siena_j_p's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
3.25
I should start by saying that I have very complicated feelings about true crime, and they definitely colored how I read this book. As a genre, I find it to be frequently exploitative, disrespectful, and dismissive – in general, treating real-life atrocities as a source of entertainment. And this book definitely fell into that trap on occasion. Sure, stories about paleontologists trying to one-up each other are legitimately entertaining, but stories about eugenics, slavers, and Nazi scientists? Not so much. My girlfriend actually read a few pages of it and then said “I bet the author was white.” The worst example of this was a footnote that said something along the lines of “Everyone loves a Nazi villain,” which…the idea that Nazis are just bad guys with high entertainment value, not real-live people who murdered millions, is intensely uncomfortable to say the least. In other areas the author clearly took pains to clarify the awfulness of the people he wrote about, but even so, it was just unfortunate. It didn’t seem like all the chapters really belonged in the same book or deserved the same treatment. This was the main takeaway I had. The writing was fine and there were lots of interesting anecdotes and facts (I found the chapter about graverobbing and autopsies particularly interesting) but the cheerful true-crime attitude just got in the way of properly appreciating anything.
bentleyc's review against another edition
2.0
The books was well written, but did seem to feel a bit dramatized at times. I was aware of almost all of the incidents described in the book and so it didn’t feel like there was a great deal of new information. In several of the incidents, the transgressors seemed more likely to have engaged in the activities more as a consequence of both their own social factors and society at large around them. While the author acknowledges this in several places, I think I was expecting something a little different from the summary.
nesi_peepz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Super interesting and Sam Kean is such an easy read! I found myself getting lost in chapters and I feel like I learned A LOT about the history of science. Definitely recommend!
micheala's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really interesting look into 12 historical instances involving someone doing something illegal/immoral in the name of science.
somesubtlebutessentialway's review
dark
funny
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Took me way too long to finish, but mostly a joy to read the entire time. So interesting, and sometimes so hard to read.
I love the way that Kean writes about these things; acknowledging both the good and the bad, and being absolutely amazing at setting up a story in an interesting and (when appropriate) a fun way. A wide variety of information, 99% of which I knew nothing about; so well-researched and well-written. Nothing I can say more! It's just really good! Sam Kean can be really funny, and his little asides are enjoyable and lighten the mood when you need them to. He also ends the entire book with a good view; giving a bit of love and hope and inspiration that's a balm for the hard stories he tells.
I love the way that Kean writes about these things; acknowledging both the good and the bad, and being absolutely amazing at setting up a story in an interesting and (when appropriate) a fun way. A wide variety of information, 99% of which I knew nothing about; so well-researched and well-written. Nothing I can say more! It's just really good! Sam Kean can be really funny, and his little asides are enjoyable and lighten the mood when you need them to. He also ends the entire book with a good view; giving a bit of love and hope and inspiration that's a balm for the hard stories he tells.
raventheclaw19's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Interesting. Not exactly what I expected; more variegated in subject than I thought it would be. It centered more around a theme (immoral science) than a topic (e.g. DNA).
Altogether, it was an interesting read. It reads like a podcast transcript (featuring notes in parentheses and sarcastic comments at the end of a paragraph e.g. “yeah right”)
Kean does a great job discussing the ethics of using immoral research (see: his discussion of slavery and how it still affects scientists in the future)
Altogether, it was an interesting read. It reads like a podcast transcript (featuring notes in parentheses and sarcastic comments at the end of a paragraph e.g. “yeah right”)
Kean does a great job discussing the ethics of using immoral research (see: his discussion of slavery and how it still affects scientists in the future)
ellekeene's review against another edition
4.0
my kind of nonfiction! learned a lot, laughed a lot. engaging storytelling. lost a star for the continual advertising of his podcast, which I feel like even the worst editor would omit.
allison_reynolds's review against another edition
4.0
I've been looking for a book like this for years. The areas that lie between morality and progress can be as devastating as they are fascinating. Kean writes with equal measures of sympathy to his material and a flair for the macabre. The facts are neither dry nor sensationalized. This is a book about science for people who prefer poetry.
helterskelliter's review against another edition
4.0
“In this sense, Einstein was right: without character, science is doomed, and unethical scientists all too often produce bad science.” (304)
It’s incredibly easy to think of science as something neutral.
Science and inquiry are meant to, at best, improve life and our understandings of the world. At worst, science should have a net zero result….right?
But, what about when science goes bad?
In this collection of history’s worst scientific hits, Sam Kean explores sinister applications of science across the ages, emphasizing stories of unsound reasoning, unchecked obsessions, and, really, just the cruelty of cold, clinical logic.
From your quintessential mad scientists to your overly inquisitive but not so sensitive disease researchers to your petty paleontologists to your unscrupulous CIA researchers to your lab techs with good intentions, this collection explores just how easy it is for science to become unethical when wielded by the wrong people.
And, the “wrong people” can be anyone.
When put under enough stress or when facing enough indifference from those in positions of oversight or when captured so totally by your passions or when any number of fragile levers goes unchecked, it’s entirely possible to tip the moral scales too far.
What I really appreciated about this book is how it emphasizes that bad science isn’t so much an outlier as it is a regular fixture. Now, there is a *degree* of more scrutiny. But, for most of human history, bad science was just science until there was enough moral outcry or enough undeniable evidence of wrongdoing. Even then, it was common for the perpetrators to face zero consequences or minimal consequences for their actions, regardless if anyone died as a direct result.
Tbh, this is such a sad book.
I mean, it’s incredibly enlightening and humbling, but there is just so much misery in these pages. Kean does a good job of bringing levity to the stories where appropriate but even he can’t deny just how much despair this particular array of history highlights.
I mean, it’s incredible and terrifying what the term “science” can excuse if tacked onto a story just right.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book! It gives you insight into the bad science of history, yes, but also hope that there is a more ethical path forward! Also, I think this collection of stories is a good “springboard” for anyone just delving into this topic. This collection may give you an idea of what topics you’d like to learn more about~
It’s incredibly easy to think of science as something neutral.
Science and inquiry are meant to, at best, improve life and our understandings of the world. At worst, science should have a net zero result….right?
But, what about when science goes bad?
In this collection of history’s worst scientific hits, Sam Kean explores sinister applications of science across the ages, emphasizing stories of unsound reasoning, unchecked obsessions, and, really, just the cruelty of cold, clinical logic.
From your quintessential mad scientists to your overly inquisitive but not so sensitive disease researchers to your petty paleontologists to your unscrupulous CIA researchers to your lab techs with good intentions, this collection explores just how easy it is for science to become unethical when wielded by the wrong people.
And, the “wrong people” can be anyone.
When put under enough stress or when facing enough indifference from those in positions of oversight or when captured so totally by your passions or when any number of fragile levers goes unchecked, it’s entirely possible to tip the moral scales too far.
What I really appreciated about this book is how it emphasizes that bad science isn’t so much an outlier as it is a regular fixture. Now, there is a *degree* of more scrutiny. But, for most of human history, bad science was just science until there was enough moral outcry or enough undeniable evidence of wrongdoing. Even then, it was common for the perpetrators to face zero consequences or minimal consequences for their actions, regardless if anyone died as a direct result.
Tbh, this is such a sad book.
I mean, it’s incredibly enlightening and humbling, but there is just so much misery in these pages. Kean does a good job of bringing levity to the stories where appropriate but even he can’t deny just how much despair this particular array of history highlights.
I mean, it’s incredible and terrifying what the term “science” can excuse if tacked onto a story just right.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book! It gives you insight into the bad science of history, yes, but also hope that there is a more ethical path forward! Also, I think this collection of stories is a good “springboard” for anyone just delving into this topic. This collection may give you an idea of what topics you’d like to learn more about~