Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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May the world know her name

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

March 25, 2020 by Wanderlustful Leave a Comment

The world owes a huge debt Henrietta Lacks: much of our modern health care was developed using cell lines grown from her tissue.  Henrietta was a working class black woman who died from cervical cancer in 1951 and the tissue that was so important was a biopsy of her cervical tissue, taken without good evidence of her having known or consented to that use (although the book does note that the lack of consent was in keeping with the medical ethics of its time). Today, […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Health, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: hela, Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Wanderlustful's CBR12 Review No:10 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Health, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: hela, Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Amen for the Good Book

The Vagina Bible by Dr. Jen Gunter

March 10, 2020 by Wanderlustful 1 Comment

Dr. Jen Gunter is a Canadian gynecologist who is on a mission to save the world, and its vaginas, from misinformation and mistreatment.  She has gained a platform through Twitter, NYT posts and a CBC show, Jensplaining, but I knew about her from her vehement refutations of disastrous ‘GOOP-approved’ recommendations (see: jade eggs and vagina steaming). I read The Vagina Bible cover to cover and wasn’t disappointed, although like any reference book some chapters are sure to be more interesting when you have an immediate […]

Filed Under: Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Dr. Jen Gunter, science, The Vagina Bible

Wanderlustful's CBR12 Review No:9 · Genres: Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: Dr. Jen Gunter, science, The Vagina Bible ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Visceral Glory

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

March 10, 2020 by Wanderlustful Leave a Comment

Gulp is Mary Roach’s pop-science journey into the human (and occasionally non-human) digestive track, beginning with all things mouth related (saliva, chewing) and ending up exactly where you’d suspect, although with angles you I didn’t anticipate (Elvis’ megacolon; drug smuggling). I’ve previously read Stiff, Roach’s look at the afterlife of cadavers, and although I enjoyed Gulp, I liked Stiff more.  Because it has been some time since I read Stiff, I can’t remember exactly what is less enticing about Gulp, but I suspect it may […]

Filed Under: Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Gulp, Mary Roach, science

Wanderlustful's CBR12 Review No:8 · Genres: Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: Gulp, Mary Roach, science ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

I should have probably read this at Christmas

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay

March 9, 2020 by TheShitWizard Leave a Comment

The obligatory Christmas tie-in to Kay’s This Is Going To Hurt, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas covers the many Christmases that Kay worked for the NHS, with all the humour and heartache that one would expect. It’s an extremely quick read too – you could finish it in the time it took you to eat a Christmas dinner – which would fit perfectly into a stocking (remember this for, erm, nine months time I guess). Being an obstetrics/maternity specialist, babies who refuse to wait till […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Comedy/Humor, Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #memoir, Adam Kay, christmas, NHS, non fiction

TheShitWizard's CBR12 Review No:11 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Comedy/Humor, Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: #memoir, Adam Kay, christmas, NHS, non fiction ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

I have spent a good deal of 2020 in a cadaver-shaped hole.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

March 8, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 4 Comments

And no, I do not mean an open grave. The more we hurtle towards impending doom- pandemics! global warming! world war!- the more solace I seek in, well, death. I didn’t set out on the morbid marathon on purpose, but here I am! It was not my intention to get down and dirty (ha!) with death this year, but I am enjoying the ride. I have been a long-time fan of Mary Roach since Spook, but for some reason I forgot to start at the […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Health, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: air safety, anatomy, boeing, Cadavers, cannibalism, crash test dummies, Death, death and dying, eating mummies, grave robbing, health, human composting, humor, Mary Roach, medical school, medicine, organ donation, popular science, science, the soul

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:23 · Genres: Audiobooks, Health, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: air safety, anatomy, boeing, Cadavers, cannibalism, crash test dummies, Death, death and dying, eating mummies, grave robbing, health, human composting, humor, Mary Roach, medical school, medicine, organ donation, popular science, science, the soul ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments

Girl Interrupted

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

March 5, 2020 by kimberleybear 6 Comments

As someone who has been both correctly diagnosed and misdiagnosed with conditions concerning my brain, I was really interested in Susannah Cahalan’s story once I heard about it (I’m also just a weird disease junkie in general). Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is a terrifying thing — one of those autoimmune disorders where the body just goes into attack mode on itself for unknown reasons. It results in a cascade of symptoms, starting from something that looks like the flu to a range of major behavior disturbances […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #memoir, brain chemistry, made into a movie, medical memoir, medical mystery, Susannah Cahalan

kimberleybear's CBR12 Review No:6 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: #memoir, brain chemistry, made into a movie, medical memoir, medical mystery, Susannah Cahalan ·
Rating:
· 6 Comments
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