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chelseacrystal's review against another edition
4.75
It’s incredibly well researched and the tone is appropriate given the subject matter without being overly serious.
Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Antisemitism, Slavery, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Colonisation, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Body horror
fiona_gs's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Dysphoria, Gore, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia
churrocaitie's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, War, Genocide, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Torture, Transphobia, Animal death, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gore, and Racism
Minor: Trafficking
boop123's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Rape, Medical trauma, Murder, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death, Body horror, Racism, and Gore
Moderate: Pedophilia, Transphobia, War, and Antisemitism
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, and Miscarriage
angela_iseli's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, and Body horror
siobhanward's review against another edition
3.5
All that to say, this was an interesting read overall. I appreciated that the chapters were fairly long, which meant an in-depth look at the topics at hand, rather than short, disjointed pieces. I will say, however, that a good deal of this felt like an advertisement for Kean's podcast - so many footnotes just ended with "for more info, check out episode x of my podcast" which got annoying pretty quickly.
Overall, Kean handles a number of sensitive topics with respect - the topics he chose were interesting and seemingly well-researched, and I enjoyed learning more about things I only had a general knowledge of before (including what an ice pick is apparently, because I realized while reading, I always pictured ice axes before...).
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Medical content, Child abuse, Gore, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Blood, Dysphoria, Excrement, Confinement, Colonisation, Body horror, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism
phoebemurtagh's review against another edition
3.5
They some things shouldn't be attempted by the faint of heart or squeamish. As a squeamish person myself, I'd like to refine that: you can most certainly attempt, but you might need to skim through the physical descriptions of how to perform an ice pick lobotomy.
This was a good collection of scientists gone bad: some of the stories were disturbing and familiar ones I'd already heard, while some were disturbing and new. My only criticisms would be that while such a book must necessarily take a dark sense of humor, I found the author's attempts at levity in the face of evil just a little irreverent sometimes. More disappointingly, though, the author refers to bunk science as "voodoo" in at least one place; it's a small thing, but perpetuating a stereotype that African disaporic religious traditions that developed as a result of American slavery are somehow 'less valid' and the equivalent of bad science is below the mark for any journalist.
All in all, I preferred The Disappearing Spoon, but this is a good book, too.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Gore, Classism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
kbergsten's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Torture, Transphobia, Ableism, Abortion, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Physical abuse, and Rape
casey_larsen's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Gore
livdelrosso's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Torture, and Pedophilia