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Reviews tagging 'Body horror'
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetuated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean
11 reviews
chelseacrystal's review against another edition
4.75
It’s incredibly well researched and the tone is appropriate given the subject matter without being overly serious.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
boop123's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Pedophilia, Transphobia, Antisemitism, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Pandemic/Epidemic
angela_iseli's review
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder
siobhanward's review against another edition
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 cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Antisemitism and Abortion
reggiethebird's review
3.75
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
shelbycundiff's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Body horror and Medical trauma
Moderate: Slavery, Suicide, and Medical content
monstersinspace's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
phoebemurtagh's review against another edition
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: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
chupacobbruh's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Medical trauma
livdelrosso's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria