They came into the world as one—inseparably tied together at their chests—yet they were two. They were born on May 11, 1811, on a bamboo mat in a small houseboat afloat on the river in the village of Meklong, located sixty miles west of Bangk...

William James Sidis (1898-1944) was born to a psychologist with some unorthodox ideas about child rearing, attended Harvard at an absurdly young age, burned out at 14, and spent most of the rest of his life working menial jobs and living in povert...

The future of Lily van Velsen, San Francisco pearl "doctor" and gemologist, looks assured, given her recent engagement to her goodnatured colleague Alan Purdue. But once she begins reading the diaries that recount many of her ancestors' illicit ro...