Where is your nonfiction section please.
I'm still slowly trying to get back into the writing-about-books swing of things! Did I mention we moved New York apartments the month before moving German apartments? Yeah, I'm still fucking exhausted. And I've been reading a lot more slowly but still reading, and although I have no brainpower for full reviews, here are some... Continue Reading →
Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions, by Michael Moss Food resonates so large in our memory because food looms so large in our lives. The act of eating touches everything we experience, everywhere we go, everyone we know, and everything we feel. As much as we are what we... Continue Reading →
Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients, by Robert Pearl My desire [... ] isn't to castigate the culture, belabor its shortcomings, or embarrass individual doctors. Instead, my hope is to improve healthcare delivery in our nation, evolve physician culture, and restore the joys that have been stripped from the profession. Robert... Continue Reading →
Is it cold where you are? Egads, it's freezing in New York City right now. A good excuse to round up some of my long-overdue reviews of books I'd love to share but haven't managed to writing reviews for. That's been a pattern the last year plus. And when is the best time to read... Continue Reading →
Dr. Seema Yasmin is an MD, epidemiologist, and former disease detective with the Centers for Disease Control (cool job alert) who works in health journalism, doing what NHS doctor Ben Goldacre has implored other doctors and scientists to do: "translating" dense medical studies and scientific data so that the general public can more easily understand... Continue Reading →
There was a time I didn't want to read one word about bodies or medicine, but maybe because of developing chronic health issues myself, or again living in the US uninsured, but as I mentioned in my first Nonfiction November post, I've been drawn to medical-related nonfiction lately. Here are three targeted at lay readers... Continue Reading →
Apollo's Arrow, by Nicholas A. Christakis (Bookshop.org) It seemed to me that the novel coronavirus was a threat that was both wholly new and deeply ancient. Yale sociologist, public health educator, and former hospice physician Nicholas A. Christakis's Apollo's Arrow covers the coronavirus pandemic, drawing comparisons to previous plagues and pandemics from history and mythology,... Continue Reading →
Book review: Clean: The New Science of Skin, by James Hamblin (Amazon) James Hamblin is a doctor of preventive medicine and staff writer at The Atlantic. His latest book, Clean: The New Science of Skin, looks at the mix of confusing messaging around what actually works in skincare, the scientific limits of products against their purported... Continue Reading →
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen (Amazon) The purpose of this book is not to make you more worried. The purpose of this book is to make you more smart. I bought this book as soon as COVID-19 appeared in the US for the above reason. I completely understand why... Continue Reading →
Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens, by Muhammad H. Zaman, PhD (Amazon / Book Depository) Muhammad H. Zaman is a researcher and professor of biomedical engineering and international health at Boston University. In Biography of Resistance he traces the evolution of superbugs, namely how strains of bacteria have become resistant to... Continue Reading →
Book review: City of Omens, by Dan Werb (Amazon / Book Depository) Perhaps epidemiology could reveal the hidden structures lurking just beyond reach, like asbestos behind wallpaper. Those structures might manifest as cruel calamities - car crashes, murders, HIV infections - that at face value appear unrelated. If that were the case, these women were... Continue Reading →
Book review: The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston (Amazon / Book Depository) Nature is anything but simple. This emerging virus was like a bat crossing the sky at evening. Just when you thought you saw it flicker through your field of view, it was gone. Richard Preston's 1994 bestseller about the origins of Ebolavirus and... Continue Reading →
