Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Not for bedtime reading or the faint of heart or stomach

The Icepick Surgeon Murder Fraud Sabotage Piracy and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean

January 29, 2023 by CoffeeShopReader 2 Comments

The Icepick Surgeon is not bedtime reading, unless you want really weird dreams. I enjoy popular science reading, especially when there’s some narrative, and this book is both those things. Basically it’s a review of mostly the past 275 years of medical history and the ugly things people have done and tried to justify in the name of science or helping people in the future. There’s a lot of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century piracy and grave robbing involved, a good bit of slavery and racial history, […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: electricity, grave robbing, lobotomy, Medical History, paleantology, pirates, Sam Kean, science, surgery, The Icepick Surgeon

CoffeeShopReader's CBR15 Review No:7 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: electricity, grave robbing, lobotomy, Medical History, paleantology, pirates, Sam Kean, science, surgery, The Icepick Surgeon ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Why not distract yourself from the workings of the world with the workings of your own insides?

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

April 4, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

…or more frequently, the misfiring insides of others. Fistulated fellows? Check. Elvis and his mega-colon? Check. Taste-testing pet food, pus, rancid oil, and/or the saliva of others? All yours and more to spare! I like to, for the most-part, enjoy nonfiction via audio books. Frequently, I wander around the house doing whatever needs doing while playing books through a speaker. While I whole-heartedly recommend Gulp, I do NOT recommend subjecting innocent bystanders (sorry, husband!) to the dirty work within. Not everything here is gross. And really, […]

Filed Under: Health, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: anatomy, Creative nonfiction, deeding and swallowing, digestion, eating, flavor, Guts, humor, Mary Roach, saliva, science, smell, surgery, taboo

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:28 · Genres: Health, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: anatomy, Creative nonfiction, deeding and swallowing, digestion, eating, flavor, Guts, humor, Mary Roach, saliva, science, smell, surgery, taboo ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Envision that Circumcision and Feel that Eel

Under the Knife by Arnold van der Laar

March 26, 2019 by Zirza Leave a Comment

I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. That didn’t pan out, and I’m fine with that, but the interest in all things medical has lingered. Because I was planning to read more non-fiction anyway, I picked up this book on a whim, and although I wasn’t disappointed, it lacks a certain degree of depth. More subcutaneous than intraosseal, if you please. Van de Laar – who is a surgeon himself – takes us through the history of medicine, and specifically surgery, but instead of telling […]

Filed Under: Health, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #history, Arnold van de Laar, medical, non fiction, surgery

Zirza's CBR11 Review No:12 · Genres: Health, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: #history, Arnold van de Laar, medical, non fiction, surgery ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments


Recent Comments

  • narfna
    on A graphic novel about a graphic interest
    Ooh, putting both this and Savage Appetites on my list!
  • Ellie Fitz-Gerald
    on Trent Dalton’s Latest is Not What I Expected
    Never mind the critics, I hugely enjoyed this book. Hilarious in places, stressful in others and a great advertisement for...
  • ElCicco
    on The Outsiders
    I started the second book the other day and I’m riveted!
  • beereadsbooks
    on The Outsiders
    Such a detailed review! I read this one a few years ago and was similarly captivated. I keep meaning to...
  • Andy Glaze
    on Do Hard Things
    Thanks so much for reading the book and taking the time to write such a thoughtful review. I originally wrote...
See More Recent Comments »

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