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A review by nathanjhunt
The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names by John Wright
challenging
informative
slow-paced
2.5
This was my 5th book finished in 2024.
This book got harder to read as it went on, and I enjoyed it less and less. Some sections were really quite boring. I enjoyed the history sections, and the general foray into the meanings of names, but it did feel quite long.
Firstly, the book needed to be edited SO BADLY. It's layout is terrible, and it's constantly jumping about from topic to topic. It's almost like the author just wrote down his train of thought, and thought "that'll do!" Because he really didn't know what structure he wanted, some things are repeated again and again in different chapters and paragraphs. You don't need to explain the same thing again just because it's on the next page....
The author seems to really know his stuff, but he comes across as quite arrogant sometimes, especially at the beginning. Some things are poorly explained, and I didn't understand them - specifically the Latin grammar and last chapter about the tree of life.
Sometimes the jokes really don't land. Maybe they're too "high brow" for me, so the author didn't feel the next to explain the Latin pun. Sorry I didn't learn it at school like you did. On one notable occasion, he refers to an animal and makes a joke about it's appearance, but then doesn't even tell us what the animal is. I had to look up the Latin name on Google to "understand" the joke.
The author really gave me the ick. I can tell we absolutely would not get on if we met. For some reason, he interjects his opinions from time to time, and those can feel grossly misogynist. No author, I don't want to know your sexual opinions on a Neanderthal woman and whether or not you'd have sex with her. It feels like he's writing to a strictly male audience. (Isn't that right lads, she's minging init euuurghhhh)
And the last major red flag was when he went all suddenly racist in the human taxonomy section. He started off by ignoring or defending Linnaeus' racist views on non-white humans, and going as far as echoing archaic white-centric anthropology. He then quotes a eugenicist? This guy is not an anthropologist, he is a racist, openly supporting scientific opinions that are extremely outdated. He thinks humans should be separated by colour into subspecies, like flowers! How was this stuff published? Oh yeah, because the book was poorly edited, that's why. The publisher didn't think to tell him to not include this paragraph?
I would have probably enjoyed the book more if it was written by somebody else. Can't say I'll choose to read another book like this.
This book got harder to read as it went on, and I enjoyed it less and less. Some sections were really quite boring. I enjoyed the history sections, and the general foray into the meanings of names, but it did feel quite long.
Firstly, the book needed to be edited SO BADLY. It's layout is terrible, and it's constantly jumping about from topic to topic. It's almost like the author just wrote down his train of thought, and thought "that'll do!" Because he really didn't know what structure he wanted, some things are repeated again and again in different chapters and paragraphs. You don't need to explain the same thing again just because it's on the next page....
The author seems to really know his stuff, but he comes across as quite arrogant sometimes, especially at the beginning. Some things are poorly explained, and I didn't understand them - specifically the Latin grammar and last chapter about the tree of life.
Sometimes the jokes really don't land. Maybe they're too "high brow" for me, so the author didn't feel the next to explain the Latin pun. Sorry I didn't learn it at school like you did. On one notable occasion, he refers to an animal and makes a joke about it's appearance, but then doesn't even tell us what the animal is. I had to look up the Latin name on Google to "understand" the joke.
The author really gave me the ick. I can tell we absolutely would not get on if we met. For some reason, he interjects his opinions from time to time, and those can feel grossly misogynist. No author, I don't want to know your sexual opinions on a Neanderthal woman and whether or not you'd have sex with her. It feels like he's writing to a strictly male audience. (Isn't that right lads, she's minging init euuurghhhh)
And the last major red flag was when he went all suddenly racist in the human taxonomy section. He started off by ignoring or defending Linnaeus' racist views on non-white humans, and going as far as echoing archaic white-centric anthropology. He then quotes a eugenicist? This guy is not an anthropologist, he is a racist, openly supporting scientific opinions that are extremely outdated. He thinks humans should be separated by colour into subspecies, like flowers! How was this stuff published? Oh yeah, because the book was poorly edited, that's why. The publisher didn't think to tell him to not include this paragraph?
I would have probably enjoyed the book more if it was written by somebody else. Can't say I'll choose to read another book like this.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism and Misogyny