Pot Pourri e-mailed me recently. As I stared at the unopened e-mail, a whole host of thoughts rushed through my head. The first being, “Why is this book called pot pourri?” A few keystrokes and clicks later, my curiosity still remained unanswered. Perhaps those who created the book meant to reference Akrobatisches Potpourri, the 1895 German silent documentary directed by Emil Skladanowsky. The subject of the film: a family of eight circus performers. This answer was unlikely considering the...