Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum

18 reviews

kingweirdo's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

rstegema's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

I'm really quite fascinated by the accomplishments of Alexander Gettler and Charles Norris and their pioneering of forensic science. This book is exceptionally informative and I'm looking forward to the other books in the Brandy Schillace Peculiar Book Club season 2 session! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Mental illness

arijones91's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

aeudaimonia's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

Frankly, I didn't have high hopes for The Poisoner's Handbook, expecting it to be, well, more of a handbook than a cohesive narrative. Happy to report I was mistaken! Informative but clearly written, it was one of the more enjoyable books I've read this year. I'd gladly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Jazz Age, as well as a more casual interest in chemistry. 

The book's content and prose earns a full five stars; the structure, however, left me somewhat dissatisfied. Blum organizes the book by poison (with chapters titled "Wood Alcohol," "Cyanides," etc) but tells the narrative more or less chronologically--an ambitious structure, with varying degrees of success. Most straightforward are the earlier chapters, when the Medical Examiner's Office was in its infancy. As the book progresses, however, Blum adds shorter anecdotes about Prohibition and the bootlegging business, New York street gangs, and poison cases unrelated to that chapter's nominal poison but chronologically relevant. All these narrative threads end up obscuring the heart of the chapter; I often wondered, "How did we get here?" regarding information that I'd otherwise have eaten up without a second thought. 

Otherwise, though, this was masterfully crafted and a fantastic introduction to the period. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

cnidariar3x's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

My favourite non-fiction I read in 2020.

I've read this twice over two years. Both times were a 4.5 for me.

I learned SO MUCH and really came to appreciate just how forensic medicine was essentially developed by two guys working on a shoestring budget against many odds. There's an appreciation for the medical system that derives from having read this book, but on the same hand, one will learn about all the

animal experimentation

that was necessary to get us to that point. It's a moral dilemma that really puts our modern privileges into perspective.

The book has several interweaving themes throughout the chapters, and if I have one criticism in the book, it can sometimes feel unfocused.

We often jump between the two scientists Gettler & Norris, to a brief history of prohibition, to the state of alcohol consumption at the time, to several notable poisoning cases.

Some chapters focus on some aspects more than others, which can be frustrating if one of the less interesting topics is given more time to shine.  

If one can handle reading about medical content, experimentation, and alcoholism, or are interested in this specific history in general, I can't recommend this book enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Cancer and Abortion

mwashenberger's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide

astropova's review against another edition

dark informative relaxing medium-paced

4.5

Awesome book! The material was very interesting, particularly in how the science, history, and true crime were blended together. I loved the writing too and found the sort-of narrative tone to be very easy to read and get lost in, like an actual novel. Reading nonfiction books often feels like a slog to me (even if I'm interested in the subject matter), but I definitely didn't have that problem with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Child death and Suicide

The animal cruelty and death are not done/described for the purposes of being cruel or evil, but there are several clinical descriptions of experimentation on animals that leads to their deaths.

junefish's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit