Sharks Between Period Book Reviews (LA 1, Sharks 0)
I've ranted and raved enough about the length of current biographies, which is why these new Penguin mini-bios are perfect to salve those passing curiosities without demanding a monthlong commitment. I wanted to know more about Martin Luther, and here are some fun facts:

Wittenberg had roughly 2100 people, and in 172 of the 400 houses, residents owned licenses to brew beer.

Many reacted before the Theses to priestly scandal, and you could find sculptures of the pope being thrown into hell in churches.

Luther made one of his greatest insights while reading Paul's lettter to the Romans in the tower latrine above the sewer.

Luther attacked Rome for commercializing marriage and argued that the church had become a merchant selling vulvas, genitals, and pudenda of both sexes.

Divorce was worse than bigamy.

He suffered from chronic constipation and hemorrhoids to which he referred with "tiring regularity."

Luther was a punker- he changed from wearing monastic garb to donning academic and street wear, symbolizing that he would abolish more distinctions among pastors and people.

Luther was an elitist- he though peasants were stupid, illiterate, money hungry, dirty and slow to respond to the gospel.

Luther was an apocalypticist- he believed that the advancing Turk armies, the activities of the papal Antichrist, and many other signs showed clearly that the End Times were near.

Couples in the Saxon culture of the day were to be witnessed thrashing around on the marital bed demonstrating they had achieved consummation.

Luther was an anti-semite- he believed that those Jews who refused to convert were purely evil and should be banished, and he repeated many stories going around about how Jews poisoned wells and carried off Christian children to suck their blood, cook them and sacrifice them.

Luther was a partier- in a letter of advice to his children's tutor, he offered these words of wisdom: "Never be alone. Act foolish and play. Drink a good deal. It would even be wise to commit a sin- but not a gross one."

An enema performed on his deathbed did not revive him.

See, reading about Christians can be fun!