Kam
So this was a pretty fun read, and typical of what one usually gets from Mary Roach. It’s quite informative while still being easy to digest and comprehend.
I do think that maybe she’s a little TOO light-hearted in some places? Maybe that’s just the vibe I’m getting, but there are times when it feels like she’s treating a topic with a bit more humor than is strictly appropriate. It’s not obvious immediately, nor does it happen in all the chapters of this book, but there are moments when one might pause and ask: “Is treating this topic with this kind of levity appropriate?” I keep thinking, in particular, of her encounter with a man whose wife was afflicted with polio and spent most of her life in an iron lung. Though the wife had already passed some years ago so the grief wasn’t very fresh, there was just something about the way that the author handled that entire meeting that I did not sit right with me, especially when it was clear that the husband dearly loved his departed spouse and missed her still.
I also wish that more time had been spent tackling the ethics around some of the procedures discussed in the book. Many of them are on the cutting edge of science, often with the potential to save lives, but there are some procedures, especially the ones related to cosmetic surgery, where I wish more time and space had been devoted to the reason WHY people choose to opt for those procedures, and sometimes take them to extremes. Speaking of cosmetic surgery, I think it would have been interesting if a wider net had been cast to look into the topic not just in North America, but in places like South Korea, where getting cosmetic surgery to suit a particular beauty standard is incredibly popular.
Overall, this is not a bad read, though readers with an aversion to descriptions of medical procedures may want to steer clear, or engage only when they are mentally prepared to read about such things. I like to think I have a high tolerance for reading such descriptions, but there were moments where even I got a little bit squicked out. I also wish that more time had been devoted to investigating the ethics around some procedures, as well as the role politics plays in some procedures becoming popular, while others never move past the initial research stages. Regardless, the author’s research remains a solid as ever, and while there are times where she treats some topics a bit more light-heartedly than I think is strictly appropriate, the book remains very informative while still being engaging and easy to understand.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.
So this was a pretty fun read, and typical of what one usually gets from Mary Roach. It’s quite informative while still being easy to digest and comprehend.
I do think that maybe she’s a little TOO light-hearted in some places? Maybe that’s just the vibe I’m getting, but there are times when it feels like she’s treating a topic with a bit more humor than is strictly appropriate. It’s not obvious immediately, nor does it happen in all the chapters of this book, but there are moments when one might pause and ask: “Is treating this topic with this kind of levity appropriate?” I keep thinking, in particular, of her encounter with a man whose wife was afflicted with polio and spent most of her life in an iron lung. Though the wife had already passed some years ago so the grief wasn’t very fresh, there was just something about the way that the author handled that entire meeting that I did not sit right with me, especially when it was clear that the husband dearly loved his departed spouse and missed her still.
I also wish that more time had been spent tackling the ethics around some of the procedures discussed in the book. Many of them are on the cutting edge of science, often with the potential to save lives, but there are some procedures, especially the ones related to cosmetic surgery, where I wish more time and space had been devoted to the reason WHY people choose to opt for those procedures, and sometimes take them to extremes. Speaking of cosmetic surgery, I think it would have been interesting if a wider net had been cast to look into the topic not just in North America, but in places like South Korea, where getting cosmetic surgery to suit a particular beauty standard is incredibly popular.
Overall, this is not a bad read, though readers with an aversion to descriptions of medical procedures may want to steer clear, or engage only when they are mentally prepared to read about such things. I like to think I have a high tolerance for reading such descriptions, but there were moments where even I got a little bit squicked out. I also wish that more time had been devoted to investigating the ethics around some procedures, as well as the role politics plays in some procedures becoming popular, while others never move past the initial research stages. Regardless, the author’s research remains a solid as ever, and while there are times where she treats some topics a bit more light-heartedly than I think is strictly appropriate, the book remains very informative while still being engaging and easy to understand.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.