chelseacrystal's review against another edition

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informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Gut wrenching but very interesting. I honestly procrastinated finishing this one bc I was having such a good time. 

It’s incredibly well researched and the tone is appropriate given the subject matter without being overly serious. 

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churrocaitie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative medium-paced

5.0

What an amazing book. I love “niche” history and this book takes the cake. And Sam Kean’s writing is perfect for me. I enjoyed how he structured the book in each chapter, and told the stories so well of these “mad scientists”. I almost wish he had this book longer, I kept wanting to learn more. What a perfect book for someone like me who enjoys weird, dark history. And, of course, makes you really think about humanity.

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alyssatuininga's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

 Fascinating book documenting the dark side of science. This book looks at things like Nazi doctors, grave robbing anatomists, the Tuskeegee experiment, etc.  I knew many of the stories in the book already but many of the questions that this book raised were super interesting and really made me think about these issues. I really enjoy Sam Kean’s writing (although I enjoyed The Violinst’s Thumb more). There was definitely some difficult subject matter in this book but it was well worth a read (although I will admit I skipped the animal torture chapter). 

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silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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gk1412's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

3.5


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reggiethebird's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative sad tense medium-paced

3.75


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mfrisk's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.0

I’ve been reading a lot more this year and getting through books quicker especially those I’ve enjoyed. However, this read took me several months to finish. 

I note this because while I find the overall subject interesting and also important in terms of the fields of science, medicine, and fields which intersect with these areas I don’t feel like these stories were given the appropriate weight and critical lens. As many reviewers mention inappropriate terminology is used for a variety of marginalized populations within this book and I often felt the author was trying to get a laugh out of us (the readers) more than they were working to connect the story to their larger point of morality and ethics. The podcast plugs were annoying but not as egregious as the lack of depth certain stories were given when they covered very sensitive topics. It may not have hurt for their to be additional commentary from other folks especially in stories where marginalized populations were involved and that was only touched on a surface level. I’ve listened to the podcast as well after reading some stories in this book and it has similar issues seen in this book. 

Also want to add this book could have used a more central defining element or at least narrowing down to specific field or some other way to make this more focused. It often was confusing that the stories felt so disconnected and the conclusion doesn’t quite pull together the ideas enough. 

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chloethonus's review against another edition

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dark informative lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

4.75

This was a great book, a very interesting collection of scientific ethics being set aside and how it has gone very wrong. Allows us to see scientists as humans rather than unquestionable gods who can do no wrong, but also acknowledges that we cannot fully discredit scientists as a whole and should instead be skeptical and read scientific media critically. I learned a lot of interesting stories that range from questionable ethics to outright murder. Some content is quite shocking, and for the faint of heart there are mentions of psychological torture and in some cases extreme physical harm coming to people.

My only critique is some outdated language like calling Native Americans "Indians" and the prologue about Cleopatra being very clumsy. The prologue is made up of information that can't be proven which is a questionable start for this book. The language, however, bothers me more. Native Americans should be respected and referred to using proper terms that do not have to do with the entirely unrelated nation of Indian. Native American, indigenous peoples, tribe name, there are a lot of options.

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phoebemurtagh's review against another edition

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dark funny sad medium-paced

3.5

3.5 stars

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.

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chupacobbruh's review against another edition

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dark funny informative medium-paced

4.25


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