A review by hm_reads
Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers by Matt Kaplan

informative fast-paced

2.0

somehow both in depth about a lot of things and then really really broad on other things. this work felt a little like having a friend's dad corner me at a luncheon to talk to me about his hobbies. I also found the sections on both transgender identity and autism to be problematic, both in their content and in their approach -- while Kaplan interviewed like 3 people about livers (mostly butchers), he didn't talk to any autistic or trans people. In so many ways this text ends up feeling really insular, even if there is occasionally something insightful here.