abigailbat's review against another edition

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3.0

Part Beethoven biography, part history detective story, hand this book to musically inclined teens and history buffs!

emaried's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

3.75

tashidrami's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

Honestly only read this because my saint of a violin teacher gave it to me and I didn’t have the heart to return it unread. It took a long time to finish because anything that is nonfiction does not engage me whatsoever but there were some parts that kinda slayed ngl

the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition

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5.0

We loved this non-fiction exploration of a lock of Beethoven's hair -- the science of it, the speculation it spawned about the cause of his illness and death, and the history of Beethoven's life, overall. A captivating read!

jonathanmills's review against another edition

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4.0

Wonderful story of Beethoven and the journeys of one lock of his hair. I highly recommend!

monapearl's review against another edition

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challenging informative

4.0

quidamtyro's review against another edition

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4.0

An interesting example of what to do when your nonfiction story doesn't give you answers. Also good job weaving several disparate narratives together.

anatomydetective's review against another edition

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1.0

It's really depressing to read a book, even if it's under three hundred pages, and find myself saying, "Wow that could have been summed up in a five page article." Complete and utter waste of time. I hardly learned anything I didn't know. Very little information about Beethoven himself, and the idea behind the book has since been proven to probably be incorrect.

maidmarianlib's review against another edition

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4.0

Fascinating book, great combination of science and history.

maggil's review against another edition

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4.0

I learned about Beethoven, Danish resistance efforts during WWII, and science in this remarkable, compelling book.