"Carol Ann Rinzler has written a surprising and delightful book about this 'underwhelming, underreported, and completely indispensable' part of the human body. It's amazing what you'll learn!" --Richard N. Gottfried, Chair, The New York State Assembly Health Committee

"Everything [Rinzler] writes is worth reading."--Cynthia Pearson, executive director, National Women's Health Network "Leonardo's Foot" stretches back to the fossil record and forward to recent discoveries in evolutionary science to demonstrate that it was our feet rather than our brains that first distinguished us from other species within the animal kingdom. Taking inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci's statement that "the human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art," Carol Ann Rinzler leads us on a fascinating stroll through science, medicine, and culture to shed light on the role our feet have played in the evolution of civilization. Whether discussing the ideal human form in classical antiquity, the impressive depth of the arching soles on the figures in Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," an array of foot maladies and how they have affected luminaries from Lord Byron to Benjamin Franklin, or delving into the history of foot fetishism, Rinzler has created a wonderfully diverse catalog of details on our lowest extremities. This is popular science writing at its most entertaining--page after page of fascinating facts, based around the playful notion that appreciating this often overlooked part of our body is essential to understanding what it is to be human. Carol Ann Rinzler, a former nutrition columnist for the New York "Daily News," has contributed to a number of publications, including "The New York Times." She is the author of more than twenty books on health and medicine, including "Nutrition for Dummies," an international bestseller translated into fourteen languages.