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libraryofbees's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I was really enjoying this audiobook until about 60% but it gradually started to lose me and I found myself only listening to just get it over with. I love medical/science history and I think the Kean did a decent job exploring the ethics of medicine and its scientists. HOWEVER I could not take the (what felt like constant) podcast plugs by the author. I think it was even more jarring due to listening to it rather than reading physically. Maybe I could have ignored it better that way, but towards the end I swore if I heard one more plug I was going to lose it.
Overall, I liked it. Not my favorite medical/science history book, but decent enough.
Overall, I liked it. Not my favorite medical/science history book, but decent enough.
paperbacksandpines's review
5.0
Morally dubious science is often ipso facto bad science - that morally dubious research is often scientifically dubious as well.
The Icepick Surgeon covers murder, fraud, sabotage, piracy, and other "dastardly deeds" perpetrated in the name of science. I found this book to be my favorite type of nonfiction science book. Short vingettes of biographies from a certain moment in a person's life focusing around a certain theme. Kean focused on different deeds individuals have used science throughout history to justify their beliefs. The most important question he raised was whether it is ethical for science to utilize scientific findings that were obtained unethically. He ventured into a morally gray area where there doesn't appear to be any black and white answers.
Albert Einstein once said, "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong. It is character."
Kean argued that character is the best guarantee against scientific abuse. A balance between intellect and character need to be struck in order to prevent scientific abuse.
As a bonus, Kean links this book to his podcast that goes into further details about the topics in this book that couldn't be covered within it. I thought that was a great tie in.
I did have to skip over the chapter about experiments on animals, not in the name of science but to boost Edison's ego. There are trigger warnings for several topics within this book.
I'd heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in nonfiction, science, and/or true crime.
The Icepick Surgeon covers murder, fraud, sabotage, piracy, and other "dastardly deeds" perpetrated in the name of science. I found this book to be my favorite type of nonfiction science book. Short vingettes of biographies from a certain moment in a person's life focusing around a certain theme. Kean focused on different deeds individuals have used science throughout history to justify their beliefs. The most important question he raised was whether it is ethical for science to utilize scientific findings that were obtained unethically. He ventured into a morally gray area where there doesn't appear to be any black and white answers.
Albert Einstein once said, "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong. It is character."
Kean argued that character is the best guarantee against scientific abuse. A balance between intellect and character need to be struck in order to prevent scientific abuse.
As a bonus, Kean links this book to his podcast that goes into further details about the topics in this book that couldn't be covered within it. I thought that was a great tie in.
I did have to skip over the chapter about experiments on animals, not in the name of science but to boost Edison's ego. There are trigger warnings for several topics within this book.
I'd heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in nonfiction, science, and/or true crime.