Reviews tagging 'Death'
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetuated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean
12 reviews
siobhanward's review
3.5
All that to say, this was an interesting read overall. I appreciated that the chapters were fairly long, which meant an in-depth look at the topics at hand, rather than short, disjointed pieces. I will say, however, that a good deal of this felt like an advertisement for Kean's podcast - so many footnotes just ended with "for more info, check out episode x of my podcast" which got annoying pretty quickly.
Overall, Kean handles a number of sensitive topics with respect - the topics he chose were interesting and seemingly well-researched, and I enjoyed learning more about things I only had a general knowledge of before (including what an ice pick is apparently, because I realized while reading, I always pictured ice axes before...).
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Medical content, Child abuse, Gore, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Blood, Dysphoria, Excrement, Confinement, Colonisation, Body horror, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism
gk1412's review
3.5
Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Death, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Deportation, Hate crime, Transphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence
monstersinspace's review
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Blood, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Slavery, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Racism, and Suicide
phoebemurtagh's review
3.5
They some things shouldn't be attempted by the faint of heart or squeamish. As a squeamish person myself, I'd like to refine that: you can most certainly attempt, but you might need to skim through the physical descriptions of how to perform an ice pick lobotomy.
This was a good collection of scientists gone bad: some of the stories were disturbing and familiar ones I'd already heard, while some were disturbing and new. My only criticisms would be that while such a book must necessarily take a dark sense of humor, I found the author's attempts at levity in the face of evil just a little irreverent sometimes. More disappointingly, though, the author refers to bunk science as "voodoo" in at least one place; it's a small thing, but perpetuating a stereotype that African disaporic religious traditions that developed as a result of American slavery are somehow 'less valid' and the equivalent of bad science is below the mark for any journalist.
All in all, I preferred The Disappearing Spoon, but this is a good book, too.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Gore, Classism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
kbergsten's review
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Torture, Transphobia, Ableism, Abortion, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Physical abuse, and Rape
panthalassa's review
3.5
Graphic: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, Transphobia, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Racism
Moderate: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Deadnaming, Grief, and Dysphoria
Minor: Rape, Addiction, and Abortion
laurenkimoto's review
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Transphobia, Torture, and Slavery
Moderate: Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Torture, Suicide, War, and Toxic relationship
reviewsandreadathons's review
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Medical content, Ableism, Death, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Transphobia
akazzy8's review
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Transphobia, Torture, Slavery, Racism, Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Gore, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Colonisation, Antisemitism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol
While there are many content warnings, I would mention they are stated in more of a detached academic fashion. While there are horrible portions, it is not always written like a story, so readers detachment from some of these acts make this book less "graphic". This certainly is not to say that these warnings aren't still there!readundancies's review
4.0
Let it be known that this is not for the faint of heart. A lot of the more disillusioning and heavy content is covered in a very clinical way, and it can take a bit of getting used to. There are some really coldhearted individuals out there and this book highlights some of the most infamous of the lot.
It’s so interesting though. I was living for this content. The number of times I said What the fuck?!? while reading was too many.
At this point I should probably mention that I read this non-chronologically. It’s written in a way that each chapter is directly connected to and leads into the next. But, I was feeling out of sorts and decided to switch things up and read all over the place with respect to chapters. I didn't find it even mildly disconcerting, so I'd say if you wanted to read chapters out of order, it's very doable.
My favourite chapters in no particular order include:
- Piracy: The Buccaneer Biologist
- Slavery: The Corruption of the Flycatcher
- Grave-Robbing: Jekyll & Hyde, Hunter & Knox
- Murder: The Professor and the Janitor
- Ambition: Surgery for the Soul
- Malpractice: Sex, Power, and Money
- Fraud: Superwoman.
If you're looking for a science-based non-fiction read with some true crime flair to the writing, I definitely recommend this.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence