Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Full of interesting and odd medical stories from the archives of history. Author is occasionally overly critical of past doctors’ assumptions and efforts.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
funny
informative
fast-paced
funny
informative
fast-paced
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
informative
tense
slow-paced
CW: medical content, illness, suicide attempt, blood & other bodily fluids, war & guns mentioned, gun violence, self mutilation, sexual content, injury details, gross things, trauma, mental illness, pregnancy
well the best parts were definitely towards the beginning, everything was pretty interesting overall. there were some ones that really make you squirm and go 'ew wtf' and I'd dare say even more so than some horror novels simply because a lot of these are real events. not all, necessarily, but most.
Thomas does a pretty good job collecting all the stories into different sections while putting his own jokes & commentary in between. there's even footnotes to explain some meanings as you go. I wish the intensity of the early stories continued throughout, but the pace is definitely up and down and not super consistent due to the best being at the start.
basically I liked this enough and I'm relatively glad I read it. gross, though.
well the best parts were definitely towards the beginning, everything was pretty interesting overall. there were some ones that really make you squirm and go 'ew wtf' and I'd dare say even more so than some horror novels simply because a lot of these are real events. not all, necessarily, but most.
Thomas does a pretty good job collecting all the stories into different sections while putting his own jokes & commentary in between. there's even footnotes to explain some meanings as you go. I wish the intensity of the early stories continued throughout, but the pace is definitely up and down and not super consistent due to the best being at the start.
basically I liked this enough and I'm relatively glad I read it. gross, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Pregnancy, War
very short vignettes, probably good bathroom reading, but not great for plot or listening
dark
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
I listened to the audiobook and that may have impacted my enjoyment of this book. I found the author's snarky comments peppered in every 10-60 seconds between the actual case histories read by a different narrator to be very disruptive and unfunny, and increasingly annoying as the book went on. I'm not sure what their purpose was, it didn't contribute anything worthwhile and took away from the narrative quite a bit. Maybe in the physical book form it wouldn't be as annoying but it was pretty bad in the audiobook. I also found the frequent interruptions for footnote definitions annoying as well. About 50% of those were unnecessary and obvious from contextual clues, or were words which people already know. The collection of case histories was interesting, but the execution left a lot to be desired.