Word: rootes
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...biblical times, the mandrake root spelled sexual power, possibly because it resembled the male reproductive organs. Early Arabic authors created a veritable Aphrodisiac-of-the-Month Club. The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Delectation, by a 15th century sheik named Nefzawi, recommended sparrow's ! tongue and, at bedtime, a glassful of honey, 20 almonds and 100 grains of the pine tree. Indian experts prescribed a powder made from the bones of a peacock. Europeans in the Middle Ages preferred the testes or urine of all sorts of animals. One Frenchman favored the flesh of a crocodile ground into powder...
Americans are no less fascinated by the allure of aphrodisiacs. Some claim to use Spanish fly, a powder made from the blister beetle, but it is poisonous and can kill you. The ginseng root, long a staple among Asians, is popular in the U.S. But nobody has yet bottled the genuine article, and until that happens, one simple rule will continue to apply: a tiger's penis or powdered peacock bones are aphrodisiacs only if you think they...
...Patrick Reynolds, 40, tobacco is the root of a small fortune and the object of a zealous crusade. A grandson of R.J. Reynolds, founder of the giant tobacco company, Reynolds enjoyed a privileged prep-school upbringing in Connecticut and Florida. But in the five years since he stubbed out his last cigarette, the sometime TV-and-film actor has become a militant antismoker. Now Reynolds has co-written, with author Tom Shachtman, The Gilded Leaf (Little, Brown; $19.95), a moralistic tale about a fortune built on tobacco and dissipated by reckless heirs. Says Reynolds: "The hand that...
...rebuild a system so deeply corroded. The failed reforms of 1965, which attempted to introduce price and profit incentives, showed that tinkering with parts of the economy without a comprehensive overhaul of attitudes was doomed. Linkage is necessary because the economic and social problems all stem from the same root: too much centralization. A system based on bureaucratic commands has failed. Decentralization is necessary. But this cannot occur unless people are allowed the freedom to think for themselves...
...Russian the word for voting, golosovat, derives from the Russian word golos, or voice. That also happens to be the root of the word glasnost. Likewise, the election was an extension of the openness and public airing * spawned by Gorbachev's glasnost crusade. Of the reform trinity, glasnost has wrought the most tangible changes, especially for the Soviet intellectual community, Gorbachev's most solid base of support. Nowadays the only heresy is orthodoxy. Says economist Shmelev: "Four years ago, people felt themselves living behind barbed wire. Now we have a degree of freedom for intellectuals and for ordinary people that...