My Letter “N” pick for this year’s A To Z Book Review was NAPOLEON’S HEMORRHOIDS AND OTHER SMALL EVENTS THAT CHANGED HISTORY by Phil Mason. This was a fun romp through various historical tidbits from all over time and all across the globe. The catchy title refers to the fact that the battle of Waterloo might have been a victory for poor Napoleon if he hadn’t been dealing with a vicious case of hemorrhoids. This, along with other little-known facts make for great, light reading.

Did you know that the world almost never heard of Marco Polo? It turns out that this now well-known Venetian explorer had been quietly traveling all over Asia and other parts of the world, and found himself in a jail in Genoa for a year after being captured during the war between Venice and Genoa. He regaled his cellmate, a man named Rustichello da Pisa, with tales of his travel. Rustichello wrote them all down and published them, leaving Marco Polo an historical legacy and a great, well-known name to shout in a swimming pool.

I’m dating myself with this observation, but back in the days before smartphones, this would have been considered great bathroom reading. People often had bookracks in the bathroom to hold just such light offerings – something you can pick up, put down and return to easily. It was entertaining and informative, but a good 1/5 of the book had some very dull facts that only led to a “so what?” reaction. Still a good read. Four stars on this one.