Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetuated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean

31 reviews

bibrarian_'s review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

At times kinda felt like one big ad for the authors podcast but I still found it interesting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Slavery, and Xenophobia

dreadspawn's review

dark informative medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

chelseacrystal's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

dark informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

An interesting stroll down the more medial and natural science bad science. Well presented but felt listening to the audio book narrator was good but given the author does a podcast but didn't read his own book just got to me abit. Though I do love this narrator too and have head him on a number of books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Gore, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia

l_piller's review

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Colonisation, and Medical trauma

chemeducator's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Medical trauma

churrocaitie's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

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

dark informative medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, and Body horror

siobhanward's review

informative medium-paced

3.5

 

Usually these kinds of books don't get to me, but this one had some moments that just put me on edge. This book is filled with graphic descriptions, so please check TWs before reading, since a good deal of it could be triggering.

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...).

 

---

Content Warnings

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