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A review by akazzy8
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetuated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.75
This book was excellent! I was looking for a good spooky season book, and this was really the perfect option for me. It has notes of creepiness and dark themes, but isn't a murder mystery which is a genre I can't stand and really dominates the spooky book aisles. It is extra creepy as it talks about real happenings, and like any history book as a way to educate and make adjustments for a more equitable future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
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!