In which you might be into weapons and history

If so, you must go right out instantly and get a copy of Adrienne Mayor's Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World. Heavy stuff, no? But it's riveting, I promise. I was intrigued by the mention of Greek fire, but the rest of the topics are equally fascinating. It would be extremely easy to render the subject dry, but Mayor does a superb job of spinning tales from antiquity. (On the back is a blurb by Martin Van Creveld which brought my senior seminar SCREAMING back to me. I read a LOT of Martin Van Creveld when I was writing my senior paper on George S. Patton. Oy.)