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rosepoints's review
3.0
i’m left a little torn at the end of the book, oscillating between three and four stars.
by far, i considered the second half of the book to be stronger than the first half, with the second half expanding more on the science being discovered. something that i look for when it comes to popular science books is how well they can appeal to the average reader and how they can explain science in layman’s terms, and ireland does fantastically in the second half.
not so much in the first half, unfortunately. in some places, especially the section about phage therapy and compassionate-use clauses, he was overly enthusiastic about the therapeutic uses and potentials of bacteriophages without fully explaining why. i also felt like the first half was more disorganized than the second, jumping back and forth between specific figures in history, rather than honing in on a specific storyline. the story meanders a bit before eventually returning to tbilisi, georgia, and i almost wish that there had been some more focus and specificity there.
i did appreciate the witty quips about scientists’ personal lives, with the sections on watson and delbrück earning a laugh from me. overall, this feels more like a history book with a few touches of science here and there, and although that’s not a bad nonfiction book to read, it’s not what i was expecting based off the jacket cover summary.
by far, i considered the second half of the book to be stronger than the first half, with the second half expanding more on the science being discovered. something that i look for when it comes to popular science books is how well they can appeal to the average reader and how they can explain science in layman’s terms, and ireland does fantastically in the second half.
not so much in the first half, unfortunately. in some places, especially the section about phage therapy and compassionate-use clauses, he was overly enthusiastic about the therapeutic uses and potentials of bacteriophages without fully explaining why. i also felt like the first half was more disorganized than the second, jumping back and forth between specific figures in history, rather than honing in on a specific storyline. the story meanders a bit before eventually returning to tbilisi, georgia, and i almost wish that there had been some more focus and specificity there.
i did appreciate the witty quips about scientists’ personal lives, with the sections on watson and delbrück earning a laugh from me. overall, this feels more like a history book with a few touches of science here and there, and although that’s not a bad nonfiction book to read, it’s not what i was expecting based off the jacket cover summary.
undviklundvik's review
5.0
Jättekul med bok om phages, bra skriven osv. Inte för många faktafel men en skam att han inte ger Franklin mer cred. Hursom en 5a för de historiska delarna va dunder och d e phages.