Sunday's Notes

"Persia: Ancient Soul of Iran," National Geographic, August, is a slide-show exhibit. Matthias Schulz,"UN Treasure Honors Persian Despot," Der Spiegel, 15 July, Part I and Part II questions interpretations of Cyrus the Great's legacy.

William Grimes,"Funny Bone Anatomist," NYT, 20 July, reviews Jim Holt's Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes.

Jonathan Yardley reviews Kathryn Shevelow's For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement for the Washington Post, 20 July.

Marilyn Stasio,"True-Lit-Hist-Myst," NYT, 20 July, reviews Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, which has just won the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Jim Dwyer,"Yeats Meets the Digital Age, Full of Passionate Intensity," NYT, 20 July, reviews"The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats," an exhibit at the National Library of Ireland.

Jamie Malanowski,"Heroes Once More," Washington Post, 20 July, reviews David Maraniss's Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World