How mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World By Peter Temple April 17, 2004 HOW MUMBO-JUMBO CONQUERED THE WORLD: A SHORT HISTORY OF MODERN DELUSIONS, By Francis Wheen Once upon a time, undergraduate history students soon encountered the turning point. Many essay and exam questions took the form: The Portuguese discovery of bananas in 1482: a turning point in imperial history? Discuss. History, it seemed, was a snake pit of turning points. To make matters worse, amid the writhing, some points, while clearly points as such, turned out to be duds. They failed to pivot: King Krum's defeat of Emperor Nicephorus in 811:...