—W. H. Auden, “Law Like Love” Around 1760 B.C.—a century or so after the departure of Abraham, his flocks, and family—Hammurabi established his supremacy in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. He realized that leaving each mud-walled city under the protection of its own minor god and vassal kingle...