The second installment of "Saints & Rascals" (History in the First Person) is Avicenna, the great, great Persian doctor, philosopher, scientist, and person of all things from about the Year 1000. He (I) describes what it was like to be able to read ALL the books there were before he was out of his teens. He describes the adventure of philosophy and even of being a doctor in his age of sultans, caliphates, imperial courts. And finally he tells why he spent his whole life running away from powerful sultans in order to preserve his freedom to think. Enjoy. And please let others know!