Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

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

6 reviews

silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Classism, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Torture

Minor: Abortion, Pedophilia, and Miscarriage

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...).

 

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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

ejs22's review

funny informative medium-paced

4.5

Interesting and well-researched! Kean’s writing is witty and engaging. Some of the content can be a little bit upsetting, but much of it is handled in a tactful way. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend against only reading the chapters that sound interesting to you, but all of the chapters were interesting to me, so I’m not sure if the advice is sound! Each chapter is its own story exploring its own crimes or misdeeds, which makes the book very episodic in nature and super conducive to stop/start reading. 
Note: The whole purpose of this book is to condemn unethical actions, and it sympathizes with victims before it does anything else. If you’re worried about despicable acts being justified, don’t be! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Abortion and Animal cruelty

kbergsten's review

challenging dark informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

panthalassa's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, Transphobia, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Deadnaming, Grief, and Dysphoria

Minor: Rape, Addiction, and Abortion

laurenkimoto's review

challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Here are some non coherent thoughts on this book as my brain is still reeling from it and the appendix…

The transitions between chapters and delightful little paragraphs that are reminiscent of the “next time on…” that follow tv shows 

Kean’s sense of humour, sarcasm, and wit shine through on occasion to bring some relief when talking about such a serious topic. 

I appreciate that the section breaks in each chapter are little pictures of objects that relate to the content of each chapter. 

The book starts off “easy” talking about pirates but then hits you with the trans Atlantic slave trade. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Transphobia, Torture, and Slavery

Moderate: Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Torture, Suicide, War, and Toxic relationship