Right now there are two books at Andrew Knoll鈥檚 bedside. Knoll, author of Life on a Young Planet (Princeton University Press) and Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University, is working his way through Umberto Eco鈥檚 Baudolino (Secker & Warburg, 2002). It is 鈥淓co鈥檚 latest riff on the Middle Ages: in my mind鈥檚 eye, I see him winking at those of us who study the past.鈥�
His other bedtime read is Natasha鈥檚 Dance by Orlando Figes (Penguin, 2002). It is, he says, an engaging history of Russian culture, an interest prompted by his visits to Moscow.
鈥淚n the guilty pleasure department,鈥� he says he has just finished The Nautical Chart by Arturo P茅rez-Reverte (Picador, 2002): 鈥渢he best mystery writer I know who is not an older English woman鈥�.
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