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dmturner's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Lively, at times gruesome, this energetic collection of historical tales about science crooks, frauds, and monsters was often oddly amusing. The end chapter with its speculations about possible crimes in the future was a little less coherent.
vacantbones's review against another edition
4.0
This is the type of book that is right up my alley. It exposes the awful underbelly of humankind, discussing the ways in which a hunger for scientific progress can push people to commit awful acts. Fast, detailed, and interesting.
I did go into the book with expectations that differed from reality - having studied health from a social standpoint in college, I was already aware of some of these cases and found myself wishing that each chapter gave more examples of each 'dastardly deed' instead of dedicating itself to one in-depth case. In the end, this didn't really detract from the entertainment I found within these pages.
Also, for what it's worth, the podcast footnotes didn't really bother me, so (*insert shrugging emoji*).
I did go into the book with expectations that differed from reality - having studied health from a social standpoint in college, I was already aware of some of these cases and found myself wishing that each chapter gave more examples of each 'dastardly deed' instead of dedicating itself to one in-depth case. In the end, this didn't really detract from the entertainment I found within these pages.
Also, for what it's worth, the podcast footnotes didn't really bother me, so (*insert shrugging emoji*).
csawyer06's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
This book was fine, I felt there could have been more detail about some of the stories covered. I found it very annoying that the author referenced his podcast throughout the book. Mention it once at the start and again at the end and I would have been less annoyed but some chapters felt intentionally light on details to try and drive traffic to specific podcast episodes.
ebt137's review
2.0
My problems were entirely with the audiobook, but to be clear, not narrator. The narrator was great. My problem was that in the audiobook the only sources cited were the author’s podcast and website. If I wanted to listen to a podcast I would have checked that out. To interrupt the narrative to send people to the author’s website so often just seemed in poor taste, including having the narrator read full URLs. The appendix is also bizarre, being completely unrelated to the subject of the book and being only a bland list of possible future crimes that have been more thoroughly thought through and explored in other media and more thoroughly in science fiction. These choices were in such bad taste that they hurt my view of the entire book.
deschatjes's review against another edition
3.0
Some fascinating stories of the horrors committed in the name of science. Generally well paced but at times an inordinate amount of detail that slows things down. Interesting last speculative chapter of the potential of current science projected into the future.
unfranchisablereadr's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed this. So much history I never knew about and will probably spiral into some rabbit holes about. I appreciate the moral & scientific discussion this sparks.